First of all, it's necessary to understand Vietnam. The Nam wasn't some hogwash 'domino' thing about stopping communism: it was a diversion, pure and simple. LBJ NEEDED a diversion to distract from what he was doing in the US - 'the great society' bull that began the real division, destroyed inner cities and started the welfare generations.
We were never meant to win Nam; all you need to do is look at where AO was sprayed to see that. It was ALL south of dmz. No competent commander will intentionally go completely defensive - that's not a way to win. You attack the enemy, you don't place strategic targets off limits, and you don't allow the enemy to do whatever he wants. We could have finished that war, as one commander said, in two weeks if we wanted to, simply by dropping on Hanoi and following with the 84 and 101. Remove command, remove the enemy.
The tactics we employed did nothing more than piss off the "allied" SVN. There was precious little damage done in the north. Such garbage as bombing targeted rice paddies and jungle. We weren't even allowed to fly over strategic areas such as dumps. Some of us were CSAR (myself included); to go into NVA territory, we were forced to fly a corridor near Vinh; since the NVA knew we would, they had AA installations along that corridor.
Also, the military still had the draft; while there were some who were 'patriots' that volunteered because of God and country, there were many more who volunteered to get the service they wanted, under threat of draft. Some were 'he-men' who became Marines, other Marines were weenies that wanted to become men. Not being detrimental to the Jarheads, understand: many of my friends in service were Jarheads, and I'd put my life in their hands before any other service, generally speaking.
Anyone who went boots down there became convinced within a month or two that we weren't going to win. It's that simple.
Most Nam vets, to address the OP, would readily take up arms for this country - it's OUR country, dammit. There aren't many of us left to do that though, but most of us have a small armory and associated gear. We won't hump 90 lb all day, but I guarantee that whoever encounters one at arms would regret it, at least for a while. The viciousness of Nam jaded all of us, and taking an enemy life wouldn't mean shit. Nor would it matter if we had to remove some of the so-called 'law enforcement' that takes the wrong side. Most of us can still shoot pretty well; some can still go long, thousand yards or more. Some need powerful scopes, but still...
Do we support Trump/Q? Yes, in most cases, without doubt.
Do we know what is happening? Some of us do, those who have followed Q from start, and are willing to do the digs, draw conclusions.
Just keep in mind our numbers are small; last I saw, about 600,000 still live.
We are different from any vet beginning mid-1970s, since they are all volunteer. It has to be noted that the standards began deteriorating dramatically by 1978. Nam vets aren't the same.
I can't, in fairness, compare myself to any modern soldier/sailor; I went through training that was far beyond most, SEALs/SF included. Wont' go into that, save one fact: of over a hundred who volunteered for the HC-7 Big Mother detachment, five completed the courses; the rest were dropped. One was a PO2, and he went to Atsugi; there were three PO3 and one AN, all AX (antisub warfare techs) who had earned wings. Put another way: years after I got out, I encountered a Special Forces guy, SOG in Nam, blaster, many missions. We thought we recognized each other, and eventually he asked if I was a vet. I said yes, I was one of the Big Mothers (we did insertions/extractions also). This Beret backed away - "you f*ckers were crazy." Frankly, I hadn't understood for years what we actually did; I thought our purpose was to 'save lives', and it was, but what it took to do so was a bit over the edge.
I'm running on too much. I'll say one more thing: in the Nam groups I'm in, or was in, anyone who mouthed against Trump went through the wringer, and didn't make more comments.
First of all, it's necessary to understand Vietnam. The Nam wasn't some hogwash 'domino' thing about stopping communism: it was a diversion, pure and simple. LBJ NEEDED a diversion to distract from what he was doing in the US - 'the great society' bull that began the real division, destroyed inner cities and started the welfare generations. We were never meant to win Nam; all you need to do is look at where AO was sprayed to see that. It was ALL south of dmz. No competent commander will intentionally go completely defensive - that's not a way to win. You attack the enemy, you don't place strategic targets off limits, and you don't allow the enemy to do whatever he wants. We could have finished that war, as one commander said, in two weeks if we wanted to, simply by dropping on Hanoi and following with the 84 and 101. Remove command, remove the enemy. The tactics we employed did nothing more than piss off the "allied" SVN. There was precious little damage done in the north. Such garbage as bombing targeted rice paddies and jungle. We weren't even allowed to fly over strategic areas such as dumps. Some of us were CSAR (myself included); to go into NVA territory, we were forced to fly a corridor near Vinh; since the NVA knew we would, they had AA installations along that corridor. Also, the military still had the draft; while there were some who were 'patriots' that volunteered because of God and country, there were many more who volunteered to get the service they wanted, under threat of draft. Some were 'he-men' who became Marines, other Marines were weenies that wanted to become men. Not being detrimental to the Jarheads, understand: many of my friends in service were Jarheads, and I'd put my life in their hands before any other service, generally speaking. Anyone who went boots down there became convinced within a month or two that we weren't going to win. It's that simple. Most Nam vets, to address the OP, would readily take up arms for this country - it's OUR country, dammit. There aren't many of us left to do that though, but most of us have a small armory and associated gear. We won't hump 90 lb all day, but I guarantee that whoever encounters one at arms would regret it, at least for a while. The viciousness of Nam jaded all of us, and taking an enemy life wouldn't mean shit. Nor would it matter if we had to remove some of the so-called 'law enforcement' that takes the wrong side. Most of us can still shoot pretty well; some can still go long, thousand yards or more. Some need powerful scopes, but still...
Do we support Trump/Q? Yes, in most cases, without doubt. Do we know what is happening? Some of us do, those who have followed Q from start, and are willing to do the digs, draw conclusions.
Just keep in mind our numbers are small; last I saw, about 600,000 still live. We are different from any vet beginning mid-1970s, since they are all volunteer. It has to be noted that the standards began deteriorating dramatically by 1978. Nam vets aren't the same. I can't, in fairness, compare myself to any modern soldier/sailor; I went through training that was far beyond most, SEALs/SF included. Wont' go into that, save one fact: of over a hundred who volunteered for the HC-7 Big Mother detachment, five completed the courses; the rest were dropped. One was a PO2, and he went to Atsugi; there were three PO3 and one AN, all AX (antisub warfare techs) who had earned wings. Put another way: years after I got out, I encountered a Special Forces guy, SOG in Nam, blaster, many missions. We thought we recognized each other, and eventually he asked if I was a vet. I said yes, I was one of the Big Mothers (we did insertions/extractions also). This Beret backed away - "you f*ckers were crazy." Frankly, I hadn't understood for years what we actually did; I thought our purpose was to 'save lives', and it was, but what it took to do so was a bit over the edge. I'm running on too much. I'll say one more thing: in the Nam groups I'm in, or was in, anyone who mouthed against Trump went through the wringer, and didn't make more comments.