General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Here is my ISIS strategy in a nutshell. [View all]pinboy3niner
(53,339 posts)Currently there are 58,299 names on the Wall.
To those who served in-country the VC/NVA difference was a huge distinction. The NVA were well-trained and well-equipped, a formidable enemy for whom we had a lot of respect.
I knew a Vietnamese family in the south that was evicted from their house after the fall so a North Vietnamese Colonel and his wife could move in. On one visit back to Vietnam many years later, I was invited to tea by that Colonel and his wife and we cried together as we shared stories about the war. I also funded construction of a home adjoining that NVA Colonel's house for the family that had been evicted. We made sure that their porch extended out farther than his, which was an important statement of defiance for them.
I also was invited to lunch at a coffee plantation with my former allies and enemies--ARVN, NVA and VC veterans. We laughed and joked and shared many funny and sad stories. When I remarked that I wished we could have been doing this instead of killing each other back then we were all in tears...
Some of us saw the body bags before you got it on the nightly news. We had to fill them...