the *real* heroes died

Vietnam facts ...

150,000+ Vietnam soldiers suffered partial disability ...

90,107 Vietnam soldiers suffered full 100% disability ...

58,159 Vietnam soldiers died of their injuries ...

2,000+ Vietnam soldiers are STILL Missing-In-Action (MIA) ...

591 Vietnam soldiers were released from Prisoner-of-War (POW) camps ...

They were all heroes ...

only 1 has made it into a full time profession ...

We will never forget.

and he was more decorated than McCain.

I buried three of my high school buds in Arlington




'WHERE ARE MY PHOTOS?".........LOL

YOU sniveling libral hippie.

Bastard-bitch cross breed!!!

I understand you wax McCain's balls.

Nice kick to a thread that deserves it.

taking it off task....

Prevert

Only John McCain is a hero in your mind!



Me and Country Joe McDonald are traitors.


My Commie Brother



My Commie Brother at my house




I hate how you do this to this thread!

...and with all due respect, though they deserved the best care and gratitude for the rest of their lives for their service - the ones I knew were mentally unfit to be POTUS after what they went through.

NONE of them bragged on their experience or expected anything for it or used it as a crutch. NONE of them made a damn career of it, certainly.

Except that one...

bless you.

He died in Vietnam in a bar fight. My father and his family never really talked about him, I saw a picture of him and asked if it was my dad and he said no that's my younger brother. (I was a child 3 years of age or so in 68 and I don't remember him)

Several years ago, I was in DC to see if I could find his name on the wall but to no avail...being killed in a bar fight in a fucked up war doesn't count.

I am sorry about your brother!

one suicide one drug overdose and one killed by the police.

And my friend George who died last week of a particularly aggressive form of cancer.

He was around Agent Orange for a year.

All of you deserved much better....

I had a grandfather in WWI, a stepfather in WWII and the guy who's supposed to be my father was in Korea, I was in Vietnam and yet, we never learn a fucking thing.

In my most cynical moments I wonder if war is nature's way of thinning the male population.

And then I stop feeling sorry for myself and remember that most people killed in war are civilians.

If we don't learn a different way TODAY we are all toast, and it may be too late already.

because if he doesn't this country will continue to spiral into oblivion!

One served as a medic and was stressed out and booze
the other got into heroin.

This needs to run as an Obama ad. Thanks.

by making it into an applause line to further his own raw ambition.

John McCain is NO HERO. John McCain is a disgrace.

I don't agree with the man's politics, and I certainly won't be voting for him in November. I definitely think the Vietnam War was a mistake. But to attack him for what he went through and suggest it wasn't legitimate is poor form. Kerry tried to capitalize on his Vietnam experience in 2004 and it was poor form when his enemies smeared him for it.

I'm sure I'll get flamed for this post but intellectual honesty means recognizing a double standard and rejecting it even when it benefits your party. The other day on the Daily Show, Jon Stewart had amazing video of Karl Rove trashing Kaine for lack of experience, and then completely contradicting himself by praising Palin's experience. Then he showed video of Republicans ridiculing Hillary Clinton's claims of sexism, and then showing the exact same people shouting sexism regarding Sarah Palin. We have to be above this kind of hypocrisy. Whether you disagree with his policies or not, McCain went through hell and is doing nothing different than Kerry did by playing it as a political card ("This is John Kerry, reporting for duty!"). If you want to use that against McCain, fine, but remember that's just what the swiftboaters did. You forfeit your moral authority when you attack him for stuff like this instead of his policies, which is what we should be focusing on.

..."I was in Vietnam"

He didn't over-use his service as an excuse, as a crutch, or as something to hide hehind. McCain does.

And THAT - McCain - is therefore the one, IMO - who is in bad taste. He cheapens his own service and that of every other vet - including Kerry - by using "POW" as an excuse for the most rediculous things - like owning 7+ homes and therefore being way out of touch with people struggling to hang on to one.

If you want to talk to someone about using their heroism in bad taste and thereby cheapening the meaning and value of that service, the person you need to speak with is John McCain.

there is no moral authority with war.

The criticism comes when you have McCain using his Vietnam experience as one of the main reasons to vote him in as President. McCain has not been a friend of Veterans at all.

Where was McCain when Max Cleland was getting destroyed by the Repugs? I don't recall him defending his fellow Vietnam Veteran.

Are we to let him lie about what he has done for our Military Vets?

This year he didn't want to give the Iraq and Afghanstan vets increased pay and opportunities to go to college...do you know why?
(Paraphrasing McCain) Because if the US government makes these opportunities to good then the soldiars will leave the military.

My entire family is retired military and when I listen to him using the military as props to further his agenda I have a problem with it.

Just as he picked Palen because she is a woman and that would stop the attack of critics, he uses his POW status to stop attacks against him.

The text could be changed as to NOT only 1 made it into a full time profession.

I Agree
The only true heros are buried
I can't stand McCain spouting his military mantra every time his mouth opens
McCain does not have to wade thru the morass of trying to get health care from the VA
and has absolutely NO idea what a non-'hero' as he veteran has to go thru for benefits

I am one of the 90,107 and until 9 years ago when my injuries degraded to a point that I became 100% disabled, I had a 30 year career as did thousands upon thousands of other Vets that did not live in the past to spout that the war was their life and look at me look at me like McCain does. I would think not one real Vet hearing his constant drivel and bemoaning his experience day after day holds him up as their martyr. Yes, the POWS like POWS in all other wars can be seen as a bit 'special' for what they went through, but not to the point that 40 years later it is the driving force to their achievements and goals in life as the heroic (sarcasm) McCain is.

Just my thoughts