Spitting on Vietnam Soldiers

Saftey pin you're about my age, I was drafted in 1966. At the time we were caught in the crossfire of old fools who didn't give a shit how many dead people were piled up on either side. Now it appears you're of the age of many of those old fools back then and you hold us in the same warm regard they did. It would be interesting to watch you in a personal conversation with some of our peers who might take exception to your desire to spit on us. That war was as evil as the savagery in Iraq...but to vent your opinion that it was or is the fault of young, ill-informed kids, is ill considered.
Perhaps you should visit the local airports and start spitting. At your age you have a lot of lost time to make up.

Stranges days, young and foolish is forgiveable. Perhaps you should try to learn a bit more before you become like the above Mr Saftypin.

Until you know the mindset and circumstance that has placed these young people in the situation they are in, a bit of human kindness and understanding are in order.

 

Don't talk to me like that, mother. I've known plenty of Viet Nam vets. One of'm was my best friend. Doesn't mean he didn't deserve to get spit on for what he did. He did the wrong thing and he had just as much choice as anyone else. You go some place to kill somebody because someone told you that's what you should do, at least stand up and take responsibility for it. Don't go complaining about how you were ill informed youngsters, even a four year old knows enough not to kill because someone tells him/her to. Fighting is the easiest thing in the world. You took the easy way out when you went to Viet Nam. It's not too late to reform your ways and take some responsibility for the mistake you made.

 

I would rather kill than be killed. I wouldn't just stand around and let someone shoot me because of an unrealistic pacifist ideology.

 

Standing around waiting for someone to shoot you was not the only option.

 

Huh?? What?!! Vietnam was the easy way out? So it was much harder on those of us who beat the draft by going to college, running to Canada or just plain sticking around and taking our chances?

And plenty of Vietnam vets have taken personal responsibility for their part in the war. But when they reported for duty many felt that dodging the draft would be wrong. But you, my friend, feel that they were wrong not to dodge the draft and therefore deserve to be spat on. Please descend from your self-righteous ivory tower.

 

Avoiding a draft is not without its consequences. You could run to the border, but then what? People don't always make it across. You couldn't stay home or you would be arrested, and then you'd just be rotting in jail. I agree that the American government’s intentions behind the Vietnam war were not in the best interests of the countrymen. However, if you were there and your life was on the line, it would make more sense to fight for yourself if for no one else. Dead men can't protest.

That said, I cannot fathom why people are against defending themselves. If someone is trying to kill you, regardless of the situation, you are not going to live unless you fight back. If the American soldiers did not kill, then none of them would have returned.

 

Please explain why the US was in Vietnam in the first place. It's not like the Viet Cong were about to invade Kansas or anything. Let's face it, we were there to protect our corporate interests, not for any of that mamby-pamby "freedom" and "Democracy" crap they force-fed us.

 

It's official, this thread is 2 years old and still going strong!

Happy Birthday, arty:

Spitting on Vietnam Soldiers!

 

Well then why dont you take your ungrateful ass out of our country?

 

the reason that one doesnt "take their ungrateful ass" out of this country...is because this country gives them the right to be ungrateful, its their right to voice their opinion, just as much as it is for you to voice yours. Now, that is the harsh reality of America, haha, we can hate our country..and not get stoned for it!! ahyuck!

 

If Vietnam was the easy way out for a draftee, I don't even want to know what the hard way was! Thanks for your service Yarapario!

 

Don't believe EVERYTHING you hear and read about the hippie movement. So much of it is CRAP. I grew up in that time, my friends grew up in that time.
My husband served as a medic --he still lives with the horrors of what he saw. A LOT of my friends served as well, yet my husband nor I have ever actually found a single VN era vet who has personally told me they were spit on by any real hippies. Many of the vets were in fact hippies themselves when they were forced to serve, or became part of the movement after they returned, having seen what they saw.

A lot of the news stories of the day were "expounded" upon by pro-war media and politicians to suit their own purpose.... if ONE guy got spit on, by accident or rudeness, the next day the media proclaimed "all hippies spit on soldiers". It was part of the politics ---we must stop the hippie youth movement by any means possible. Propaganda such as this was high on the list, as was putting "undercover" people in a crowd to incite trouble (such as spitting at a soldier) so the media could say "see, we saw this guy do this, we told you those hippies are all alike"

Then you also had folks the media referred to as hippies because they took on hippie styles to lure in confused young people to further their own agendas -- while they WERE non-conformists to be sure, they were not hippies, for they did not embrace the non-violent portion of the ideology. The media lumped ANY non-conformist under the age of 30 in with the hippies. For example,
Charles Manson certainly LOOKED the hippie roll, but he certainly did not believe in peace, love, non-violence or much of any part of the movement. He used it for his own agenda and personal gains, as did many radical political individuals and groups.

