Editor, whether the place is peaceful today is irrelevant to 50 years ago. Berlin is peaceful today too; Tokyo and Hiroshima are also on that long list. And they all love us and our money…
That doesn’t change whether the action was right based on the known situation back then.

Where would Hanoi be today be if the whole FUBAR didn’t happen? Another North Korea? Another hole for terrorists like other places in SE Asia? Who knows?

What we do know is, fighting for what is right, is a principle without expiration and without geographic boundaries.
Freedom at home and freedom around the world is not free.
Can I get an amen?

BTW let’s all note, dotard Trump FINALLY made it to Vietnam – just this past week. Bone spur must be gone!

Maybe next year, for Veteran’s Day, Trump will visit the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, and apologize to Senator McCain, the Kahn family and others.

See Rebecca Onion’s piece in “Slate” titled “The Snake-Eaters and the Yards.” You can just Google it. A snippet appears below:

“The Special Forces and the Montagnards—each tough, versatile, and accustomed to living in wild conditions—formed an affinity for each other. In the testimony of many veterans, their working relationship with the Montagnards, nicknamed Yards, was a bright spot in a confusing and frustrating war. The bond between America’s elite fighters and their indigenous partners has persisted into the present, but despite the best efforts of vets, the Montagnards have suffered greatly in the postwar years, at least in part because they cast their lot with the U.S. Army.”

It’s nice that Ford and Nike are there. It’s nice that they love us and our money. It is less nice that we seem to forget an entire people who placed their trust with us, and lost everything.

De Oppresso Liber.

I enlisted in the Army in 1968 for a reason and a cause – I stand by both today still.

FYI – I favor and have lobbied for opening relations with Cuba, and argued against the same with Vietnam. I seem to be in the minority, and am comfortable there.

EDITOR NOTE–Eagle Writer, we need to talk. At least half the people in Vietnam were on OUR side. We supposedly were fighting for their freedom, etc. etc. The term was their “right to self determination.” Today there is a Ford plant inn Hanoi, Nike plant, and the place is peaceful. Communist, but peaceful. I have been back 4 times and they love us–and our money.

Are you saying you are “FOR the war,” knowing what you know now? Seems to me it was a tragedy for pretty much everybody involved.

To Guardian readers… I made a donation to “Guardian citizen journalism” a year or so ago, and got the face-time autographed variation of the book. Money well spent, and time well spent reading the book.

The book is NOT a gritty war story, but rather a collection of up-close-and-personal anecdotes by a guy who entered the Vietnam War as a kid, got assigned to duty away from the front lines because of his unique skills, and came home a man… and has since made return trips to Vietnam. Good reading, even better photos. (Too bad Ken Burns doesn’t know about the author, who could’ve contributed to his documentary about the war.)

Thank you editor for the book and thank you to all those that have kept this country safe.

I request a sequel to tell the fascinating tale of the rest of your professional journey.

These windbags at city hall who refuse to call you a media outlet should bow and kiss your ring as you outclass all that do make the cut.