I have a few questions. What kind of stuff goes on over there? Is there the level of companionship that they preach? Were you on the ground force or air force (I didn't get that far in your book yet)?

You must realize that Vietnam was NOT a virtual war zone. Most of the areas were safe, although there were no front lines. Only 1 in ten men saw combat, but that's normal for any war (I was in the Army). Long Binh was 25 miles out side of Saigon, for example, and the largest military base IN THE WORLD at the time. Olympic sized swimming pools, big theatres, etc., etc. A soldier could pull his full year there, never leave the base, and be the happier for it.

I ran a lot of convoy escorts (in gun jeeps) and was never fired on. I did a lot of gun jeep patrols and was never fired on. It was the Infantry guys, the mechanized units (tanks, etc) who saw the action most of the time.

When I pulled town patrol in Saigon (huge, huge city), it was like being a city cop. 5,000 known AWOLS (absent without leave) in the city, so it was busy. Loved town patrol.

I also did river escort/patrol with the 560th MPs down in the Mekong Delta. Never got fired at.

As far as buddies, we were set up in squads and you usually hooked on to the guys in your squad. I'm in contact with many of those guys today, even though I spent just a year or less with most of them.

Wow. Sounds more like a vacation than a war. I'm not intersted in joining any of the forces but as far as violence and conflict how do you think Iraq compares to Vietnam?

No, not a vacation, but stories of continual trauma and horror are overstated. The guys in combat, yes, but again, when you have 1 in ten doing the fighting and the rest rear-echelon (and there's nothing wrong with support troops, don't get me wrong) it's just a bit of a false stereotype of the war.

Most guys never fired there gun. Many never carried one.

Iraq and Vietnam? Hmmmm. Well, they are both wars, lol. Vietnam was fought for a noble cause back then, to stop the spread of communism. As soon as we pulled out (and there was "no peace with honor"as Nixon and Kissinger said), the communist came in a slaughtered thousands in Vietnam and Cambodia. We were right and today the Hmong tribes are being slaughtered in Laos by the communist, but you won't hear much on the news about this.

The UN should have stepped in and confronted Sadaam because of his repeated violations of the surrender agreement, but they didn't. Going back to Clinton there was "evidence" of weapons of mass destruction, but when you give a guy 60 days notice....who knows. We stepped up and the rest is history, like it or not.

Personally, I just can't compare the two, hard for me, but war is war, that's for sure.

I have a lot of admiration for guys like you Jim. It is always interesting and eye opening when you hear a non clouded perspective of things. (i.e. non shoved down your throat network news with agenda). But the view of someone who was there and seen things for what they were.

Thanks for sharing your information. I am glad everything was okay with you over there, and not the worse side of the spectrum. Great to have you here in OS.

I always felt that Vietnam had a "bad rap" ... and never once listened to most of the "Kerry" like negativity. Because when it comes down to it, no matter what politicians and media slugs want to say, soldiers are human beings too, over there doing their job. Especially when most had no choice. So sad the media can viciously lay blame to the men and women following their duty.

Thanks.

John Kerry is an elitist *******, my opinion and is held in about the same regard as Jane Fonda by most Vietnam Vets. He is not the voice of most of us, that's for sure.

Movies like Platoon, although a well done movie, isn't close to what the soldiers were like. You would think, by watching that movie, that most of us were uneducated, uncivilized, racist morons. Just not so. Jarhead is another movie that was shameful in how it portrayed the soldiers. The movies about Iraq, please spare me. I think they all center around PTSD, post traumatic stress syndrome, more overblown nonsense.

Hope you can read my book one day. Have you seen the trailer. There's a neat picture of Saigon in it. Actually a postcard that I have.

Jim I know you were serving and such so I don't know how much you can shed light on this but how did the war go from being generally accepted and a "just cause" to being so hated and a symbol of the loss innocence that occurred after JFK's death?

Is it all overblown like some of the other stuff you're talking about here or did it seriously become hated the way the war always seems to be. Also what are your opinions of LBJ? I've read how he was torn up and would spend all night worrying about "the boys" and personally writing and signing the death notices for the families of soldiers killed.

# 9 jim416 @ Dec 8 (2 Minutes Ago)
Well, the press had as much to do with us losing as anything. The TET offensive, although a shock, was an absolute defeat for the VC and North Vietnam troops. They were decimated, but instead the press treated it like a defeat for the US troops. All of this while sipping champagne in a fancy hotel in Saigon. Nothing good was ever reported by the press, just as we see now about Iraq and Afghanistan. It's completely unfair to the troops.

We really didn't fight the war to win it because of politics (sound familiar) and it became frustrating.
When I was there I never paid attention to the press, didn't watch t.v. and just did my job as so many did, but later in the war (I was a civilian worker in 70) you could see the impact that the press was having on troop morale and strategy. LBJ? Never paid attention to him, or Nixon. He seemed like an OK man, really, but Nixon and Kissinger with their "peace with honor" was a friggin' farce.

Let's face it. We lost the war. As Bruce Springsteen says in "Born in the USA", "they're still there, and we're all gone" (paraphrasing that). It's what we did AFTER we finally pulled out that is embarrassing for our nation. We left behind all our equipment, tanks, choppers, etc., but Congress sort of quietly cut off all funding. That meant that the Vietnamese military could not perform maintenance on their American equipment, choppers, planes, purchase ammo, you name it. It didn't take long that the communist came flooding across the border against a fairly defenseless, but courageous Army that was, for all intents and purposes, without arms. (Congress sucked then, and they suck now). We basically abandoned the country in a sneaky way.

It's ironic that the Vietnamese still hold us in their hearts when Vets go back, but I know they don't blame the troops. They are still very anti-communist, especially those living here in the states.

I have not seen your trailer. Is it in your video section? Also, do you have your book out now, or is this in progress?

Thanks.

Wow, just watched the trailer... I will definitely be picking this book up tonight. Thank you!

The book has been out since 2005. You can see reviews on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. It lists, I think for $21.95, plus shipping/handling and tax. I can get it to you for $17.00 total. Just p.m. me.

Insightful as usual Jim.
I'm gonna have to make a trip out West one day and we'll have to get together and shoot the breeze.
Maybe I'll tie it in to another visit to visit some family and friends I have in Cali.

M.K.
Knight165

Soon, ahem.

Thanks for the insight Jim, interesting parallels between Vietnam and Iraq when you think about it.