[speaker001:] the uh Vietnam War was uh certainly expensive not only in in cost but in uh the long term effects as far as lives go uh when I was oh seven or eight years old and just into uh first or second grade or so I was sitting there wondering whether this war would ever stop and whether it'd last another five or six years and I would end up in it and uh I I kept a little bit of an eye on it I had older sisters that wasn't was not worried about going in to it but they had boy friends and the like that were concerned and so it struck home a little bit from that standpoint we didn't have any service people in Vietnam there in the immediate family so uh just the whole idea though of of what we were over there for and uh the very unpopular problems that occurred here the riots and the protests and uh it just didn't seem to go over well with the general public like the last one did uh it it raised it to the forefront of of a lot of our thinking back then so uh I I would tend to say that it was not worth it but then it's easier looking back at at the fact that we virtually lost if you want to call it that it's easy to say well yeah it was not worth it considering the results now had we won and it had been quick uh maybe it would've been different but
[speaker002:] I don't think so
[speaker001:] I'm not really all that familiar I never was a Vietnam buff I'm not all that familiar with the beginning of it
[speaker002:] well my father was my father was in Nam my brother was in Nam yeah you know I had a lot of friends in Nam so it's like it hit it hit pretty close
[speaker001:] well do you think the reasons are any different than than what they did in
[speaker002:] the reasons that they did it now and the reasons that they did it then are still the same
[speaker001:] uh just somebody invaded and they decided to go help huh
[speaker002:] there is it's it's yeah the only difference is is the people here the people now is going to back there but see they you can't take like they you know they they are acknowledging the Vietnam vets now well but that's not going to work
[speaker001:] right
[speaker002:] because they are they were already misused when they came back and they're not going to forget that
[speaker001:] right
[speaker002:] so you know and I know my brother won't he spent a lot of time so he came back totally screwed up
[speaker001:] hum
[speaker002:] so you know I I blame a lot on Uncle Sam because of the fact you know they had it in your living room and
[speaker001:] um-hum
[speaker002:] stuff like that and I don't I didn't like that at all because it makes you worry more
[speaker001:] yeah and I never thought about that the news coverage might be worse than it you would be better off not knowing I guess
[speaker002:] in a way it is because then you don't have to really worry that or if you see something and you you think it's your child or you think it's somebody you know and they are dead and then you know you you done went haywire for nothing
[speaker001:] yeah right
[speaker002:] so
[speaker001:] right
[speaker002:] it's just it's I think the war then was just as useless as it is now
[speaker001:] hum
[speaker002:] but you know should I it it's not really useless I guess really Saddam if they were going to do it I think they should have just kept going
[speaker001:] that's true
[speaker002:] instead of half doing the job
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] because the people still over there is in trouble
[speaker001:] yeah it makes you wonder if if they'd had the same mentality in Nam if they'd have been able to to just wipe out the thing you know go all out as it were
[speaker002:] instead of doing all this political stuff that's half the problem
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] it's too much political politics involved in a war you know they tell you you can't do this but you know what everybody else does not do like the United States people don't listen
[speaker001:] that's right
[speaker002:] they say we could not do certain things to them but they could do everything to us
[speaker001:] right
[speaker002:] you know and that's what makes it bad
[speaker001:] the business about not going into Cambodia was that's bad news that's right
[speaker002:] yeah but they but they did you know so you know it's like uh-huh sure right whatever you say
[speaker001:] so just blow up any part of the country that they are occupying regardless of the boundaries
[speaker002:] just like Storming Norman they should've let that man loose
[speaker001:] yep
[speaker002:] they should've just let him loose in the city he would have just cleaned house I think he would have done better
[speaker001:] hum well that's uh
[speaker002:] so
[speaker001:] I wonder what the I have not even looked at the cost I wonder if the cost was anywhere comparable as far as what they spent per day or what they spent per month in Nam versus what they spent here it's almost like we moved an entire organization the cities and all all the support team all the everything over there whereas in Nam it was kind of a little at a time but it was so protracted I I guess the average cost of a month was probably less back in Nam than it was this time
[speaker002:] oh yeah yeah it was plus it was less but still if you take it back then and do the do the do the uh
[speaker001:] I don't what the
[speaker002:] what do you call it the average the cost of living there and do it now and do the cost of living it still gonna cost you money it'll cost you about the same
[speaker001:] cost of living adjusting yeah yeah
[speaker002:] so
[speaker001:] I just didn't know how much support they gave them uh they didn't have well like in this one they didn't have a whole lot of USO type stuff to have to put up or build buildings for it was all temporary
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] but uh there there were bases that had permanent installation as far as entertainment and services went
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] so I guess that cost a bit
[speaker002:] and so you know see the ships people don't realize it but the ships and all that stuff that's still over there
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] and then you think about it Vietnam is how old and they still have prisoners of war
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] see I don't think that is right I think the United States should but they put down and go over there and be and just go over there and go through it period you know find out where they are some people know the government knows that's the bad part
[speaker001:] yeah they certainly shouldn't continue to deal with them as far as monies go
[speaker002:] no but here we are you know Saddam wouldn't have been so bad if we had not gave him half the stuff he's got
[speaker001:] yeah there is already talks of you know dealing with them again it won't be long
[speaker002:] um-hum well he'll be back
[speaker001:] yeah I guess it's I don't know whether it's better to know what your enemy has or or you know fight against something you know is there or not have let him have anything I think I would rather not let him have anything
[speaker002:] why give him the same advantage that you have
[speaker001:] yeah certainly sell him lesser equipment
[speaker002:] okay yeah but nothing new but he had modern equipment scud launchers I mean let's get real here those are mobile missile launchers
[speaker001:] yeah they do make a mess
[speaker002:] and then United States is not going to use them yeah right uh-huh
[speaker001:] that's true
[speaker002:] so you know it's like what do you want to do first
[speaker001:] I mean we certainly made a a mess out of the ar eas that we bombed in the latest war too bad they couldn't do that kind of concentration on uh in Nam
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] they just were not allowed I mean it took years before they would even allow the bombing that is kind of political I have no other words for it
[speaker002:] nope there's nothing else that you can do about it it is just you know I think they should've done more than what they did over there and I still think they should've done more what they did over in uh Saudi Arabia
[speaker001:] um-hum
[speaker002:] because to me uh the United States went both these places and they made it worse for the people that's there
[speaker001:] hum that's true that's true
[speaker002:] so it depends on if you there you can see it if not then you will never know cause in the United States people never know what's going on they just take whatever they get told
[speaker001:] take whatever they are fed on the news and and go on
[speaker002:] that's right
[speaker001:] well I've got mister Carruthers waiting for my attention so I had better let you go
[speaker002:] mister who
[speaker001:] John Carruthers from Plano yeah so he's
[speaker002:] oh tell him hi
[speaker001:] all right will do
[speaker002:] okeydokey
[speaker001:] um bye
[speaker002:] bye