I can not speak for everyone but I swore I would never be captured. All the rounds in whatever weapon I had I would use yet the last round was for me.
I am lucky and there is no doubt in my mind I have had a good lucky life but all the Vietnam stuff was long ago back when I was bold, almost invisible, and kinda stupid ..First Cav Rude, Crude, and highly unsophisticated yet we got the job done.... I do think about some really good people who gave their lives for a purpose we were told was worth dying for....
Vietnam is a pretty good place to visit now depending on where you go. Laos under their current communist leadership is one step above "third world" while Cambodia has some serious mining going on and seems to be in bed with China in many ways ... Pol Pot and now Xi's China ... Idiots... Money and bribes are still a big deal the world over and China IS the big dog in Asia; even though they manage to piss just about everyone off with their shoddy shady deals or the hidden threat of violence..
Who would have thought S.E. Asia would turn out like it has. In the military I was never filled with hate or took things personal.....There were people and things who were trying to kill me but they and " The Somethings" got killed right back..Rats the size of cats who seemed to want to sleep with you so they could eat your face (one bite 21 Rabi shots in the belly) and the occasional huge black scorpion (5 to 8 inches long) whose sticker would leave a mark like you were shot with a .22 and that is not counting the venom it would fire hose into the site of the sting; the Black Scorpions were very heavy in their thick black exoskeletons.... I do wish I had put one of the big ones in a jar just to show that, " Yep they really do get that big!"
Who knows maybe after death it is 72 virgins attending you ?? Wonder how the girls feel about that ?.....or pick a half dozen other feel good after death stories to make one less afraid of dying for the cause .
The ones I feel sorry for came back from (any) war missing limbs or other important pieces of their bodies especially those that were disfigured by fire and flame. For that to happen in your early 20s and spend the rest of your life disfigured by war could mess with peoples minds IMO. Luckily time does heal most mental wounds.
It would be nice if we would not have Wars yet I am not foolish enough after looking at human history to believe under the current versions of city states that no future war will ever happen.. Some would say that belief is rather pessimistic while others might consider it well Informed.. It would seem looking at Iraq, Syria, Libya, and half a dozen other great causes where people died and are dying today my pessimism is justified when it comes to war and human cruelty....?
If there's one thing that at least six thousand years of recorded human governance teaches, it's that there's never a shortage of despots.
There are low level wars (where people get killed) going on in almost every major city on the planet...think about it !!
Lucky as it seems the only sleepless nights I have are because my golf game did not go the way I wanted it to !!
An interesting couple of stories about F-4s and F-105s (Thuds) which were used as bombers over the North and POWs. I actually flew with one of the return POWs at my airline. He was a very appreciative man who had lived through shit most humans can not even imagine...
1965 thru 1968 Vietnam 224 Aim 7 sparrow missiles were fired at Migs with only 20 hits. What a crock of MIC B.S.
I am lucky and there is no doubt in my mind I have had a good lucky life but all the Vietnam stuff was long ago back when I was bold, almost invisible, and kinda stupid ..First Cav Rude, Crude, and highly unsophisticated yet we got the job done.... I do think about some really good people who gave their lives for a purpose we were told was worth dying for....
Vietnam is a pretty good place to visit now depending on where you go. Laos under their current communist leadership is one step above "third world" while Cambodia has some serious mining going on and seems to be in bed with China in many ways ... Pol Pot and now Xi's China ... Idiots... Money and bribes are still a big deal the world over and China IS the big dog in Asia; even though they manage to piss just about everyone off with their shoddy shady deals or the hidden threat of violence..
Who would have thought S.E. Asia would turn out like it has. In the military I was never filled with hate or took things personal.....There were people and things who were trying to kill me but they and " The Somethings" got killed right back..Rats the size of cats who seemed to want to sleep with you so they could eat your face (one bite 21 Rabi shots in the belly) and the occasional huge black scorpion (5 to 8 inches long) whose sticker would leave a mark like you were shot with a .22 and that is not counting the venom it would fire hose into the site of the sting; the Black Scorpions were very heavy in their thick black exoskeletons.... I do wish I had put one of the big ones in a jar just to show that, " Yep they really do get that big!"
Who knows maybe after death it is 72 virgins attending you ?? Wonder how the girls feel about that ?.....or pick a half dozen other feel good after death stories to make one less afraid of dying for the cause .
The ones I feel sorry for came back from (any) war missing limbs or other important pieces of their bodies especially those that were disfigured by fire and flame. For that to happen in your early 20s and spend the rest of your life disfigured by war could mess with peoples minds IMO. Luckily time does heal most mental wounds.
It would be nice if we would not have Wars yet I am not foolish enough after looking at human history to believe under the current versions of city states that no future war will ever happen.. Some would say that belief is rather pessimistic while others might consider it well Informed.. It would seem looking at Iraq, Syria, Libya, and half a dozen other great causes where people died and are dying today my pessimism is justified when it comes to war and human cruelty....?
If there's one thing that at least six thousand years of recorded human governance teaches, it's that there's never a shortage of despots.
There are low level wars (where people get killed) going on in almost every major city on the planet...think about it !!
Lucky as it seems the only sleepless nights I have are because my golf game did not go the way I wanted it to !!
An interesting couple of stories about F-4s and F-105s (Thuds) which were used as bombers over the North and POWs. I actually flew with one of the return POWs at my airline. He was a very appreciative man who had lived through shit most humans can not even imagine...
1965 thru 1968 Vietnam 224 Aim 7 sparrow missiles were fired at Migs with only 20 hits. What a crock of MIC B.S.
Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you’re wrong.
Silence those who disagree and you will never realize you are wrong.
No one rules if no one obeys
“Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.” - Voltaire
Silence those who disagree and you will never realize you are wrong.
No one rules if no one obeys
“Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.” - Voltaire