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MAJ Ken Landgren
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That is a stupid comment as it is a strategic communication oil is the penultimate reason for our actions in the ME.
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LTC Lee Bouchard
LTC Lee Bouchard
>1 y
I remember those who claimed we were in the Korean war because of all the off shore oil we would have access to. Again, why the Viet Nam war. Because of all the oil we could have and the greedy U.S. can rape and plunder these poor countries and make the rich even richer etc. back home.

See any U.S. oil platforms off the Korean and V.N. shores shipping oil back to the U.S.?
I think the closest such rig was last seen off Texas somewhere.
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SPC Nancy Greene
SPC Nancy Greene
>1 y
TEXAS!!! “Give that Man a Cigar”! President Johnson & Texas Oil Barons! That explains US involvement in Vietnam! Do not know particulars of Korea (too young); however, Never Did Understand why US is still protecting 38th Parallel!LTC Lee Bouchard
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1stSgt Nelson Kerr
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Cadet Bonespurs is a grifter who sees no problem with armed robbery.
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1stSgt Nelson Kerr
1stSgt Nelson Kerr
>1 y
LCpl Leo Morrissey He can not be arrested while he is in office. And thr lying POS AG will not investigate je is too busy covering up other crimes
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Sgt Bob Leonard
Sgt Bob Leonard
>1 y
LCpl Leo Morrissey,
You said, "What about Cadet Clinton who not only avoided the draft but also took part in anti war protests against us and sold us out in Vietnam ? What about Cader Obama who didn't have to avoid the draft he just saw the military as beneath him and his USA hating wife ?"

First of all, Bill Clinton was never a "cadet".

He didn't avoid the Draft. He first took steps to delay military service by telling Col. Eugene Holmes, the OIC of the ROTC program at the University of Arkansas, that he intended to go into ROTC when he returned from the Rhodes Scholar Program overseas he was already in. Based on that, he was classified 1D. That was Summer 1969.

While overseas, he apparently had an attack of conscience/change of heart. He sent a letter to Col. Holmes telling him of this change.
"And that is where I am now, writing to you because you have been good to me and have a right to know what I think and feel. I am writing too in the hope that my telling this one story will help you to understand more clearly how so many fine people have come to find themselves still loving their country but loathing the military, to which you and other good men have devoted years, lifetimes, of the best service you could give."
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/clinton/etc/draftletter.html

"In September or October 1969, he says he changed his mind and decided not to join the ROTC unit, and was classified as draft-eligible on Oct. 30, 1969."
"By the time the lottery took place, on Dec. 1, 1969, the rules had changed again and Clinton was in danger of being drafted. But he drew number 311; no one with a number higher than 195 was ever called."
http://tech.mit.edu/V112/N3/clinton.03w.txt.html

The sequence of events:
Summer 1969: Bill Clinton classified 1D based on his stated intent to join ROTC Summer 1970
Sep-Oct 1969: BC wrestled with conscience.
Because BC had missed two required check-ins by mail with him, Col. Holmes rescinded his 1D deferment, making him 1A.
Late Nov 1969: BC sent his 'confessional' letter to Col. Holmes, accepting the fact that doing so would make him 1A
Dec 1, 1969: Draft Lottery held; BC's Number is 311.
Dec 3, 1969: Col. Holmes receives BC's letter.

So, Bill Clinton initially took steps to avoid the Draft. After wrestling with his conscience-v-convictions, he relinquished his 1D deferment and accepted 1A. The Draft Lottery gave him number 311.
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Sgt Bob Leonard
Sgt Bob Leonard
>1 y
LCpl Leo Morrissey ,
I find it significant, very significant, that you mention JFK, LBJ, Carter, et al, but you skip over Pres. Nixon. In 1969 (when you got out of the Corps), when he took Office, he almost immediately began a process he called Vietnamization and began withdrawing American Troops from Vietnam. 1968, Pres. Johnson's last year, saw the highest number of US Troops:536,100. Pres. Nixon began almost immediately to withdraw them.

