Some of us remember…only 38 SEALS died in a decade of Vietnam

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by Gordon Duff, Senior Editor

Marine Combat Veteran

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It begins again, more political right wing money chasing by people claiming to be NAVY SEALS.  Those of us who served in Vietnam know.  Few of them died because they just weren’t around.

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The political ad below is taken from photos of others.  Read the disclaimer.  The voice is an actor.  The money to produce it came from sale of heroin to school children.  Be proud.

I actually understand that.  They had few missions, no supervision and the smarts to stay in the rear with the Scotch and girls.  I don’t fault them that, just when they whine.  I reward smarts and failing to die at the hands of the NVA in daily operations when outnumbered 10 to 1 or more, I can see any sensible person avoiding that.

A dead American hero…

[youtube UZ1ohsissjE]

Marines didn’t have that option, our leadership was delusional and kept imagining they were in a John Wayne movie, one they saw at a movie theatre.  As for the war, most never really saw much of it if any.  It was a “medal” thing.  The more medals, the less fighting.  Have a real soldier explain that to you some time.

As for Vietnam, some realities:

• New guys suffered, even after extensive and horrific Marine training because no human could handle the insane heat, the lack of sleep, no food or water, eating decades old canned goods and a ‘target rich environment’
• Those who made it became wary, tough, paranoid and trained beyond any fighters in the world.  You can get the idea from the film, Last of the Mohicans with Daniel Day Lewis.  His character was like a real combat trained Marine or the Army equivalent, soldiers who were in the field continually.
• The military looked on Special Ops people as thieves, bums, black marketeers and con men.  They were right.  This is why I like Special Ops people so much, it is “smarts” that deserves respect.
• We all knew Vietnam and the War on Terror are and were always nothing more than cons anyway.  Only a friggin moron would brag about fighting terrorism when the real terrorists are, well, we know where they are and it sure isn’t anywhere with alot of Muslims.

After Vietnam, special ops groups were shut down because so many had been involved in drugs, black market and prostitution.  Funding was ended, units disbanded, the idea of special operations discarded as a distraction until the fiasco in Iran during the Carter era.

Little is it admitted that those killed in Iran died at the hands of sabotage meant to rig a presidential election, one of the more than one “October surprise” that put NWO Reagan/Bush into office.

The idea of Special Ops is all from Rambo, Arnie and Norris films.  Rambo hid out in Switzerland, Arnie dodged the draft and Norris was Air Force in Korea, not a combat vet.  Even Jesse Ventura never served a day in Vietnam and I find him likable.

Not 1% of Vietnam was “Special Ops” and, not only was nothing ever accomplished, those things claimed to have been done were all bull.  Talking with “Drake” on Skype, another Vietnam vet, reminding me of the “Bright and Shining Lie.”

We lost an army in Vietnam, combat, poison, PTSD, hate at home, hopelessness.

What makes it all worse is the continual Hollywood fiction about the war, all wars, fiction bull and anti-American disrespect for those who fought and died in senseless wars because, well, we may never know the reason but I was part of it.

I may never be able to explain it but one thing is for sure, none of it involved saving the US from communism and none of it now ever involved bin Laden (Colonel Timothy Osman) and terrorism.

Terror war is all con, drugs, oil, abusive torture, phony nation building projects.

The rise of special forces is based on the needs of the new “outsourced” political armies, the ones that fight religious wars, that guard opium fields, that torture prisoners and that will talk childish and extreme “Talibanesque” politics like freeking morons on cue.

The military of the Vietnam era, drowning in extra IQ points, those of us who survive, look on this “dweebish” behavior as asinine.

For those of us who fought long ago, these are wars we hoped our kids would never have to take part in.

They are our fault because we simply didn’t kill the real enemy, the idiots around us that would lead America into the hellish land of screw-ups we are living in.

We gave America away because the Vietnam generation quit looking, quit listening, quit thinking.

We sacrificed the lives of our kids so we could sit on our rear ends.

What the worst of us were from Vietnam, the ignorant and lazy, I see the same in the rabid and childish video above.

I know how much more I did than any of those moaning above, simply because I am here by luck alone.  I also admit that our entire platoon would have taken the first boat to Sweden to go AWOL given the chance and used to talk about nothing else.

Surviving Vietnam for a Marine in a combat unit was luck only.

Then I remember those who went before, Guadalcanal, Iwo Jima.  I remember spending an evening talking to a Makin Island Marine Raider.

Go to Gettysburg or Shiloh.

As for my own service, I served with heroes but was never one myself.  We considered wounds to all be self inflicted, being shot was considered “failing to duck,” not a reason to whine for a medal and get a free license plate (though I do have one)

We didn’t all love each other but we were a family, we were also the best combat unit I have ever seen or heard of, skills earned through physical suffering, through learning, through training no “fatass school” could ever give.

I think of the kids today, fighting wars where the enemies have mobile phones and vehicles.  I can’t imagine how we could have dealt with that.

Of course, if the Vietnam generation had been men and not sheep there would have been no wars, we would have stopped it because we were supposed to be people who sacrificed for their children, not people who sacrificed their children.

Too many of those who didn’t serve, who ran away, even fled America, the rich in particular, became “Chickenhawks,” suffering from “Romnesia,” those who knew nothing of war, whose children would never see war but those who love seeing others die.

Why do we let them live?  Killing them is probably illegal, certainly not immoral but very much against the law.

Problem is, serving them is also criminal, killing for them is immoral, certainly illegal, more accurately “war crimes.”

This reminds me of an old quote by Leslie Nielsen from the Police Squad films:

“You know, the next time I kill someone, I could be arrested for it?”

That haunts me at times.

I think of Senator Paul Wellstone and his family or Pat Tillman or the USS Liberty and I think of people who deserve killing that we will never be able to avenge because killing those who deserve it is illegal.  I think of Rachel Corrie, America’s “Joan of Arc.”

Murdering us is not.

Today we teach that war is killing “miltants.”  Those are people who don’t like being occupied or invaded or seeing their families killed in drone strikes, don’t like seeing their government handed over to oil companies or who tire of carrying opium paste to American owned heroin processing factories.

Then again, success is in capturing terrorist suspects, bus boys, cab drivers or with Dr. Aafia Siddiqui, the wife of a Boston anesthesiologist visiting her parents with her two children, children now believed murdered at Baghram Air Force Base by American special operations weenies.

Welcome to Amerika.

Gordon Duff

Gordon Duff posted articles on VT from 2008 to 2022. He is a Marine combat veteran of the Vietnam War. A disabled veteran, he worked on veterans and POW issues for decades.

Gordon is an accredited diplomat and is generally accepted as one of the top global intelligence specialists. He manages the world’s largest private intelligence organization and regularly consults with governments challenged by security issues.

Duff has traveled extensively, is published around the world, and is a regular guest on TV and radio in more than “several” countries. He is also a trained chef, wine enthusiast, avid motorcyclist, and gunsmith specializing in historical weapons and restoration. Business experience and interests are in energy and defense technology.

• Gordon’s Archives:  2008-2015
• Gordon’s Archives:  2016-2022