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Post by sagebrush on May 4, 2020 5:21:45 GMT -8
Take 5 seconds, vacate your mind and bow your heads. Thank God that the National Guard is a hell of a lot better today than they were then. Never, ever should have happened. My rifle company were the first troops on the street during the MLK riots in WDC. We were on the front line at the peace march on the the Pentagon. We were highly trained, highly disciplined and highly effective. No one died at our hands, No rounds were fired. Did some people get thumped around? Yes, but they f'ing well deserved it. I could tell you a couple war stories about these things but this is probably not the space for it.
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Post by mbabeav on May 4, 2020 13:23:55 GMT -8
That was such a sad event, and after the Tet offensive, was seminal in forcing the US to negotiate a way out of the war. Gotta wonder what was going on in that commander's head as he was hitting the troops up the side of the head with his baton, trying to get them to stop shooting. At the moment I doubt it was "better training", but at least he didn't give an order to shoot.
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Post by wilkyisdashiznit on May 4, 2020 13:49:32 GMT -8
The effects of above-ground nuclear testing and leaded gasoline are never pretty.
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Post by sagebrush on May 4, 2020 13:55:03 GMT -8
mba, why they even had ammo for that situation is beyond me. Even if ammo was deemed necessary, standard operation procedure for a domestic situation is that you do not lock and load unless someone's life is in immediate and imminent danger. This was all about command and control. Even 50 years later, there are people whose asses should still be in jail. This is an opinion from an old, hard core grunt.
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Post by Tigardbeav on May 4, 2020 14:01:09 GMT -8
Just watched Ken Burns show on Vietnam. (Netflix) Pretty balanced. A lot of stuff I knew but he put it in order to understand it. I think Kent State & My Lai really turned the public against the war. That & the US wide Peace march on October of '69. That really had Mom's & Dad's out, not just students. www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-49893239And the images really had an effect on the American public. The little girl naked & burned w/napalm, the VC shot in the head bySouth Vietnam officer & the Kent state photos. The 1st 2 photos were early in the war but were easy to recall. The US really was coming apart |
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Post by mbabeav on May 4, 2020 15:45:56 GMT -8
mba, why they even had ammo for that situation is beyond me. Even if ammo was deemed necessary, standard operation procedure for a domestic situation is that you do not lock and load unless someone's life is in immediate and imminent danger. This was all about command and control. Even 50 years later, there are people whose asses should still be in jail. This is an opinion from an old, hard core grunt. Agreed |
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Post by sagebrush on May 4, 2020 15:49:26 GMT -8
There were heroes at My Lai. The chopper pilot and crew that sat down between Calley's men and the villagers and threatened to open fire if the carnage didn't stop.
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Post by Tigardbeav on May 4, 2020 16:13:23 GMT -8
There were heroes at My Lai. The chopper pilot and crew that sat down between Calley's men and the villagers and threatened to open fire if the carnage didn't stop. Ken Burns film showed & talked about that Most of Vietnam was before my time. But i got a lottery ball. Number 13. Nobody drafted in my class |
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Post by sagebrush on May 4, 2020 18:37:43 GMT -8
Pretty much ruined the chopper pilot's career, unfortunately. Calley still deserves one in the head or one up it and pull the pin. Never would have happened in my unit and we were really good and hard core,
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