Originally posted by Plain Old Bill:
Well as a matter of fact I have thought of going back. I also hear the present government is loosening up on it's persecution of christians.
I made many good Vietnamese friends when I was there so I don't hold animosity toward the people. Vietnam has some of the most beautiful beaches in the world.
When I was over there sometimes you didn't know who your friend or enemy was unless you were being shot at, so in that regard there may be some similarities. This isn't big time wrestling you don't walk out on your partner in the middle of the fight.
Amen brother! Right on target! I'll share a few thoughts on this publically just to reinforce some things you wrote and to add some points for consideration.
A trip back to Viet Nam can be interesting and fun. Things have changed a whole lot - some for the better and some for the worse - and you won't find much left from the war itself. You can now generally expect a hassle free trip much improved over those made about ten to fifteen years ago.
There are still serious problems and concerns - including alleged persecution of Montagard minorities that happen to be Christians - but much has improved since the very harsh years following the end of the war. There is limited freedom of religion for the majority of Vietnamese. It is a nation governed by a single party Communist regime but it is rapidly embracing Capitalism in the interest of survival. There's a lot yet to be corrected in many areas. The Viet Kieu (Vietnamese natives living abroad) have a big influence on the country because of the money they bring into it. They are pushing for continued reforms as are other interested parties both external and internal. Time will bring about more changes for my second home land.
There are many things I, and a whole lot of others, wish had turned out differently in the Viet Nam war but none of those things are going to change now. We didn't loose that war in the raw sense of military defeat but we sure did drop our support and watched our former ally loose it a few years after we departed following a peace treaty blatantly broken by our enemy. I suppose our friends had to go it on their own sooner or later but it never did set right to me the way it went down because it did go back on our word. All that is over and done now. All we can do now is influence the present for our brothers and sisters in arms now fighting a war for which the support - at least that in the popular media - waivers from day to day. I want to see the history of their war turn out better than ours did.
Veterans like us should never let the liberals convince us that we need a trip there to "reconcile" - give and receive forgiveness - with our former enemy and the country in which that war occurred. In the liberal mindset this is to acknowledge the alleged gross and common evil deeds done while they were there. This is all part of that "victimization" theme so common among liberals. Veterans of the Viet Nam war, and any others in recent times, don't need to have that feeling any more than veterans of World War II returning to visit Germany felt they need to do that with the German people!
Our country sent us to fight a war there and we did it to the best of our ability as it came to us. It was a just cause at that time and we served honorably. There were other possibilities - choices - that could have been made earlier on in the political arena that might have resulted in a different course of action. Those things can be argued in historical perspective but at the time our reasons were well founded and our cause was just as well as our prosecution of the war on a daily basis. Never let anyone convince you otherwise! There is nothing to reconcile for having done that! Viet Nam veterans need not let the liberals put the guilt trip on them by making them feel the road to acceptance is to seek forgiveness for their actions in war! They should let their conscience be clean on those matters as should be every solider who does what must be done in war within the law. They need not be dragged down into a life of shame or misery over tales of an endless stream of atrocities that never happened presented by who have made such events a badge of dishonorable attention.
Likewise, the same is true of any soldier who was once our enemy according to his laws. We need not feel hatred towards them. We bear one another no ill will and owe one another no apology. We can, and more often than not, respect one another for our fighting abilities. We also are happy that we do not meet now in battle. They aren't our enemies now and besides as many people living there now were on our side as not, a whole lot on neither side, and a whole lot more not ever born yet!
Viet Nam war veterans, and veterans of more recent wars should hold their heads up high! They should never apologize to anyone for doing what their country sent them to do.
Patrick