US Troop levels by year:
1968: 536,100 (LBJ)
1969: 475,200 (RMN)
1970: 334,600 (RMN)
1971: 156,800 (RMN)
1972: 24,200 (RMN)
1973: 50 (RMN) (Probably the Marine Guards at the US Embassy)

In late 1972, Henry Kissinger, President Nixon‘s chosen representative, and Le Duc Tho, finalized the agreement that was formally accepted January 1973. Have you ever read that document?
.......
Agreement on Ending the War and Restoring Peace in Vietnam (Paris, 27 January 1973)

Article 1
The United States and all other countries respect the independence, sovereignty, unity, and territorial integrity of Vietnam as recognized by the 1954 Geneva Agreements on Vietnam.
.......

Article 4
The United States will not continue its military involvement or intervene in the internal affairs of South Vietnam.
.......

https://www.cvce.eu/content/publication/2001/10/12/656ccc0d-31ef-42a6-a3e9-ce5ee7d4fc80/publishable_en.pdf

.......

Article 1 established what Viet Nam had been fighting for for over thirty years: international recognition as a sovereign nation. That means they won.

Article 4, one sentence: the US will get out and stay out of Vietnam. Period.

I need to point out here that negotiation of treaties with foreign countries is the sole responsibility of the Executive branch, i.e. the President. In this case, President Nixon, and only President Nixon, is responsible for the 1973 Paris Peace Accords.

You seem to put the entire blame for us abandoning South Vietnam on the Democrats. Consider the following from the Nixon White House secret tapes:

RICHARD NIXON AND HENRY A. KISSINGER 3 AUGUST 1972 8:28am

President Nixon
But also due to the fact—because I look at the tide of history out there—South Vietnam probably can never even survive anyway. I’m just being perfectly candid. I—

Henry A. Kissinger
In the pull-out area—

President Nixon
[Unclear] we’ve got to be—if we can get certain guarantees so that they aren’t . . . as you know, looking at the foreign policy process, though, I mean, you’ve got to be—we also have to realize, Henry, that winning an election is terribly important. It’s terribly important this year . . . but can we have a viable foreign policy if a year from now or two years from now, North Vietnam gobbles up South Vietnam? That’s the real question.

Kissinger
If a year or two years from now North Vietnam gobbles up South Vietnam, we can have a viable foreign policy if it looks as if it’s the result of South Vietnamese incompetence. If we now sell out in such a way that, say, within a three- to four-month period, we have pushed President Thieu over the brink—we ourselves—I think, there is going to be—even the Chinese won’t like that. I mean, they’ll pay verbal—verbally, they’ll like it.

President Nixon
But it’ll worry them.

Kissinger
But it will worry everybody. And domestically in the long run it won’t help us all that much because our opponents will say we should’ve done it three years ago.

President Nixon
I know.

Kissinger
So we’ve got to find some formula that holds the thing together a year or two, after which—after a year, Mr. President, Vietnam will be a backwater. If we settle it, say, this October, by January ’74 no one will give a damn.
https://prde.upress.virginia.edu/conversations/4006748
.......

RICHARD NIXON AND HENRY A. KISSINGER ON 6 OCTOBER 1972

President Nixon
That’s a deal we have to take, Henry.

Kissinger
That’s right, but that will also collapse the South Vietnamese, except we won’t be so responsible for the whole settlement.

President Nixon
No.

Kissinger
So as I look down the road, I think there is one chance in four.

President Nixon
Well, if they’re that collapsible, maybe they just have to be collapsed. That’s another way to look at it, too. I mean, we have to—we’ve got to remember, we cannot keep this child sucking at the tit when the child is four years old. You know? I mean there—

Kissinger
Well, it’s—

President Nixon
—there comes a time.

Kissinger
See, what we can get out of a settlement now—I’m not even sure it’s going to help you politically. You can judge better whether you will wind up like [Winston S.] Churchill having [unclear]—

President Nixon
[speaking over Kissinger] I don’t want it before the election, Henry. But go ahead.

Kissinger
Well, if we keep going, you may have no choice. You may get it before the election.

