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Message
re: Louisiana fatal casualties of the Vietnam War
Posted on 2/3/15 at 11:25 am to Darth_Vader
Posted on 2/3/15 at 11:25 am to Darth_Vader
Darth, haven't you realized that the OT doesn't concern itself with facts?
Posted on 2/3/15 at 11:28 am to Spaceman Spiff
quote:
Darth, haven't you realized that the OT doesn't concern itself with facts?
For some that's true... but not all. You and Ace are shining examples of guys who I enjoy carrying on intelligent historic conversations.
Posted on 2/3/15 at 11:30 am to Darth_Vader
quote:
intelligent historic conversations.
I had the feeling you were a little older, Darth, closer to Wolfhound's age. Recently, I picked up on the fact that you're probably 2 - 3 years younger - but I guess that puts us in the same overall age group.
It's not the years, but the mileage, right?
And Spiff is alright - is he a vet as well?
Posted on 2/3/15 at 11:34 am to chinhoyang
quote:
Dad is the short guy (he still plays golf at 91)
Kudos to him for his service, he was one of those who got the Triple Crown:
WWII, Korea and Vietnam
My old man got a six week vacation under fire on Okinawa and was reserve during Korea. He was a tough SOB, but yours-
Posted on 2/3/15 at 11:35 am to Ace Midnight
quote:
had the feeling you were a little older, Darth, closer to Wolfhound's age. Recently, I picked up on the fact that you're probably 2 - 3 years younger - but I guess that puts us in the same overall age group.
How old is Wolfhound? I'm 44 myself.
quote:
It's not the years, but the mileage, right?
Bingo... sometimes I feel closer to 80 though myself.
quote:
And Spiff is alright - is he a vet as well?
I'm not sure if he's a vet or not. Good guy though.
Posted on 2/3/15 at 11:41 am to Darth_Vader
quote:
How old is Wolfhound?
I think the colonel is ~52 give or take.
If I'm right about that, I'm right in the middle of y'all, age wise.
And you're an O-5, correct?
Posted on 2/3/15 at 11:42 am to ctiger69
quote:
I did not realize there were so many people here who gave their lives in Vietnam. There were 6 from my small rural parish I grew up in.
And for what?
Posted on 2/3/15 at 11:43 am to Ace Midnight
quote:
I think the colonel is ~52 give or take.
Gotcha. Yeah, he's a bit older than me.
quote:
If I'm right about that, I'm right in the middle of y'all, age wise.
How old are you again?
quote:
And you're an O-5, correct?
Me? No, I was enlisted. My highest rank was E-6.
Posted on 2/3/15 at 11:43 am to Big Scrub TX
quote:
And for what?
For the man next to them.
Why don't you go find some like minded folks on the poliboard. You're out of your element here, BS.
Posted on 2/3/15 at 11:46 am to Darth_Vader
quote:
Now add in on top of that the fact the US was also at that same time having men fighting and dying every day in Italy and then there's the whole Pacific theater going on as well and you get a picture of just how huge of a meat grinder WWII actually was.
And all of this dwarfed by the horror of the Ostfront. The scale is hard to get your mind around.
Posted on 2/3/15 at 11:48 am to Big Scrub TX
quote:
And all of this dwarfed by the horror of the Ostfront. The scale is hard to get your mind around
True. And while I find the subject of the Eastern Front very interesting, it's a subject for another thread... which it's about time we have another East Front discussion if you want to start it.
Posted on 2/3/15 at 11:49 am to Darth_Vader
quote:
How old are you again?
47
quote:
Me? No, I was enlisted. My highest rank was E-6.
I must be thinking of somebody else, but I thought you were a field grade officer.
Your breadth of knowledge is impressive - some might suggest it is above and beyond what a mere "E-6" might acquire. However, I have a different perspective, as you know - I was in a NG MI unit located in a major college town. At one point, I was the platoon leader of a Russian platoon with 3 law school students (2 enlisted, 1 officer) and I was a company XO with a platoon sergeant who was a PhD candidate in physics. One of my E-6s from Kosovo held degrees in Chemistry and Chemical Engineering. My E-7 taught himself Albanian.
Officers usually cause more problems than we solve. Our enlisted troops and NCO corps, particularly, are the backbone of the service - and I don't just say that out of tradition. I'm in an officer heavy unit now and, needless to say, it isn't going well.
Posted on 2/3/15 at 11:50 am to Darth_Vader
quote:
which it's about time we have another East Front discussion if you want to start it.
