TBD on Ning

Vietnam--I'll never forget...40 years ago today, the last of the troops left.

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by blithe spirit on March 29, 2013 at 8:49pm

This was a schizophrenic time for me...My Dad was career military two tours in Viet Nam 67 and 68. Then in 69 my then boyfriend flunked out of college and away he went...he was in country not quite 6 months when he was killed...spent a lot of time being scared and pissed off all at the same time. Lots of stuff happened. I graduated high school in 70 in Germany, and Dad retired. I went to college...got married in 73 and moved far far away...to Arizona...my younger brother was drafted...and that's where I was when the war ended. Crazy times...

Permalink Reply by ProblemAgain on March 29, 2013 at 10:08pm

Permalink Reply by ProblemAgain on March 29, 2013 at 10:09pm

Permalink Reply by ProblemAgain on March 29, 2013 at 11:27pm

the film "the quiet american' with michael caine posits that the incidents that pushed viet nam and the us into the escalation from isolated guerilla violence to full-throttle warfare were orchestrated by segments of the viet namese community that were NOT the viet cong but rather the business and industrialists and they were in collusion with america's industrialists and the cia...sounds farfetched til you realize that every time a piece of hardware is used, be it bullet, bomb or missile, it has to be replaced. an artillery shell runs upwards from 3500...and those neat missiles we helped out with libya cost 750,000 a copy. good money in those defense businesses especially if it is the poor fighting the wars...halliburton and kbr spring to mind don't they?

Permalink Reply by ProblemAgain on March 29, 2013 at 11:32pm

by the way, that's not to say that we didn't have treaty commitments thru seato to viet nam. but it is to say that those may have been taken advantage of by arranging events that seemed to be attacks to push the concepts and to enflame the patriotism. perhaps if the sons and daughters of senators served in the military the senators would be less pugnacious and confrontational toward other countries and groups

Permalink Reply by frenchy on March 30, 2013 at 6:23am

Did you hear 'em talkin' 'bout it on the radio
Did you try to read the writing on the wall
Did that voice inside you say I've heard it all before
It's like Deja Vu all over again

Day by day I hear the voices rising
Started with a whisper like it did before
Day by day we count the dead and dying
Ship the bodies back home while the networks all keep score

Did you hear 'em talin' 'bout it on the radio
Could you're eyes belive the writing on the wall
Did that voice inside you say I've heard it all before
It's like Deja Vu all over again

One by one I see the old ghosts rising
Stumblin' 'cross Big Muddy
Where the light gets dim
Day after day another Mamma's crying
She's lost her precious Child
To a war that has no end

Did you hear 'em talin' 'bout it on the radio
Did you stop to read the writing at the wall
Did that voice inside you say
I've seen this all before
It's like Deja Vu all over again
It's like Deja Vu all over again

and yet we did it all over again .. i can still remember tellin people can't you see whats gonna happen here ?? and so many thought nahh.. we're gonna teach them arabs not to mess with us .. and no matter how i tried i couldn't convince anyone that iraq had nothin to do with 9/11 .. so history repeats itself .. you'd think guys my age livin thru viet naam would remember . and they'd know better.. nope .. lets root for the home team .. shock and awe and all that kinda shit ..

Permalink Reply by P.A. on March 30, 2013 at 6:37am

I don't think they would even have played the music that has been posted here on the radio before or during the Iraq war. You see what happened to the Dixie Chicks for just barely speaking out against that war.
That song got no airplay on radio, how sad and wrong. Almost all radio is now controlled by large corporations and large corporations stick together.

Permalink Reply by frenchy on March 30, 2013 at 6:53am

yeah you're right p.a. .. i don't think i ever heard this song on the radio either . and i remember well the dixie chicks and the feud they had with toby keith .. here's one of his rah rah for the war songs .. just the kinda thing g.w. wanted all of us to feel .. and as much as i love my country i just couldn't get on board ..

Permalink Reply by frenchy on March 30, 2013 at 6:55am

and here's a dixie chicks song .. quite a different perspective

Permalink Reply by crestofwaves on March 30, 2013 at 6:59am

In the song by Toby Keith, they actually had to change the words. Early on it said we got a "sucker punch from somewhere in Iraq." About a year after the song came out, the words were changed to "sucker punch from somewhere in the back." What a travesty.

And remember the "special news" when they "saved" a female soldier from captivity?" What assholes, excuse my English. Between the 40th anniversary of the end of Vietnam and the 10th anniversary of the start of the Iraq war, I am feeling bellicose myself against the government liars, including Obama, another damn liar.

OK. No more politics. Anyway, this thread with the songs and the commentary could turn into a documentary about the war. This is such a special and thoughtful group.

Permalink Reply by P.A. on March 30, 2013 at 7:22am

Just a thought. Don't The Dixie Chicks sing a hell of a lot better than Toby.

Permalink Reply by frenchy on March 30, 2013 at 8:32am

i sure thought so .. looked a hell of a lot better too..