this post was submitted on 03 Nov 2024
445 points (97.8% liked)
United States | News & Politics
1922 readers
1141 users here now
Welcome to [email protected], where you can share and converse about the different things happening all over/about the United States.
If you’re interested in participating, please subscribe.
Rules
Be respectful and civil. No racism/bigotry/hateful speech.
Post anything related to the United States.
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
Ok but I'm not thanking a Vietnam vet for their service. The US should never have gone to Vietnam. The US should be responsible for the horrors they committed abroad.
Which is true, the US should not have gone. However, many people were drafted for war in Vietnam, and going may not have been their choice.
I still don't think thanking them for their service is the right thing to say, maybe something along the lines of "I'm sorry you were forced into a horrible war."
The guy in the picture, though, is a senior chief petty officer, which pretty much means he did 20 years at least. This guy retired and is still collecting a check from the government. A far cry from the draftees who were forced into combat and forgotten about as soon as they got home, lucky to have survived at all.
You have no way of knowing what his status at the time was or why he enlisted. It's entirely possible he was dirt poor, with a bad draft number, so he joined the Navy to make sure he wouldn't be on the ground in Vietnam. And staying in after would make sense at that point as he doesn't have anything to go home to.
Very true, however I was merely drawing a distinction between those drafted and tossed aside, and those who the original commenter said had committed horrors abroad. This guy is more likely to have been complicit.
To be fair, given his job, this guy probably didn't commit wild atrocities. He probably stared at a screen, waiting for the Viet Cong to deploy submarines.