[speaker001:] Well, I guess it depends on what age. I am in the thirty something, so I know, I mean I lived through it. Uh, are you old enough to know about the war?
[speaker002:] Uh, just barely.
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] Yeah, I am, uh, twenty-nine.
[speaker001:] Okay.
[speaker002:] So, uh,
[speaker001:] Well, yeah, you are old enough.
[speaker002:] Yeah. But
[speaker001:] But it was on the fringe.
[speaker002:] just, uh, yeah, exactly. Had some friends that were, that were in it.
[speaker001:] It ended, uh, when I was in, uh, college. In, uh, when I turned nineteen in nineteen seventy, I cannot even remember at this point. Uh, when I turned nineteen it was the year that, uh, the draft was still going on. If I had been a male or in Israel, I would have been number two.
[speaker002:] Really? [Child talking].
[speaker001:] Yeah [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] Wowie!
[speaker001:] So I learned a lesson in gender [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] Uh, in terms of the war, I do not know. Uh, actually I do not really know that much about it. I just know socially the impact it had here and what you hear in the media, you know. Uh, I guess I think it was, uh, uh, not that great that we were in there, uh, in terms of for how long it lasted.
[speaker002:] Right.
[speaker001:] You know.
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] What do you think?
[speaker002:] Well, I think it is, uh, basically the same way. It is certainly has affected, uh, U S policy though. There is,
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] there is no question it had an overwhelming effect of how we approached the, the thing in, uh, Iraq.
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] Because, uh, the whole thing that was bad about Vietnam, it was no different from Iraq. I mean it was, uh, one country picking on a smaller, weaker one.
[speaker001:] Right. The devastation, yeah.
[speaker002:] Yeah. The only difference was that the government said, okay if we were going to support this smaller country, then we are going to support it a hundred percent. And we are going to consider ourselves against, in war,
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] against these people as well.
[speaker001:] Yeah. And in full
[speaker002:] Which, uh,
[speaker001:] faction, yeah.
[speaker002:] Right. Which really was not the attitude with Vietnam. It was sort of, of a president's war
[speaker001:] Yeah,
[speaker002:] rather than a
[speaker001:] it just kind of
[speaker002:] country's war.
[speaker001:] dragged on. Uh, I do not know how you were historically. But I was a little bit older before I realized just how long it had been going on since
[speaker002:] Right.
[speaker001:] L B J and
[speaker002:] Yeah. It
[speaker001:] I mean, I pa-,
[speaker002:] seemed to me like it was,
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] it seemed like it was going on forever, yeah.
[speaker001:] It really, well, yeah, in fact, because in terms of when your, there is at least ten years between us, so in terms of when you were in school, I am sure that it was, you know, the majority of your high school and junior high years.
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] Uh, one of the things I did not like was the weapons, the weapons, I can't even say it, the weaponry th-, systems that they used.
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] Uh, it just did not seem that, uh, I do not know, technically we knew what we were doing either.
[speaker002:] Right.
[speaker001:] And then you heard about the things like agent orange, et cetera, and you would think, [sigh] you know, just, uh, how could the government or the Pentagon, uh, who-, or whomever is in charge there been so careless.
[speaker002:] Yeah, right.
[speaker001:] Uh,
[speaker002:] Of course now i-, w-, uh, now everyone's more, uh, you know, environmentally
[speaker001:] Conscious, yeah.
[speaker002:] uh, intelligent than they were back then. I mean back then it was not commonly known that saccharin was bad for you and all these other things
[speaker001:] Nutrisweet,
[speaker002:] that people
[speaker001:] yeah, and all these other things. That is true, uh,
[speaker002:] that people know about themselves now.
[speaker001:] Uh, monetarily too, I just do not think we have done enough for the, uh, Vietnamese people as a whole. Uh, in South Vietnam, in general, in helping them restore themselves.
[speaker002:] Uh-huh [child talking].
[speaker001:] You know, and I don't know if it is because there are not any oil fields there [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] Yeah. I do not know if they, uh, I do not know if they have that resource or not.
