Spitting on Vietnam Soldiers

One of my neighbors...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=reRJlT82rgY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ryeqvr_qCfY&feature=PlayList&p=0CF81B6889C66E68&playnext=1&index=4

 

Quote: "i was actually @ some point in the future wanting to come up w/ a giant hippie apology to vets. cuz one of the reasons i lost a relationship was that very thing, or perhaps a small part of it. i just dunno what section on here i`d put it in."

You found the right section and I found you and I just want to say, no problem.

KH
USMC

 

I've gotten over it. I can understand the anger people had about the war in Viet Nam. Most of the radicals were acting out their frustration. The spitting was not directed at the soldier, as a person, but at the uniform that represented the war machine.

 

My friends mother was a hippie and she admited to spitting on the soldiers. Though she is dead now I can never ask myself.
RIP

 

how many of the ppl that feel it is kewl to spit on soldiers play call of duty or any kind of first person shooters, i have posted many tymes on this thread that we need to respect the ppl who are over fighting right now , and even tho we have family members that have fought in other wars even veit nam , i feel that they need our support even now for the fact that they are HUMANS , yah what they did is wrong , but at the same not humans in genral are a ppl that fight it is in our nature .
the reason i asked about the game thing is that is the same concept yes it is a game but those who play those games were do u think they get the concept for some of the best games . u still shoot at ppl be it online or AI , either way if u feel that is wrong to kill babys in war , think about the ppl who play the games on xbox , etc , those game infunce behaviors in ppl , and also show that killing is okay . we need to look to each other for suport not for bashing .
another thing how would some of u like it if u were cut down in words for deffending those around u beucase they are ur family . fighting is something that man has been doing since dawn of tyme to deffend there home and those they love . so in note yah the war was soemthing we could have avoided but think about it this way we lost many men and women from it , yah inocnet lives were lost , but in the end it is how u use that knowage of love and peace we hippys are known for . yah we can stand up aginst the wars , but it is better to suport those who fight and show that even tho we dont like it we are still willing to stand by them , and in the end there will be peace . dont spit on each other for what wrongs have been done ,
through the stone if u are inoncent in ur own wars , if not put it down , for we as a race , hands are not clean . so please see that in the end the war is with each other and our selfs. may every one find some kind of love and peace and honor that every soldier deservs we all are warriors at heart .

 

Alot of sad people on here...... I say Thank You to our military...God Bless The Troops and Thank God They are protecting us and not you panzies LOL

 

dont blame the soldiers, they are HEROES putting their lives on the line for everyone else, blame the fucking government who send the soldiers. "if you dont stand behind our troops, then stand in front of them". i am saying this and i am very anti war and violence.

 

how are they heroes? if they join its because they support the military and what its doing.

 

It's not right to hold soldiers responsible for the decisions of politicians. When the President decides to invade some country, he doesn't do an opinion poll and ask everybody in the Army if they agree. He gives an order and they have to follow it, even if it costs them both legs, both arms, or their head.

Those who volunteer deserve nothing but our respect and thanks. If there were no volunteers, there would have to be a draft, because every country has to have an army to survive. There is only one reason why other countries don't try to attack the US. They know they couldn't win.

 

I got out of the Army in 1968 and immediately went to work as a roadie for a SF rock band in the epicenter of the hip universe. Nobody gave a shit that I had been in the Army. There were young veterans like myself everywhere I went.

I never heard personally about a spitter or a spittee, and if it happened at all, it was not common. I think it's mostly urban legend.

 

This thread is nearly 4 1/2 years old, with almost 1,000 posts and 100 pages. What the fuck, let's keep it going!

To recap what I've been saying, blame the government that wages the war, not the soldiers who fight the war. While some atrocities may have been commited by some, do not paint them all as war criminals. That's no better than saying people who protest peacefully are just as bad as those who resort to rioting.

Anyone who would spit on, flip off or insult a vet (murderers, baby killers, etc.) who has served in a war is seriously misguided and does an anti-war movement more harm than good.

I've spoken with Vietnam vets and told them I came out against the war, but I appreciate that they served and what they went through, I've even thanked them. Further, I appreciate the huge contribution the Vietnam Veterans Against the War made toward ending the war.

So to all of you who would spit on, or support anyone who would spit on a Viet vet, SPIT ON YOU!!

