Vietnam Veterans Rememberance Day, March 30th, 2015.

So many of these fine men made the ultimate sacrifice, putting their lives into the hands of their fate in the true spirit of patriotism--in support of a war that was very unpopular. The men that came home with the scars of war were often patronized by the ignorance of the era and denied their valor. More than 40 years have passed. I grew up in the shadow of the aftermath of this war and much of what I experienced in the US Navy was a direct result of the policies created because of it--some good, some bad.

Wisdom recognizes were valor is due, and it does not glorify the acts of war, but the bravery of those who carry out their orders in support of our country and defines them as patriots. War is never pretty and carries with it a price that is more than any one person could bare alone. Vietnam was a costly war. It was a war that was not fought to be "won" like previous conflicts. Vietnam was the SECOND of such conflicts as Korea was also costly--but thought the wars themselves were very similar in scope and what our country's government was hoping to accomplish, the veterans of these two conflicts had polar-opposite receptions upon their return home by the public.

One thing that is consistent is that the men and women that fought in ANY of our country's conflicts do so with distinction. They should never be treated with anything less than great respect, and reverence for those who died so the rest of us could live on in the spirit of freedom.

Many wars have been fought by my fellow countryman. One of the things that I believe that our government and society at large has forgotten is that the protests of the 1960s have the same resonance as ones conducted today. Many people oppose wars we fight. Many people, foreign and domestic, target veterans and active duty military as though they are responsible for the conflicts.
History is redundant with trends. These trends often manifest themselves based on how bad the economy is, or by how many people are still looking for a free lunch through a misplaced sense of entitlement. Many people that have never served in our military or in service of other people as a public servant--police, firemen, rescue, swat, or any infrastructure job that puts them in harm's way to save the lives of other human beings--unfairly impose their ignorant opinions.

Ignorance of fact and embracing rumors and conspiracy theories that perpetuate hate and mistrust of our government breed home-grown terrorism. There is no objectivity in conspiracy theories that cannot be proven but are otherwise disseminated through social networking. Social networking has a negative side to it that carries the lies of the ignorant to the ears of the misinformed. This negative side is bolstered by the complacent and breeds apathy. Laziness is the by-product of apathy and ignorance. This is a cancer that has been eating away at the fabric of our society. It is also a terrible reality that has been instrumental in breeding our own domestic terrorists that wish to leave and join ISIS followers abroad--a concept that is not only baffling to me, but makes no tactical sense when it comes to waging a war against opposition. This is a reverse Crusades where instead of Knight Templar fighting for Christianity and it's survival in the holy land, now it's Islamic extremists wanting to convert the entire world through intimidation.

Vietnam was a war of confused ideals and misplaced priorities. Vietnam was heavily protested by Americans who were apathetic to the bigger picture that the government was trying to change--Policy of Containment (Keeping Communism from spreading globally.) And the men and women who fought in that conflict were spat upon and ignored by our own Veteran's Affairs (Agent Orange sufferers especially) driving many of them to suicide, alcoholism and substance abuse, homelessness, PTSD, and many other conditions that could have been treated more adequately and fairly through recognizing their existence.

Too many of them continue to go untreated even after 40 years. That is how deep the scars of war run.

I have personally witnessed the horror of war that impacts those who cannot fight for themselves--Operation Restore Hope, Mogadishu, Somalia. 20 years after Vietnam, we were being told that Somalia had the potential of being a repeat of the same kind of policies and conflict. Though, I cannot compare the aftermath of Vietnam with that of Somalia due to the nature of the scale of our involvement and the length of time we spent--and the politics of the era were very different as well--I can say that Somalia is a forgotten conflict. Korean War vets I have talked with over the years say the same about their war--that they have felt forgotten.

It's because of the media's involvement in covering these conflicts. Vietnam was the first major conflict that was televised in real-time into the living rooms of America. It showed us what war was in a graphic detail unprecedented. The WWII war reels played in movie theaters were different in that they were produced by the military correspondents and a pubic affair spin was put on them to motivate the public to support the war effort to bring stability back to the world.

Somalia was a blip compared to the extent of the Gulf War that was still only just winding down at the time we invaded the Horn of Africa. But so was Vietnam when it was just the French fighting the North Vietnamese in the 1950s and 60s. By the time we got involved, there was already a long-time running conflict going on. I could write a book on all the particulars and many other authors have. Volumes have been written trying to analyze why we were involved and not many definitive conclusion have been made without there being polarized arguments to the contrary. War is fueled by hate. Hate carries with it a barrage of emotional instability that philosophers have pontificated about for eons--since the dawn of human civilization.

Somalia is the number one hotbed of terrorist camps and training in Africa in 2015. That is 23 years since Operations Restore Hope and Provide Relief.

Vietnam eventually succumbed to communist rule--backed by China.

America owes obscene amounts of money to China.

What does this say about our "Policy of Containment?"

Humankind has never learned from war. ISIS is never going to learn from war. Vietnam taught us all valuable lessons that have not been learned from either. Humans are stubborn and ignorant despite our combined capacity for beauty and genius. How we deal with ISIS is as important as how we remember our veterans of any conflict. How we deal with our citizens through law enforcement wether it is through lawmakers imposing new rules that are justified or not, racial profiling (a traite that we seem to not be able to shake despite our history from the integration of our country in the 1960s and the 100 years prior to that through the Civil War), or allowing immigration to go unchecked for so long only to try to put the brakes on it after the fact. Our country is as much a mess as the rest of the world because of only one reason--we never learn from our history.

And as our government imposing Common Core upon our education system, our public libraries and school systems lose funding so the money can be earmarked for priorities that are easily corrupted and end up fleecing the public for trillions of dollars, we are only hurting the future of our world. If America falls, so does the rest of the world. If we fail, Vietnam will happen again, but only in another country.

Let's not forget about 9-11, 2001 and the WTC. That led to two more costly wars that have had similar outcomes-the rise of yet another terrorist group to take the place of the one we didn't quite completely rid ourselve of. We occupied and set up new infrastructure for self-governing in Iraq and Afghanistan, but ISIS continues to grow and seize control of territory that was once controlled and held in trust for the Iraqi and Afghan peoples by the United States and its allies.

How many of our men and women paid the ultimate price or now live with scars of war that have ruined them from having the life they had prior to going to war and serving our nation's interests? Only to have their efforts thwarted because our government has not fought a war to win since WWII?
Take time to remember our Vietnam Veterans as they deserve a day to honor their valor and sacrifice. Do it in remembrance that their sacrifice is still in the front of our recent memories and with those have have fought in conflicts since.

Then, after today, remember your veterans EVERY DAY and appreciate their sacrifice as you continue to live in the greatest country on Earth--the only place that is willing to fight for those who cannot--despite how screwed up our priorities are at the moment. It's what defines us as Americans.

And as an American who values and honors its Vietnam Veterans (and all other wars as well) exercise your right to vote and tell your government to get its priorities straight so that we may educate our future generations and empower them so they can carry on the tradition of equality for all and the protection of the right to pursue life and happiness and all corners of the world.

We need to fight the wars we declare on injustice and murder to win! That means that we need to dispense with the worry about international opinion and be less afraid to make tough decisions where civilians may come under fire. This is the reason why we lose ground after expending our resources and American lives. The blow-back we get through terrorism has been more damaging to our country's morale than it should. It is why we have so many domestic problems here.

This is not a conspiracy theory. This is an observation from a veteran who has experienced the third world first-hand. We need to prioritize our efforts, take care of our veterans who sacrifice themselves and their families who pay along with them. We can never pay them enough for what they have done and continue to do in the name of what is justice and freedom for all.