excellent point. this is one area that i have always tried to make
clear in discussion about the war. Support for the troops serving is
not mutually exclusive with questioning the war.
i would hope that we, as a country, are all in agreement that the
treatment of vietnam vets, with way too many of them not even being
volunteers, was a very dark chapter in our history.
i havent heard of any incidents that recall those days, and hope it
stays that way.
--- In AsburyPark@yahoogroups.com, "dfsavgny" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> I'm sitting this one out. Hopefully, the one thing we have learned
> from the Vietnam era is to give our unilateral support and help to
> those who put themselves in harms way despite our personal feelings
> about the particular conflict.
>
> --- In AsburyPark@yahoogroups.com, "jerseyjohn99"
> <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> >
> > It's amazing. People on here take potshots at a government I
> helped
> > to elect without one peep, yet I bring a healthy skepticism to a
> > counter-revolutionary group, and I'm branded everything from
> selfish
> > to a Nazi sympathizer. (which is humorously ironic to this
history
> > buff, as nazism was a SOCIALIST movement.)
> >
> > As Lighty & Bruce alluded to, blind faith in anything will get
you
> > killed. Case in point. History tells us every revolutionary
> > movement, absent a persuasive leader, needs a sympathetic martyr
> to
> > rally around. What better martyr than a good-looking All-American
> > kid from the heartland? This kid, despite a desire to "blow
things
> > up", freely chose to join the Marine Corps rather than hone his
> > desires at any of the numerous coal mines, steel mills, or
> > construction sites that pepper the greater Allentown area. His
> > induction in to Marines began with a 4am arrival & haircut at
> Parris
> > Island, followed by twelve weeks of sweeping a broom to the
> cadence
> > of "Marine Corps, KILL KILL KILL", jumping jacks to the cadence
> > of "Marine Corps, KILL KILL KILL", and piercing his dinner with a
> > fork to the cadence of "Marine Corps, KILL KILL KILL". During
> these
> > 12 weeks, he was exposed & desensitized to what the
phrase "Marine
> > Corps, KILL KILL KILL" actually means. Because he was a
volunteer,
> > he was given the option of withdrawing at any time. Roughly 30%
of
> > his fellow recruits chose to drop out under no obligation. He
> chose
> > to graduate from basic training & was contractually obligated to
> > spend the next four years of his life as a Marine, the most
> > efficient killing force the world has ever known.
> >
> > Sometime in the last three months of his contractual obligation
> (May-
> > August 2003) he saw something that bothered him. This perfectly
> > natural occurrence, once known as "shell shock" is now called
Post
> > Traumatic Stress Disorder. It can manifest itself months or years
> > after actual combat. People with untreated PTSD have been shown
to
> > be highly susceptible to dangerous influences & are more likely
to
> > have harmful side effects from PTSD.
> >
> > Now let's get back to the revolutionary movement again.
> > Surprisingly, IVAW was founded by Corporal Hoffman, but its
> > headquarters are in St. Louis, not in Pennsylvania, where he now
> > lives. IVAW can either get Corporal Hoffman the treatment he
needs
> > to combat PTSD or they can exploit this good-looking All-American
> > kid & make him relive his nightmares to further their agenda.
> Since
> > they take their name from VVAW, we can assume their agenda is the
> > same: full scale withdrawal of US troops from all hostilities
> using
> > any means necessary. VVAW metastized from a non-violent protest
> > group in November 1967 to a counter-revolutionary group in
> November
> > 1971 calling for National Strikes, open sedition, and
> assassination
> > of US Senators.
> >
> > The fact IVAW found some non-violent filmaker with a large
> following
> > in Asbury Park to further their agenda has proven their
> exploitation
> > of Corporal Hoffman was successful. God help us all if Al-Qaeda
is
> > able to funnel money & propaganda to IVAW the same way the KGB,
> > through the World Peace Council, was able to funnel money to VVAW.
> >
> > Now, Jim, regarding your most recent post directed to me, I would
> > appreciate it if you would refrain from the personal attacks &
> > insults. We can disagree without being disagreeable. As a
> > documentary filmmaker, I was under the assumption you were
> > interested in discovering & presenting facts. I apologize if my
> > assumptions were incorrect.
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