President Nixon
Well, let’s try our best not to have it before the election. The better—the more that we can—the more that we can stagger past the election, the better.

Kissinger
You do not want it before the election.

President Nixon
Well, I don’t want it before the election with a Thieu blowup. If we do, it’s going to hurt us very badly.

Kissinger
Well, we may be able to avoid a Thieu blowup because what I’m thinking [unclear]—I’m thinking of another strategy now with—

President Nixon
[Unclear] thinking of a private deal.

Kissinger
No, I’m thinking of a strategy in which I present half of our political proposal. Tell them what we—else we can do depends on what security guarantees they give us. Get the security guarantees. Go out to Saigon and say, “We’ve gotten you all these security guarantees. Now you better come the rest of the way.” I’ve taken the liberty of sending Thieu two letters from you in each of these last two days.

President Nixon
Well, you know what I think.

Kissinger
Because you told me, more or less.

President Nixon
Sure, sure, sure, [unclear].

Kissinger
And he’s calming down. He’s calmed down a lot.

President Nixon
And is [Ellsworth] Bunker [unclear] ?

Kissinger
Yes, [unclear] every day. I have told Bunker to see him every other day no matter what.

President Nixon
That’s right, that’s right.

Kissinger
Because we don’t want a blowup.

President Nixon
Bunker has a calming effect on people. The old man does.

Kissinger
And if you have a settlement . . . well, but even a settlement without a blowup might put you in the position of Churchill, where people say you’ve done what you’ve . . . supposed to, but I just don’t see them voting for [George S.] McGovern. You don’t think so.
https://prde.upress.virginia.edu/conversations/4006749
.......

Kissinger: ...after a year, Mr. President, Vietnam will be a backwater. If we settle it, say, this October(1972), by January ’74 no one will give a damn.
.......
Pres. Nixon: ...Well, if they’re that collapsible, maybe they just have to be collapsed. ...we’ve got to remember, we cannot keep this child sucking at the tit when the child is four years old.

The very Republican Pres. Nixon signed the Agreement that left South Vietnam on its own. No Democrats were involved.
publishable_en.pdf

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Sgt Bob Leonard
Sgt Bob Leonard
>1 y
N/A
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SPC Nancy Greene
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4
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When are reporters going to learn a Good Commander-in-Chief is NOT going to give Our Enemies Our Military ‘Plan of Attack’!
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1stSgt Nelson Kerr
1stSgt Nelson Kerr
>1 y
SPC Nancy Greene - He is securing it from the Local Government and the Kurds, Not from ISIS
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LTC Lee Bouchard
LTC Lee Bouchard
>1 y
1stSgt Nelson Kerr - I disagree with the term STEAL. I'm not sure the term best describes the options available. Historically, this country has never concord and occupied another country and took it's oil or other resource's. Occupation of another country due to war was temporary. We left helping rebuild and restore along the way.
Securing and protecting oil fields is not stealing. Remember seeing oil fields lit ablaze not many years ago?
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1stSgt Nelson Kerr
1stSgt Nelson Kerr
>1 y
LTC Lee Bouchard - We never conquered lands and took it resources form the owners primary job from the 1820s until the early 1900s, with a time out for the civil war. Starting with the mass murder of the Indian Relocation act that stole much of Georgia.

Do California, New Mexico and Arizona ring a bell? All taken by force in a war fought with no other intent but to steal?

How About the Philippines who we plundered pretty well after kicking out Spain and brutally murdering native to objected to out thievery.

Hawaii?

Nicaragua where in the 1930s we waged war against a democratically electedgoverment because they dared tax the American Fruit Company. Not to mention the 4 other time we invaded for profit? SEE: "War is a racket" By the most decorated Marine in Historym Smedley Butler

You must have had blinders on for all the World history courses.
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1stSgt Nelson Kerr
1stSgt Nelson Kerr
>1 y
LCpl Leo Morrissey - Can you name a single case in my post where I was in error? I was repoding to a somewhat silly statement from LTC Lee Bouchard. And nothing in you little rant jh here makes what I said any less true, you are just making excuses.
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