I was horrified recently to read that Secretary of War Pete Hegseth provided steak and lobster to our men and women serving our country. From all secular media accounts, this was akin to a war crime. They say confession is good for the soul, and I have been wrestling with this for days now. So, here goes: I am guilty of the same crime!
It was early 1970 when I arrived back in Vietnam on my last tour. I was assigned to the 2nd Combined Action Group at the rear area of China Beach near the huge airfield at Da Nang. It was called 2nd CAG and was part of the pacification program in which Marine squads lived in villages away from the bases, training local militia to take the countryside from the communists. I had served in this unit on my first tour.
After a two-week language refresher course, the Sunday before being deployed to my village, we were served steak and lobster. It was my first and only time, and I didn’t know it was a crime. Months later, I was in the 95th Evacuation Hospital at China Beach fighting for my life.
I hope you can feel the sarcasm in this confession.
I wish I could say I was surprised when Democrats tried to pass legislation to make President Donald Trump stop all activity against Iran immediately. I wonder how many Democrats remember what happened when they cut aid to the South Vietnamese after we withdrew our forces.
We had trained the South Vietnamese Army and Marines to stand up and go toe to toe with the North Vietnamese Army (NVA). The April 1972 Easter Tide Offensive, launched to overrun the country, was fought to a standstill, and the NVA had to retreat back across the border. South Vietnam only needed supplies, weapons, and ammunition to continue the fight. But the Democrats, now controlling the House and the Senate (1974-75), began cutting aid to South Vietnam.
This emboldened the NVA to step up its attacks, which resulted in Congress cutting even more aid. In early 1975, lawmakers cut off all aid to South Vietnam, resulting in the fall of most of Southeast Asia to the communists. Millions died as a result. What’s that saying? “We learn from history that we do not learn from history.” (German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Fredrich Hegel)
After bringing the Iranian military and Tehran’s tyrannical government to their knees, and hopefully getting close to eliminating this world sponsor of terror, should we just stop? This would allow Iran to do what it’s been doing since last June after Operation Midnight Hammer: continue rebuilding its nuclear weapon capability.
Are Democrats really that stupid? I know Trump Derangement Syndrome is a thing, but allowing the radical jihadist regime in Iran to continue its pursuit of nuclear weapons to bring on a religious Armageddon is more than stupid; I’d call it treasonous!
After the way veterans of Vietnam were treated, America made a decision to stand behind our men and women who were deployed in harm’s way. During Desert Storm, Operation Enduring Freedom, Operation Iraqi Freedom, and other operations, we stood firmly behind our troops. Now we’re supposed to just stop everything when we’re down to the five-yard line, fixing to accomplish something no other president had the courage to do?
Presidents from Jimmy Carter to Joe Biden kicked the can of a nuclear-armed Iran down the road, but President Trump determined we were at the end of the road. He was not going to pass this threat on to a future generation to deal with. History will show this was an act of courage that leaders before him did not have.
Pray for our troops!
Semper Fidelis
