Protesting Vietnam vs. Iraq

This is to the older members of the forum. One of the biggest differences that I see between protesting the Vietnam War and the Iraq War is the treatment of our soldiers. I was alive during the Vietnam War but not old enough to understand it at the time. One of the things that I don't understand is why protesters treated our soldiers so badly, especially since so many of them were drafted and had no desire to fight the war. Being an adult during the Iraq war and while I don't agree with our reasons for going in, I blame our politicians and NOT our troops. Am I missing something? Protesters spitting on them, calling them baby killers. Why were people so cruel to our troops back then?

 

i took a class on vietnam....this is the closest war to vietnam..only real huge diff..is the soldiers get more reconition for the things they have done. i belive we should have been out of this bullshit a long time ago already! we keep sending troops..for wat??? to have more of our young men die?? adn for what??? reasons are still up in the air! were in this recesion because of this war..the US is just way to stuck up to end this shit...i completly support the troops but not this war!

 

No More War!

 

peace and love . my age is 54 , and the draft ended just as i had turned 18 . ya , i'll go protest most any war - for a little bit . the Institution of it is everywhere and deep and just won't die !

so i live as a peace warrior , an artist of peace and i take it to the streets . i collect arrows from thunderstorms and keep them in my pocket . i can shoot them to the heart of ornery cops damn cleverly .

i see that war will end . peace has the greater power .

just this morning i was listening to a big-time general . yep ,
that kind of strength , power and determination seems awful scary
as it mucks about the world-stage .
who can stand against the Beast ?

fuck off , sir .

 

There is no record of anyone spitting on soldiers at the time of the Viet Nam war. No mention in letters or in the media. It was a story told by Rambo in the movie of the same name and suddenly a large number of anecdotes were told. Many informed source see this as another urban myth. Why didn't anyone remeber this before Rambo (1982)?

 

Um.... I just watched a documentary on the History Channel of the Vietnam war and there was a vet that was interviewed and he said that it happened to him. In the airport I believe.

Anyways, this post is definitely not going the way I had hoped.
I asked a question and I haven't even come close to have received an answer.

I'm NOT going to get into a pissing match about who spit on who and who was called a baby killer.
Take out the specifics. It is common knowledge that Vietnam vets were treated badly by their fellow Americans, and it was because these people didn't support or believe in the Vietnam War (at least I think thats why they did it...).

I just don't understand how people back then couldn't separate the solider from the war, like we can today.

Can someone who was around back then help me with this please.

 

I was not around back then, but I have a theory. I admit, first off, that I don't know any of this for fact, it's just my guess. Vietnam was the first time that the horrors of war were broadcast to the people. The first time most people actually had to face the horrors of war. People were angry, but most didn't know who to be angry with. Some knew that it was the government doing these things, but many only knew what they saw, and that was soldiers doing the dirty work. Since then we've had time to learn and to become blind to the horrors. We know that it is the government that makes these wars, the men and women of the military are not to blame. And we are not as shocked. We are more concerned with the failing economy than the innocent lives that are taken. It all comes down to the times. That is just my opinion based on the limited life that I have lived.

 

i told you - i was there . in the spirit of peace and love . the current support the troops thing is wank and neurotic . i wouldn't think to do such a thing . i was there when friends came home with those buggered bad dreams . ya , i still might diss a flag or two when i get drunk . piss on that sort of nationalism . and the media of that sort too . it's without honor .
how do you get so many bad dreams as an honorable warrior ? cuz you were treated like a slave .

 

well i;ll try to answer this one too.i have to think a little so i'll think and write as i go along.there have been similar threads discussed but i'll try here.it seems to me the draft made vietnam alot more personal and escalated the amount of protesting being done.also it was a time when more people began questioning government policies.as the war progressed many of the veterans returned and rejoined or joined the protesting of the war.vietnam veterans against the war becane a very vocal and physical presence in america.it was about the mid 80's as i remember the concert welcome home was held.the country began to see the long term affects the war had on many veterans....the vietnam veterans memorial wall in washington d.c and many smaller memorials in cities and small towns were a reminder of the human side of people that had served.this may be a reason for the treatment of todays soldiers and veterans.i must say though my own experiences were that i was always treated very well by everyone.(except of course the viet cong).i don't know if this answers yor question or not.i was just writing out loud.