I marched in several war protests during the 60's and early 70's -- I never saw ANYONE spit on a soldier. I did see a bunch of folks march to a park, step up to a microphone one by one and read off the names of each and every soldier from our state who had been killed or was missing. It was only 1968 and it was already a very long list.

By 1968, over 500,000 Americans were serving in the war. By its end, many many more. What percentage of these folks would actually tell you they personally were spit on? Maybe 10 guys??? And could they be sure it was a hippie who spit on them and not some cop in a Beatle wig?

By its end over 58,000 US soldiers were killed or missing in action. In my opinion, THESE are the folks who were spit on -- by the people who sent them there in the first place. The US hardly bothered to look for the MIAs and POWs (why do you think those black POW/MIA flags are still waving??)

And they're still being spat upon by the government today, in the form of poor medical care, broken housing and educational promises, and below poverty disability pensions.

This country spits on men like my husband every day...they allow VA hospitals to operate in deplorable conditions, make veterans wait months on end for treatment or simply don't offer treatment for certain problems at all, declare their records "lost" so they cannot collect benefits, or expect veterans to meet their living expenses on disability pensions which are below the national poverty standards. Why do you think 46% of the homeless in America are VETERANS???

As of July, 2007, our home will go into foreclosure because taxes and interest payments rise, as do costs of utilities, insurance, etc, but pensions do not rise at the same rate. My husband and I will very soon be joining that 46% of homeless veterans and their families because we are expected to live on $1193 a month.

Now THAT my dear is spitting on soldiers.

 

That really bothers me to hear about your home, but you're not really going to be homeless are you? $1193 a month isn't much but it can pay the rent on a 1 bedroom apartment and feed you if you're careful with it.

 

Not where we live it won't. Yes, we really will be homeless. This is a family of three - my husband has a 31 year old developmentally challenged son. A one bedroom apartment isn't going to cut it -- would have to be at least a 2 bedroom, plus we would have to give up our cats, all rescued from abuse and neglect. The cheapest 2 bedroom in a halfway decent area with public transportation would run around $850-$1000; electricity would run about $240-$300 per month; water and garbage (which doesn't always come with the places we could afford to move to) would run another $105 per month; that leaves phone (a must when you live with disabled folks) Right there we've already exceeded the $1193. While the VA covers his medical expenses, it does not cover his son or mine. We are unisured. We applied for food stamps -- they told us we could get a whopping $11 a month.

$1193 per month is below poverty level for two people, let alone three.

NO VETERAN SHOULD EVER BE FORCED TO LIVE UNDER POVERTY LEVEL IN THE RICHEST NATION IN THE WORLD.

 

I appreciate the work you did as a soldier. But you need to move your butt to a not so nice part of town, squeeze into a 1 bedroom apartment, and stop bitchin about being homeless. You have $1193 per month. You are not homeless with $1193, unless you choose to be. No sympathy from me on the homeless part.

 

This whole canard about lefties spitting on soldiers is something the media came up with to influence the sheeplike masses -- in other words it never happened. Maybe it happened once, and all of a sudden it became "the fuckin' hippies are spitting on our soldiers!!! YAHHHH!!" What a load of crap. 1) Can you see peace&love hippies actually spitting on people? Especially people who can beat them up? Not gonna happen. 2) It was not even considered as a tactic by those of us on the radical left. We were FOR the soldiers, just against the WAR. Our point was to try to stop them from getting killed. Why would we spit on them? 3) Agent provocateurs were common in those years. If there was such a spitting incident, it was probably one of those, doing it conveniently in front of a TV camera for all the world to see (and blame the leftists).

BTW - Just read FL60's message, saying bascially the same thing, but with more facts & emotion. W2G, FL60! You are so right about the plight of our vets, and I hope things work out for you.

And salmon4me... you are an ass. You should be ashamed of yourself for what you said to FL60.

 

I just checked and fl60srock hasn't posted anything since that last one on May 23rd. Hey gal, if you get the chance we'd like to hear from you. How did things turn out, and how are you holding up?

 

i would not spit at soldiers because it is just inmoral because they are people i would blame the government for sending soldiers to vam

 

I would of spat on the people who sent the souls there in the name of FREEDOM. Fuck the cold war and the casualties of the clash of ideology.

You cant blame the soldiers. They were brainwashed.

 

Spit on a Vet in front of me, I may have to try and whip ya.
Some people on this Earth have no clue what these men, women, mothers and fathers and the whole fan-damnley! Had to go through in US war history. Yes, US leaders do seem like they too are bent on being the 'World Police'. But, our families who have to go do the REAL fighting, don't deserve to be disrespected that way. You have no idea how many of them are homeless and or disabled today. Thanks to the war givers.