You go - start with the one battlefield that is supposedly to this day simply covered several inches deep with bones.
Posted on 2/3/15 at 11:51 am to Ace Midnight
quote:
For the man next to them.
I understand that. That never made it worth it for me. I view it all as a tragedy.
Posted on 2/3/15 at 11:54 am to Big Scrub TX
quote:
That never made it worth it for me. I view it all as a tragedy.
I understand that. And I want to walk back my curtness towards you and apologize. This isn't the PB. This is the OT unofficial history thread of the day - and based on Vietnam, I think the politics of it is fair game.
As long as you don't attack my soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines - I'll gladly engage you, civilly.
And I agree it was a tragedy. It is what happens when political decisionmakers write checks they are then unwilling to allow their military leaders to cash - thus ending in a tragedy for the young men and women sent into harm's way. I think we agree on that point.
Posted on 2/3/15 at 11:58 am to Ace Midnight
quote:
I must be thinking of somebody else, but I thought you were a field grade officer.
Your breadth of knowledge is impressive - some might suggest it is above and beyond what a mere "E-6" might acquire.
Thanks, come from you, that means a lot.
But to be honest my level of knowledge of military history is thanks more to a lifetime of studying any and all history I can get my hands on than my time in the army and army guard.
quote:
I was in a NG MI unit located in a major college town. At one point, I was the platoon leader of a Russian platoon with 3 law school students (2 enlisted, 1 officer) and I was a company XO with a platoon sergeant who was a PhD candidate in physics. One of my E-6s from Kosovo held degrees in Chemistry and Chemical Engineering. My E-7 taught himself Albanian.
Officers usually cause more problems than we solve. Our enlisted troops and NCO corps, particularly, are the backbone of the service - and I don't just say that out of tradition. I'm in an officer heavy unit now and, needless to say, it isn't going well.
Well you know the old saying, it's a waste of a good NCO to make him an officer.
This post was edited on 2/3/15 at 11:59 am
Posted on 2/3/15 at 12:00 pm to Ace Midnight
quote:
I understand that. And I want to walk back my curtness towards you and apologize. This isn't the PB. This is the OT unofficial history thread of the day - and based on Vietnam, I think the politics of it is fair game.
I don't really want to "discuss politics". I just want to register my sadness that young men were sent off to die...for what? It saddened me then and it saddens me to this day.
quote:
As long as you don't attack my soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines - I'll gladly engage you, civilly.
No attack intended. I just wonder what these thousands of young men could have gone on to create for this country with their minds and hands. (Apologies, I think my wife is cutting up some onions in here.)
quote:
And I agree it was a tragedy. It is what happens when political decisionmakers write checks they are then unwilling to allow their military leaders to cash - thus ending in a tragedy for the young men and women sent into harm's way. I think we agree on that point.
Have you read Matterhorn? I think it does a great job of showing the minutiae of the on-the-ground political stuff. Infuriating.
His other book, What it's like to go to war, is equally interesting.
Posted on 2/3/15 at 12:03 pm to mikelbr
quote:
Is that the siege where reinforcements were literally told to jump out a moving plane because the runway was being blown to shite too? That was in the Netflix documentary but I don't recall the name of the firebase.
Pretty sure jumping from a moving plane (C-130)was the siege of Khe Sanh. Third Marine Division was surrounded by the NVA for almost 3 months. Good read is "Last Stand at Khe Sanh" by Gregg Jones.
This post was edited on 2/3/15 at 6:38 pm
Posted on 2/3/15 at 12:03 pm to 68wDoc68w
quote:
I don't understand how people who have NEVER been through the fire of combat speak to what a service member thinks, feels, goes through.
A comical admission. I was playing paintball for the first time years ago and I had no idea how intense that shite would be. At one point, I hid behind a wall and had a serious realization that I would have never emerged from a fox hole in Vietnam to return fire muchless storm a beach in France. I think I would have froze up and been worthless and then get killed.
Posted on 2/3/15 at 12:05 pm to FrenchJoe
quote:
Pretty sure jumping from a moving plane (C-130)was the siege of Khe Sanh. Third Marine Division was surrounded by the NVA for almost 3 months. Good read is "Last Stand at Khe Sanh" by Greeg Jones.
YES that's the one. The guy was saying thee planes slowed down on the runway just enough so they wouldn't be injured(less likely) when hopping out. Then the pilots floored it to take back off. That's insane to me. The balls on everyone involved.
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