Viet Nam War myths debunked

[derspiess]

Does it mention that people spitting on returning Vietnam vets is a myth?

Is it?

[Razgovory]

Does it mention that people spitting on returning Vietnam vets is a myth?

Is it?

Yep.  One a lot of conservatives believe at that.  Also the LBJ pigfucker thing is a myth as well.  Just so you know.

[Valmy]

Also the LBJ pigfucker thing is a myth as well.  Just so you know.

It always saddened me to see the decorum of Texas politics besmirched so.

[Martim Silva]

Does it mention that people spitting on returning Vietnam vets is a myth?

Is it?

Yep.  One a lot of conservatives believe at that.  Also the LBJ pigfucker thing is a myth as well.  Just so you know.

Can't speak for all, but perusing ex-military forums where the US Vietnam vets post (in this case, the thread was of someone asking them what they thought of modern Vietnam war reenactors), some wrote this:

http://m14forum.com/your-war/77536-vietnam-reenactors-2.html

Mercman:
And yes, they do need some scruffy hippy types to round out the picture. Back in 1972 I was travelling through the Chicago airport in uniform (Navy regs in that period) and there were two of those types sitting on the floor in the passageway. As I passed by they started the 'baby killer' remarks and actually spit at me. There were two Chicago cops standing close by and they were on those two like stink on sh**. I mean saps flying and the whole nine yards. That was on the way home. On the way back through Chi Town to go back I was standing by the curb and my sea bag was laying at my feet and this guy actually ran up on the curb and ran over my seabag. Crazy. I just had clothes in my seabag so nothing was messed up. I was glad to get back to being with my own kind................

twospeed:
VN is still new, meaning most of us who made it home are still alive. This makes all the dirt bags who protested against the war, and those who ran away very uncomfortable today. The socialist history writers are waiting for us to die off so they can spin their own version of American atrocities .
After I came home from the Army, I was separated at Ft Lewis Washington. When I finally got to the airport and on a plane to NY. I was the only one on the flight who was not given a meal, by the stewardess. It was very scary to be among civilians. I was a bonny rat for 13 months. I did asked her 2 times and then just shut up. After we landed, as I was walking through the air port in NY two stewardess who were passing me by, actually spit on me. They cursed me after and kept walking. I couldn't wait to get to my home and take the uniform off in order to camouflage myself.
A lot of us were treated like s__t after we came home and for a lot of years afterwards.
Now when someone says to me thank you for your service, I want to smash their face in. I think about it and just move on. Sorry I went on and on. Viet Nam the War that just keeps on giving.

chardog:
After 20 years, 8 days in the Navy and never being DIRECTLY in someones sights, I don't know if my experience counts to anyone but me, but I remember a bus ride from Boot Camp in San Diego to the Sea Bee base in Pt. Hueneme for more training and being told to go to the back of the bus by a few "hippie" types and the rest of the bus riders damn near starting a riot. This was in '72 and there were a few pro military people out there. Damn if they wouldn't let me crack one of the jerks in the head though! Got a seat in the front of the bus too.

Seventh Fleet:
I've had numerous people through the years tell me that they barely missed going to Vietnam for various reasons. My response has always been, well you didn't miss a thing.

When I saw this resurrected thread my initial response was, why in the hell would anyone want to do this? I guess it's a case of different strokes for different folks. But as for me, I got more than enough of the Nam during my three tours and I simply can not fathom why anyone would want to do this.

I wonder what kind of homecoming these reactors will receive when they get back? Well as others have pointed out in this thread, coming home was a part of the Nam experience too....

Horst Apies:
As one among many vets going to school on the GI Bill after the big Tet, the behavior of some of my profs amazed me. Many were openly anti-war and one tenured faculty member actually wore a Red guard hat to class and around campus. Those fleeing to Canada when their numbers came up were commonplace and hippies hassling us in the Vet's club office was a frequent occurance. In short, what we were witnessing was an unprecedented level of institutionalized cowardice. I can forgive a lot of individuals because they were heavily influenced by a far-left faculty at an impressionable age but the draft-resistance counselors are another matter. I can think of several who were given high positions within public education mainly due to their politics and who spent entire careers making patriotism a dirty word in our schools. That traitorous scum were allowed to debase the trust in our nation among the students in their charge and poison young minds for a generation goes a long way in explaining our present national crisis.

[Valmy]

Hey nice post Martim.

[Berkut]

I actually read Sieges article, and thought it was pretty interesting. Shrug.

Like all "debunking myths" type articles, it is easy to challenge that the myth actually exists in more than a cursory manner. But the article has some interesting stats and demographics about Vietnam Vets that are worth reading.

[Valmy]

I actually read Sieges article, and thought it was pretty interesting. Shrug.

Like all "debunking myths" type articles, it is easy to challenge that the myth actually exists in more than a cursory manner. But the article has some interesting stats and demographics about Vietnam Vets that are worth reading.

I just thought all those myths had already been debunked.  I thought it was clear when the article was discussing issues facing the memory of Vietnam back in the 80s.  The weakest parts were the claims about Vietnamese and the anecdotes being used as evidence.  And obviously ridiculous things like how people thought half of all the combat deaths in Vietnam were 18 year old conscripts.  Hell even if you were unfortunate enough to be drafted at 18 you still had almost a year before you were going to be sent into action in Vietnam.  So the number of actual 18 year olds patrolling in Vietnam would logically have been very low.

The whole 'black men are being sent to die in the white man's war' thing gets trotted out by some nutcase in every war since WWII.  I even heard it said about the Iraq War which is a laugh when you have an all volunteer force.

[grumbler]

I actually read Sieges article, and thought it was pretty interesting. Shrug.

Like all "debunking myths" type articles, it is easy to challenge that the myth actually exists in more than a cursory manner. But the article has some interesting stats and demographics about Vietnam Vets that are worth reading.

I don't trust any of the article's stats or demographics.  And the politics professor didn't understand Plato's analogy of the cave at all.

[The Minsky Moment]

  And the politics professor didn't understand Plato's analogy of the cave at all.

It's quite troubling given that he apparently is a co-translator of several Platonic dialogues. 
I stopped reading at that point.