Olivant -

I cannot begin to imagine what you feel and what you experienced first hand. And I am being sincere when I say that I have the utmost repsect for what you did for your country, by your own choice no less, and what you had to endure.

And while I understand and admire that you had the strength of your own convictions and did not care what others thought or said about you as a soldier fighting in the war, I am also a bit confused. As a soldier fighting in battle, I am sure that the last thing on your mind was to worry about what was being said about you and your comrades by those back home. However, wouldn't it also be a comfort to you to know that there were some people back home who were doing everything in their power, behind the scenes, to help you win that war for your country? Wouldn't it have been a comfort to you to know that your efforts to try and stop communism from spreading like a cancer were supported by the people that you were fighting on behalf of?

I would think that it would be a bit disheartening or disappointing for you, as soldier fighting in a war, or any soldier for that matter, to be told that your efforts are meaningless and that you and your fellow soldiers were not doing a good job with your efforts. I think that to be told that time and time again, while you are getting shot at everyday and seeing your fellow soldiers getting killed before your eyes, would eventually destroy your will to do what you initially set out to do.

Perhaps I don't understand the mentality of a soldier in battle because I have never served in the military and fought in a war. But I can only liken it to a situation where I put all that I have into doing something on behalf of another, only to be continually told by that same person that I was a failure at what I was tryin to do on their behalf.

I have to believe that when a soldier goes to war fully knowing that he has 100% support behind him, he goes into that war in a good frame of mind. He or she goes into battle with the attitude that what is being done is not being done in vain, but for a good reason. And by the same token if that soldier is being undermined by someone who has no idea what he or she is going through in battle, it has to make them feel that what they are doing is almost worthless because the people that they are fighting for and protecting do NOT believe that they can get the job done.

Again, I don't doubt that you feel the way that you do for your own reasons, and I am not saying that what you feel is wrong. But I am just confused because I would think that you, being a soldier who fought in a war, would be the first one to defend these current soldiers and agree that these politicians here are should stop running around implying that our soldiers are failures.

And I do not believe for one moment, that when you came home from that war, that it didn't matter to you one bit whether you were called a failure or a hero.

You want to say that the origianl plan needs to be adjusted, want to change some strategies because we've come up against some unexpected situations that were not forseen in the planning, that's fine. But it should be done in a manner that advocates our doing what is best to help our soldiers win that war, and not in a manner that just implies that our soldiers are failures who cannot get the job done.

You Vietnam vets deserved the country's support and the support of our political leaders and not their critisizms. And so do our troops right now.




Don Cardi