Cripple. History Major. Irritable and in constant pain. Vaguely Left-Wing.

  • 8.94K Posts
  • 13.5K Comments
Joined 2 years ago
cake
Cake day: July 21st, 2023

help-circle












  • My grandfather served in Vietnam. He was always very proud of being a Marine veteran, but rarely mentioned the era or war when asked. I remember when I was a teen and going through a Cold Warrior phase, I asked him about his feelings on the war. I remember, at the time, being shocked by his answer - that he didn’t have strong feelings on the war itself or on Communism, and that the Vietnamese he fought were fighting for their country, and he didn’t blame them for doing that in the least.

    At the time, I attributed it (not entirely incorrectly) to my grandfather’s general disinterest in politics; as I grew older, I appreciated the position much more. He opened up to me about his experiences in the war later in life, and, while by then I had already turned against the “THEY WERE REDS IT WAS JUSTIFIED” line of thinking, his retellings of just how pointless it all was really hammered in that we sent a generation of young American men to kill a generation of Vietnamese folk for no good fucking reason.












  • PugJesus@lemmy.worldOPto196@lemmy.worldInteresting contrast rule
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    5
    ·
    20 hours ago

    I generally haven’t kept up with the military since I got out, but women in “combat arms” MOSs were strictly forbidden, like infantry and artillery. Are you asserting that is no longer the case for the US or other militaries?

    … that hasn’t been the case since Obama’s second term.