[speaker001:] Yeah. I mean I do not think they do. But I just think it is kind of a shame that, uh, you still hear things about the children that are orphans there and,
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] uh, so on a whole, I do not know, war is not good. And that one I probably, uh, my main opinion would be w-, w-, we should not have done it.
[speaker002:] Right.
[speaker001:] Well,
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] that is what I know about the Vietnam War [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] [LAUGHTER].
[speaker001:] [LAUGHTER] Unless you,
[speaker002:] Yeah, well, you know a little, uh, a little bit more than I do, explain it. I did not, uh, get to live through it. That the people that I know that it did,
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] uh, felt very strongly. Most of, I work for a government contractor.
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] So most of the guys I work with, are, uh, oh, at least some of the guys I work with rather are veterans.
[speaker001:] Uh-huh. Oh, Vietnam?
[speaker002:] And, uh, from Vietnam.
[speaker001:] Jeez, yeah.
[speaker002:] And, I have not talked to any of them that, that were not, you know, glad that they went or, or rather thought that the reason they went was a good one.
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] You know,
[speaker001:] And that, that,
[speaker002:] most of them are ver-, very strongly that, that the reason for America to be there was a good one.
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] They just felt that the way America backed them up was not, was not at all right.
[speaker001:] In terms of the personal.
[speaker002:] Yeah. In term of, uh,
[speaker001:] Yeah. The bitterness is more on a personal
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] level than on a,
[speaker002:] Personal level and, and the finances, how they started. You know, like air attacks and stuff like that dropped off like crazy.
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] Because the Congress would not approve, you know.
[speaker001:] The money is
[speaker002:] So,
[speaker001:] after, yeah.
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] I mean, I think it started actually like, like in the late fifties. I mean like in fifty-eight, fifty-nine.
[speaker002:] Huh. I, I,
[speaker001:] So it really, I mean, because I know, in nineteen sixty-three, I mean I was nine years old,
[speaker002:] [Cough].
[speaker001:] when Kennedy was shot.
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] So, I mean I remember, uh, right around then that's when I first started hearing about Vietnam. But then as I got older and studied in school, I realized it was even going on before that.
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] You know, and you think to yourself, oh, my goodness, Eisenhower [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] Yeah, right.
[speaker001:] That sounds ancient, yeah. And I know, I know, you know, a lot of the Vietnam vets that are my age in their later thirties, uh, guys that I know, that, they are just kind of bitter, you know. They, they, you know, I hate to quo-, that movie BORN ON THE FOURTH OF JULY, but it is that kind of idea.
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] You know, they just do not feel that socially they were given, like a friend of mine called it the yellow ribbon syndrome.
[speaker002:] Right,
[speaker001:] Yeah. They were not given the,
[speaker002:] right, the ticker tape parade and all that.
[speaker001:] Yeah. So, well, I won't keep you any more.
[speaker002:] Okay.
[speaker001:] That is probably as about as much as we both know [LAUGHTER]. But thanks for talking to me.
[speaker002:] Yes. Uh, were you calling from Texas?
[speaker001:] Uh, yes, is that where you are at?
[speaker002:] No, I am in Falls Church, Virginia.
[speaker001:] Oh, I know where that is. That is beautiful where you are at.
[speaker002:] Yeah, right in, right near D C.
[speaker001:] D C, yeah. Are you a native of there?
[speaker002:] Uh, pretty much, yep. Been,
[speaker001:] Yeah, uh, Dallas, it is, uh, ninety-two degrees here today, but at least the humidity is, uh, below forty percent, which makes it kind of like Phoenix.
[speaker002:] Yeah. It is about the same weather here.
[speaker001:] Really?
[speaker002:] Little bit, little bit cooler, like eighty-nine.
[speaker001:] Well, you,
[speaker002:] But, basically the same thing.
[speaker001:] Yeah, well you are not missing too much then [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] Yeah. Right.
[speaker001:] Really. Well, take it easy.
[speaker002:] Okay.
[speaker001:] Okay. Bye-bye.
[speaker002:] Bye-bye.