 

Were there some incidents --yes. Most certainly after this
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Lai perhaps that's when the airport one happened right after this hit all the airwaves. Was the serviceman a part of My Lai... probably not.. was it fair that it happened to him.... no... are there a shortage of assholes in this country ..NO

Most vets returned home without being hassled, into the welcome arms of friends and family.. they weren't received as well by the US government.

What's the difference between Iraq and Vietnam???


George Bush had a plan to get out of Vietnam.

 

norm coleman senator from minnesota had a plan to get out of vietnam but not out of iraq too.

 

or is it ex senator.it's still uncertain.former v.p. cheney too.ouch i have this other side of me.

 

It's so alike because you really don't know who the enemy is? Have you ever seen an insurgent?....EXACTLY. Shoot all of the fuckers, who cares.

 

It had to do more I think with the graphic news coverage every night at dinner time. And the shots of the caskets coming home. Today we don't see any of that. We don't see a cover shots like the one on Life magazine of the Vietnamese women and children being bombed with Napalm. We don't hear about the hazing stories, or things like My Lay massacre. But similar acts occurr in Iraq. The press has just been complicit in downplaying it.

 

that's a very good point gardener.we do get some images from the fronts but not to the degree we did back then.i think back to the photographs by matthew brady and others during the american civil war and wonder what kind of affect it had on the american people at that time.

 

I am not sure how the delivery of those images was handled then. News presses couldn't really handle anything but engravings, and even then it wasn't instant delivery like today.

And it was a domestic enemy, relatives fighting relatives, so that was a totally different dynamic. The enemy wasn't a facesless foreign demon.

But it would be interesting as sort of a control study to know how it did affect societal attitude towards the war.

 

I'd like to go on the record as also reinforcing that in my area of the country, there was no outright hostility towards the troops. We didn't approve of what the military was doing, but this wasn't a voluntary military, we were drafted. Many returning vets joined the anti-war/peace movement. They attended college on the gi bill and became vocal on our campuses. The vets came back totally wiped out and broken in many cases. Peace loving hippies didn't dump on them. We shared our weed with them and welcomed them into our ranks.

I think the media stories about the spitting were a lame attempt to drum up patriotic fervor for their war.

 

I beg to differ. How old are you anyway? Were you even alive when vets were coming home from the war? There were many many incidents of 'peace lovers' and war protestors hurling insults, and yes even saliva, at our soldiers.

 

how the hell is that election going up there in minnesota going anyway?they both seem to want to win that election especially old unstormin' stormin' norman

 

as the war goes on i find it less easy to lend my support to troops.i fervently hope for peace in the world and no more need for armies and yet i know countries might always need them.i remember while in the army i never had the feeling of a need of public support.i did what i did because young men my age were being drafted i felt if i joined the medical corps i could help.also there was the feeling of adventure.i just put in a few words so i could explain my viewpoint.we now have an all volunteer military and as such it is a differant kind of war in my opinion.still there are many people far from home facing the same kinds of danger i faced.my heart is with them.i don't feel they need my support just as i didn't have the feeling of needing support....i am getting kind of really tired of seeing all the national guard units being deployed and all the coverage it gets from the media with all the spin put on in an attempt at some kind of public relations for the armed forces..........."harry wilmans" by edgar lee masters...................i was just turned twenty-one....and henry phipps,the sunday school superintendant....made a speech in bindles opera house...."the honor of the flag must be upheld" he said...."whether it be assailed by a barbourous tribe of tagalogs....or the greatest power in europe"....and we cheered and cheered the speech and the flag he waved....as he spoke.....and i went to the war in spite of my father,....and i followed the flag till i saw it raised....by our camp in a rice field near manilla,....and all of us cheered and cheered it.....but there were flies and poisonous things,....and there was the deadly water,....and the cruel heat,....and the sickening putrid food,....and the smell of the trench just back of the tents....where the soldiers went to empty themselves....and there were the whores who followed us,full of syphilis...and beastly acts between ourselves or alone....with bullying,hatred,degradation among us....and days of loathing and nights of fear....to the hour of the charge through the steaming swamp....following the flag....till i fell with a scream,shot through the guts....now there's a flag over me in spoon river!....a flag! a flag! from"spoon river anthology" by edgar lee masters 1916.