Woodstock

[frawin]

Good points Jane, unfortunately every General in history , including Washington, Lee, Grant to Ike, Patton etc. have had to make those decisions.

[Anmar]

It's much easier to determine their decisions by the history of what happened than to try and guess their own personal feelings.

[W. Gray]

General Hershey, though, never made any combat decisions.

He was head of the Selective Service System and made a controversial draft decision that was struck down by the Supreme Court. That may be what she was so upset about.

[jarhead]

Diane,
What lies did Gen Hershey and his cronies tell your Al ? What lose/lose situation did they put him in ? What does Jane's age have to do with her not 'having any idea about the personal issues ? I'm just curious.

[sixdogsmom]

You know, Diane was especially asked to share her memories of that time, and shame on all of you for criticising when she does so. Personally I enjoy input from both coasts, and find it fascinating that they both have connections to Elk county. My politics are a result of my life experiences as I expect all of yours are. Doesn't mean they are totally right or totally wrong. But we need to remain respectful, even when opinions do not match our own. And sorry, gutter language is totally uncalled for.

[larryJ]

Diane has expressed her opinion and very well.  She was asked for her opinion and gave it.  So let it go.  She was describing the general moods and feelings that were prevalent at that time.  If you were draftable (I was) and got drafted (I did) and went overseas much to the dismay of your family (I did, they were), it was a very tough time and a lot of people (hippies, peaceniks, and war protesters)wanted to get their feelings out there.  And, the mistreatment of returning American servicemen and women was just plain wrong. 

Where Diane is a little misguided is her assessment of the generals.  Vietnam was a highly political war. The American government ran the war like a business.  Anything to keep the customers (American people) happy and not tick off the Chinese and Russians was more important than actually winning a winnable war.  Those Generals had their hands tied in that they had to abide by what Washington wanted them to do.  Their big mistake was to not resign in disgust when given the orders they got. 

Our American leaders made it a bad war and made bad decisions in trying to appease the American People.

Larryj

[D Whetstone]

And sorry, Douchebag is totally uncalled for.

Where did this come from? Where did someone write this before?  Please let me know. Trying to decide how much to edit here for my son.

Thanks,

David

[flintauqua]

Would anyone like to provide comments on the fact that the Vietnam War was the first of the "Television Era" and how that affected Americans in a way that war hadn't before.

Charles (born in '68)

[D Whetstone]

I think most of this is good raw data for the history books. The section about peoples feelings and perceptions about a moment in time.  Please don't make this a shouting match. Good honest debate will do. Just present your side of the story w/out trying to discredit the other opinions.

Thanks,

David

[D Whetstone]

Charles,

Thanks!

David