 

Why spit on the soldiers, it's easy to be brave in theoretical situation but everyone here would do the same thing.
Win by attrition. In a kill or be killed situation every single person I know would chose to kill, innocent or not. In a jungle terrain rife with hiding enemy soldiers you really can't take the chance. It's a reflex action, trained into them. The soldier that uses indepedant thought is the soldier that gets his unit killed, they do what they're told. Plain and simple.

 

Again. It was me. It was a long time ago. Just forget it.

 

You know? The government was scared back then of the rapid growth of communism in countries... So they foolishly tried to help the democratic Vietnam thinking that it was going to be a fast and easy war... Also the troops were usually just a bunch of kids who thought they were helping their country, because the government glorified the military men in propaganda everywhere. Even when they got drafted they thought to themselves hey at least I am helping my country out and they didn't want to bring shame to their families by going to jail. That's how it was in the early 60's and for the most part the mid 60's before the hippie revolution became big. I mean I am patriotic, but yet I want to be a hippie too. Either way I love the original hippies "flower children" of the sixties... I just love the sixties period man, and no one can change that fact.

 

Again, I was never spit on , and no-one ever yelled insults to me- - maybe it went on- - -but once again the media probably exaggerated it

I bet no-one ever spit on a coffin comin home--

40 plus years ago.
jack

 

i think i've mentioned earlier that was pretty much my experiences getting back.at the very worst i was met with indifferance which is my preferance anyway.of course now we've got the assholes that go and demonstrate at military funerals.i don't remember that happening 40 years ago.this seems alot worst than some overly zealous person in the heat of the moment letting one fly.

 

Most reasons for going to war are, for the people who go to them, bogus. That's mostly because the people who do the fighting are not the people who start wars.

With that in mind, and not knowing anything more about a person than the fact they were wearing a uniform, it's an example of the height of ignorance to disrespect them.

Vietnam? I don't criticize any vet for being involved in the war, because I wasn't involved and I've never been closer to Hanoi than 1400 miles. Nobody can who was not there.
But if that vet is a bigoted jerk I might think of doing so.

 

I didn't join the army during the Viet Nam war because I was patriotic. I joined because I wanted to show my friends in the neighborhood that I was tough and not afraid to fight in the war. I was a paratrooper and thought I was a hotshot. Then I went home for Christmas leave in 1969 wearing my 82nd Airborne uniform and feeling real proud of myself for achieving my goal. I learned real quickly that people didn't look at you as a person, but as a symbol of aggression. I got spit on by a young hippie kid as I was waiting for a bus to go home to my mother's apartment. I just shook it off and decided not to retaliate because I could understand his anger - not against me - but at the uniform. From that time forward, I never wore my uniform off the base.

 

For what it's worth, I could never understand his anger, even though I opposed the war myself. If he really needed to express his disapproval then the mature thing to do would have been to tell you he was against the war and to encourage you not to re-enlist. But some people in the anti-war movement were either fanatics or just looking for attention. It's ironic how between the two of you, you're the one who acted as a pacifist.

 

I grew up in a military family, lived my entire young life on military bases atound the world, my father was in Vietnam, and so on. I have no doubt the vast majority of soldiers were there to do a good job in a bad war, and did it as well as they could under terrible conditions. BUT... it is disingenuous of you to say that soldiers do not target civilians, when - in fact - it has happened, does still happen, and will probably always happen at times. And - no matter what the circumstances or level of duress involved - purposely killing a civilian is a crime against humanity. It not only happened in Vietnam (and sometimes on a large scale: My Lai was not an isolated incident by any stretch), but it led to trials and court martial and imprisonment. Innocent people and prisoners were tortured and killed. Though it is true war creates an atmosphere in which what is considered normal human behavior is put to a grueling test, each individual is responsible for their actions. The military code specifically states that a soldier does NOT have to follow a criminal order, and though it is difficult to follow one's conscience when you are a subordinate, it is no excuse to say you were just following orders. The court decisions after WWII set this standard for all time. It is the sheerest fantasy to state civilians are not targeted purposefully in war, and it is unethical for any individual to absolve themselves of their participation by thinking they were just "doing their job."
And hippies DID NOT spit on returning military. It is an urban myth, and shares the one characteristic of all such myths: when it is told to you, it is always in the form of "a friend of mine said his cousin..." - second and third generation tales, uncorroborated, and driven by anger and misunderstanding.