My friends who fought in Vietnam felt attacked.\u00a0\u00a0They came home, often on a direct flight straight to the US from Da Nang in the war zone, to a country ripped by division.\u00a0\u00a0They were advised to change into \u201ccivies\u201d before they left the plane \u2013 a uniformed soldier might get insulted or spit on or even attacked as they walked through the airport.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Many were draftees, with no real choice but to go and fight in Vietnam. But others volunteered, legitimately feeling that they were fighting for their country. Either way, they weren\u2019t politicians, not involved in setting the policies that resulted in what was then America\u2019s longest war. They were doing \u201ctheir job\u201d, often times as \u201cbait\u201d to draw out the enemy insurgents. Much like the more recent veterans who \u201ccleared\u201d the roads by driving down them to trigger Improvised Explosive Devices, Vietnam vets were often marched through the jungle to trigger ambushes and create a \u201cfire-fight\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Many of those Vietnam vets came home conflicted.\u00a0\u00a0They didn\u2019t know what they fought for, other than the men beside them.\u00a0\u00a0It was a war of survival in the jungle, of an enemy who often killed from unseen positions, or used women or children as traps, or punji sticks camouflaged on the trail.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Many of my friends who came back from Afghanistan felt the same way.\u00a0\u00a0The enemy was \u201cpart\u201d of the environment, fighting from their home villages.\u00a0\u00a0Friend and foe alike were hard to identify.\u00a0\u00a0Such simple considerations as not shooting children could result in losing a fellow American.\u00a0\u00a0The ground rules were not the same, not what they grew up with in American small towns like Pataskala.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0And when they wanted to see those small towns \u2013 they were only a phone call away.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My Vietnam era friends often asked \u2013 what were we fighting for?\u00a0\u00a0There really wasn\u2019t a clear answer:\u00a0\u00a0we went into Vietnam to \u201csave democracy\u201d, but that Vietnamese democracy never existed.\u00a0\u00a0We went to stop Communism, but found we were really just stopping the Vietnamese from choosing their own government.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And we found in Vietnam that no matter how strong we were, we couldn\u2019t defeat a clearly weaker enemy. More bombs were dropped on Vietnam than in all of World War II, but it didn\u2019t seem to have an impact. The Viet Cong and North Vietnamese soldiers could live on a cup of rice a day. And they were motivated to win back their country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The War in Afghanistan lasted for twenty years. America went into battle with righteous might, the rubble of the twin towers still smoking on the tip of Manhattan. We knew why we were there. But somewhere in the two decades after, that cause seemed long lost. \u201cMission Creep\u201d, starting with one goal but finding the \u201cfinish line\u201d constantly moving, became the hallmark of US strategy in Afghanistan. As we withdraw today, some cry \u201cAl Qaeda will be back\u201d. But it rings hollow, it really wasn\u2019t even why we were fighting for most of the past two decades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My friends who fought in Afghanistan ask \u2013 why did I fight there?\u00a0\u00a0But unlike my Vietnam era friends, they should have a clearer understanding of their mission, even though it got lost as the War dragged on.\u00a0\u00a0They were fighting against the foes of the United States.\u00a0\u00a0And while the Taliban did NOT attack the Twin Towers, they enabled those who did.\u00a0\u00a0But like most wars, in the end they were fighting for each other, for the man or woman who stood shoulder to shoulder with them.\u00a0\u00a0And some of those were Afghans, now left behind as the Taliban take control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The difference between the two wars is that the Afghanistan War veterans have a clearer view.\u00a0\u00a0They can be sad and angry about how the United State ended it, but can be clear about the heroic goals of their service.\u00a0\u00a0You did us proud, as did your grandfathers in Vietnam.\u00a0\u00a0As as nation we might not agree on many things, but your sacrifice was not in vain.\u00a0\u00a0For two decades you cleared the nation of our enemies, and gave the Afghans hope for a future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There is a \u201ctheory of revolution\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0It goes like this:\u00a0\u00a0revolutions don\u2019t happen when people are oppressed.\u00a0\u00a0They happen when oppressed folks are given hope, and that hope is taken away.\u00a0\u00a0From the American Revolution to the French and the Russian, it wasn\u2019t at the lowest time that the people rose up.\u00a0\u00a0It was the time after hope was snatched away that revolution began.\u00a0\u00a0We can hope that is true in Afghanistan as well, for a time when the Afghans themselves will determine that the Taliban way is not what they want.\u00a0\u00a0And the example they will look to, the time of hope,\u00a0is the two decades provided by US Forces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Our Afghanistan Veterans did that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"