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The weirdest thing about American culture
(lemmy.ml)
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this post was submitted on 29 Jul 2026
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I have a co-worker who fought in Vietnam. I showed him the thing about the Pentagon straight up admitting that the Gulf of Tonkin incident was bullshit, but he refused to accept it. Still feels that we had to fight that war because if we had allowed the communists to win, it would have meant that communism would have taken over the world ... even though we actually did lose that war.
The "domino theory" of communism never played out the way they said it would. Just a waste of blood and treasure.
Any time someone brings up the draft I remind them the last time the U.S. did a draft it was for a war that they lost, and justified due to things that never actually happened after the U.S. lost.
So basically the U.S. enslaved and sent tens of thousands of people to their deaths for no reason.
They then abolished the draft due to public pressure but a little bit later started selective service registration just in case
Draftees make horrible soldiers, especially in unpopular wars which, lets be honest, have been all of the US' military engagements since 1945. I think the military would rather do without them and the grenades that tend be dropped into the tents of sleeping COs.
My wife and I were talking about a draft for Iran and whether they would widen the age range they're looking for and try to draft me. I said that if they tried, I would promise them that if they handed me a gun that I would use it to kill as many high ranking American officers as I could because I'm much more dangerous than a pacifist or conscientious objector; I will actively sabotage a war that I don't believe in and that I'm forced to participate in. So I think they'd let me stay home. If you force me to give my life for a cause, I'm gonna be the one to pick the cause.
Depends how everything else is going. Probably at the point we have a draft to go to Iran, we'll already be an authoritarian state and your options are to go to to war or to ICE camp. You think Russians are volunteering to die in Ukraine?
But I'd be curious if that would have worked in Vietnam. I'm guessing they would just put a note in your file to subject you to as much abuse as possible or just kill you the way they did Pat TIllman. Conscientious Objector status is a really a sop to religion, otherwise I think a lot of people could qualify for it.
Edit: Get out of the US if you at all can.
Which is the same as the draft just renamed
The military industrial complex needs its regular sacrifice every decade to keep the black heart pumping.
Ha ha, I just looked it up: there are five Domino's Pizza restaurants in Vietnam.
Well it largely never played out because western capitalists spilled so much blood making sure it wouldn’t. If people had been free to decide for themselves, many more countries would have gone communist, as it has better outcomes for the majority of people than capitalism.
He's avoiding some of the PTSD by keeping his world narrative. Deep down, he knows, it haunts him at night.
I honestly don't think he has PTSD, doesn't seem the type. He spent the war riding around in an M48 tank so I don't think he saw any shit up close. More like a B52 pilot than an actual combatant.
He told you he drove both a Tank and a B52 in Vietnam?