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Vietnam War Veterans Dissed Again on ‘Longest War’ Line RE Afghanistan
Vietnam War, Vets, Protests, Betrayal
George Will writes of Afghanistan that “America’s longest war is entering a surreal stage.”
Have we forgotten the Vietnam War already? That 20-year police action?
Joe ‘Ragman’ Tarnovsky sets the record, and George Will straight.
By Joe ‘Ragman’ Tarnovsky
Dear Mr. Will (georgewill@washpost.com):
In your column today, where are you and other journalists getting your information, statistics and facts when calling Afghanistan America’s longest war?
I have read in newspapers and heard on television other journalists and reporters doing the same thing, calling ‘Afghanistan America’s longest war,’ and it simply is not true. I would like to know what kind of journalist’s jargon and manipulation of the facts are you using to justify this claim?
The Department of Defense Knowledge Base list casualties from the Vietnam War from November 1st, 1955 to May 15th, 1975.
For the sake of argument lets use the dates on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, 1959 to 1975, and that makes the war 16 years, which omit’s the first casualty on that wall recognized by the Department of Defense, Richard B. Fitzgibbon, who is listed as KIA on June 8, 1956.
Lets break it down further, Mr. Will, when John Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963, there were approximately 16,000 United States military advisers serving in South Vietnam and we all know that they were engaged in ground combat during the time they were acting in an advisory role. If we use 1963 as a starting date then that makes the Vietnam War 12 years long, so just how long in your opinion, Sir, did the Vietnam War last? What terminology are you using to state that Afghanistan is America’s longest war and when you do that, what war did the Americans die in prior to the date you are using to justify the starting date of the Vietnam War?
Let’s get one thing straight from the start, Mr. Will, I could care less if Afghanistan goes down in history as America’s longest war, although I can not stomach the fact that more and more of my fellow citizens and military brothers and sisters will lose their lives and be disabled in that god-forsaken place.
Vietnam Veterans will gladly step aside and relinquish our place in American history but what we, Vietnam Veterans, will not tolerate, are journalists that manipulate statistics and terminology to distort the truth in order to fit their political columns, their reasoning and their personal opinion. We had that done to us by your counterparts that preceded you in the news business, they turned the TET 1968 military victory by the United States into a political defeat and propaganda victory for the communists and Vietnam War protesters (in reality they were protesting the draft), but we are older and wiser now and will not tolerate you, nor anybody else, spinning and manipulating the facts which in reality, bring disrespect to those names on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial that you omit when speaking about Afghanistan being America’s longest war.
Those names on that memorial, Mr. Will, are the brothers and sisters to those of us that still survive today and we have a duty to those men and women to make sure the people of America never forget their sacrifices! We all know that you are highly educated and you trump my little Bachelor Of Arts Psychology degree many times over, Sir, but maybe if you took time out to serve your country in a military uniform, you might be able to understand why Vietnam Veterans get so irate when we read and hear journalists twisting and manipulating the facts.
Quit denigrating the sacrifice and memory of those on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial that do not fit into your timeframe for what is America’s longest war, by doing so you and your cohorts continue to inflict mental and emotional pain to the families of those heroes and to the many of the Vietnam Veterans that are still here today!
Short URL: http://www.veteranstoday.com/?p=37524
Posted by Yanira Farray on Jun 24 2010, With 0 Reads, Filed under Corruption, Foreign Relations, Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
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Great article, Ragman, and good post Mike.
1. We originally supported much of Vietnam with troops and supplies from S. Korea.
2. In 1959, Vietnam and Laos were names “not to be spoken” for secrecy reasons.
3. I’ve often wondered about, but just acknowledged it as part of the world that is clandestine, for want of a better expression.
4. According to, I seem to remember, either the Geneva Convention or some other nonsense document limited the number of advisors in a country to 362.
5. The American advisors to the S. Vietnam army were in a group we called MAAG, Military Assistance and Advisory Group (I seem to remember the G stood for something like Group.
6. In 1959 the MAAG group was WELL OVER 1,000 in-country with a number more coming and going. The “treaty” limit was 362. When you start thinking how many support people it takes to support one “combat” advisor you can see that Ragman’s 1962 number of 16,000 is very realistic.
7. I’ve often wondered if the political number problem with our longest war — Viet Nam — was the reason for the major fire in the St. Louis records storage facility in 1973. Gee, I just happen to know a bunch of GIs whose records were burned, and therefore their places of service often denied by the VA.
8. Following this article, for the first time I look forward with interest to visiting the Vietnam War Memorial.
Ragman, Go brother! I picked up on this also and tried to tell people that it was BS and this might supprise you but they didn’t give a damn. But I do! I did not know who started the lie and I thank you for pointing him out! Semper Fidelis Anthony
Thank you, Anthony, I know we, you, myself and other Vietnam Veterans could care less if we must step aside and yield to our younger brothers/sisters that are fighting and dying for our country in Afghanistan the title of longest war in America’s history, but until then, I want these damn journalists to stop disrespecting our war dead that they are omitting with their propaganda! If the time comes, Vietnam Veterans will yield our place in history, we will not treat subsequent generations of veterans that followed us like we were treated from those that served before us! Welcome Home, brother!
i thank all of you true post.my oldest brother was killed in Vietnam in 1966 thank you all and my God bless you all thank you again.
Maybe Georgie Porgie is going back to 1979, when we sent in advisors and weapons to Afghanistan and encouraged them to rattle the Bear’s cage, which worked well for our fugged up foreign policy, but not so well for Afghans.
I must say I have seen some rebuttals in my time but this is classic. As a VietNam Vet, I thank you for stating the FACTS. I am happy that our younger vets are at least being treated better than third rate citizens. I also pray for their quick return to their families. The amount of time Vet’s have spent in a war or what is considered as the longest war becomes very insignificant once you become EXPOSED. As Vet’s, we all know that your life can flash before you in an instant. And that instant can and most likely will last for the rest of your life. years, months, minutes. It doesnt change the outcome of what we brought home.
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