A post submitted by CGI's oldcurmudgeon.

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Many younger folks – and in fact a lot of older ones too – don’t actually understand a very significant issue of history; that being the REAL moment when the United States lost the Viet Nam war.

Let me explain. First off I am speaking from personal experience here, as I was on active duty stationed in the Canal Zone in Panama at the time when this happened, and I can attest to the very real consequences as they affected all of us, and what this incident did to moral, and attitudes. It was this incident more than any other thing that set the final tone to what eventually became an American defeat in a very unpopular war, and it had nothing to do with Viet Nam itself.

I am speaking of the very unsavory issue of what is so callously called the “Pueblo incident”. This took place on January 23, 1968 when a navy ship of the line, on active duty, was attacked and ceased by the North Koreans. This ship was operating in international waters (the North Koreans dispute this fact) but was attacked and captured by the North Korean forces, and the crew of some 80 men were taken captive and held in horrendous conditions – including torture – by North Korea for almost a full year. The details can be examined by anyone wanting to do a little research, but what is important here, and what relates to what just happened in the capital to our National Guard troops is the focus of this message.

Within hours of that attack nearly every American military man in the whole world knew about it, and as it dragged on and neither the high ranking brass in the pentagon, nor the creatures in Washington did a damn thing for these men except “protest” and “pontificate”, the realization of what had happened had an effect on moral and attitudes that simply can’t be fully explained. All of us – including our officers – were in a state of stunned shock. How can this be allowed to stand? Every military person realized that those 80 men were just ordinary GI’s like us – that what happened to them could just as well happen to us – and they were, in essence, simply abandoned. No amount of “pep talk” could undo that realization, and I know for a fact that it hammered moral in my unit – all of the sudden those “crazy assholes burning their draft cards” didn’t seem so crazy anymore. And all of those “privileged” kids rioting on all of those collage campuses didn’t seem so evil any longer. And a silly war that seemed to be going nowhere did seem wrong, and even pointless.

Up until that “incident” most of us were of the opinion that the only problem with the war in Viet Nam was that it was being conducted in a foolish manner, but after that we began to see things in a different light. We began to question things on a much deeper level, and that questioning set in motion a near collapse of moral, and unleashed many problems for the military, and the political establishment who I now believe never really understood what was actually happening out in the ranks. They were simply “out of touch” and I think that same thing may well be happening again.

By now every person in the military knows what happened to those 5,000 guardsmen, and how they were treated. And you can’t just ignore that. No amount of “apologies” is going to cover that up – and no amount of “command structure” is going to make it seem right. In addition, every veteran is outraged in his or her heart – how can they do that to those men, those ordinary GI’s like us?

If ever there was an example of pure political stupidity we just witnessed it.

I can only hope that this indefensible action has the same over all affect that the now almost forgotten “Pueblo incident” had, and that a new awareness is dawning on the rank and file of our men and women in uniform – THEY DON’T CARE ABOUT YOU! You are simply their toys to play with, and when they don’t need you any longer you are simply thrown away.

Oldcurmudgeon