bulldogg
Milforum's Bouncer
I have had the opportunity to befriend and engage in conversation an old soldier from the Russian far east who had served in Vietnam. He was an 'advisor' to the Hanoi government in the late 60's. He showed me pictures and scars and retold tales of his experiences. He expressed respect and admiration for the American troops for the way they conducted themselves on the battlefield. He cried when he recounted orders he obeyed that harmed POW's. But he became quite angry when he asked why the US government had abandoned so many troops that were still in enemy hands when they left in 1975. As a Russian he was glad the US lost, as a soldier he was angered at how these troops were treated.
He was quite candid about his desire back in the early 60's to hopefully go to war. He wanted his government to invade the US and end the "cold war" instead of the slow death. Now of course his opinion has changed. He still deeply distrusts the American government as well as his own but he wouldn't want to harm another human being for anything less than protecting himself, his family or his country from invasion.
We still have frequent conversations and I hope to write a book one day but it made me pause to think how many gung-ho troops of today are being turned into remorseful old men. And for what? The crisis and great evil of today is terrorism. Terror is the weapon of the weak employed against the invincible. When the legitimate troops of your nemesis are beyond harm, like those of the US, the enemy will strike where the beast is soft, civilians. Terrorism of today is the cold war of yesterday. Something easily avoided with the use of the brain and not the brawn. Terrorism against the US is a direct result of the illegal and secret activities of the pentagon through JCET et al and the CIA for the last 50 years.
The US has weakened the weak and further impoverished the poor through supporting oppressive governments and super austerity measures of the IMF and World Bank. And the only ones who don't know this are the Americans themselves, the victims in this have known all along. The memory of the oppressed is long and they are now hitting back from whence their pain came. And it is the soldiers who are dying for the ignorance of the masses.
He was quite candid about his desire back in the early 60's to hopefully go to war. He wanted his government to invade the US and end the "cold war" instead of the slow death. Now of course his opinion has changed. He still deeply distrusts the American government as well as his own but he wouldn't want to harm another human being for anything less than protecting himself, his family or his country from invasion.
We still have frequent conversations and I hope to write a book one day but it made me pause to think how many gung-ho troops of today are being turned into remorseful old men. And for what? The crisis and great evil of today is terrorism. Terror is the weapon of the weak employed against the invincible. When the legitimate troops of your nemesis are beyond harm, like those of the US, the enemy will strike where the beast is soft, civilians. Terrorism of today is the cold war of yesterday. Something easily avoided with the use of the brain and not the brawn. Terrorism against the US is a direct result of the illegal and secret activities of the pentagon through JCET et al and the CIA for the last 50 years.
The US has weakened the weak and further impoverished the poor through supporting oppressive governments and super austerity measures of the IMF and World Bank. And the only ones who don't know this are the Americans themselves, the victims in this have known all along. The memory of the oppressed is long and they are now hitting back from whence their pain came. And it is the soldiers who are dying for the ignorance of the masses.