Remember our exit from Vietnam?

[Raven]

People trying to scale the fence of the US compound...desperately trying to board helicopters?

[liberal N proud]

1. I remember these pictures on TV

[mdmc]

2. I don't remember per se

:kick:R

[zipplewrath]

6. Delete

[zipplewrath]

7. delete

[zipplewrath]

8. That first one isn't the embassy

It is a common mistake, mostly because so many newspapers get it wrong, but that first one isn't the US embassy. In fact, it is an apartment building housing CIA personnel.

http://www.mishalov.com/Vietnam_finalescape.html

[mmonk]

3. I sure do.

Fall of Saigan

[Scruffy1]

4. This was not our exit-another media invention

The troops had all gone home. What you saw leaving was the guard of Marines at the US embassy. Just goes to show you how powerful the Ministry of Truth is. This little piece of propaganda had a powerful effect on keeping future wars going and the profits flowing, just like the bullshit about soldiers being spit on in the USA. No researcher has been able to find any media mention of it until the Reagan campaign. Divide and conquer. If we don't stay the course...............All Bullshit. I just heard Senator In your way repeat this bs.

[Javaman]

10. Um, leaving the nation, even if it was from the embassy, is still an an exit.

we had no diplomatic ties, no troops and no personal, after we left the embassy. That is an exit, last time I checked.

[iamthebandfanman]

11. retreat is probably a better word than 'exit' n/t

[Javaman]

16. I don't like using the word "retreating" because that gives the morons

who think we had a snowballs chance of "winning" over there, more ammo in thinking we "ran away" because of those "dirty hippies".

We left because we got our asses kicked. Plain and simple.

[MadMaddie]

19. America has a bad habit of going into places where other

countries got their ass kicked and got out by defeat.

Vietnam - The French got slaughtered and got the hell out. What did the U.S do? Well, it's history.

Afghanastan, same thing - Communist Russia fell because of Afghanastan.

Iraq - we should have never been there.

[Javaman]

22. American egotism...

We have this bizarre and very misplaced need to go into a nation, were others have failed miserably, to prove, for some unfounded reason, that we will success.

For the past 65 years the US has lived off the legacy of WWII. It has been a colossal detriment to this nation.

We learned nothing.

[d_r]

5. I do

One of the first memories I have was of the news showing them pushing the helicopters from the ships so more could land.

I thought of that last night as I was watching the news from Iraq.

[david13]

9. I remember it. But I do not remember it as "mine" or "our" exit. It

was the exit of the american government, the military, etc. It had nothing to do with me.
I was in no way, shape, or form any part of it.
dc

[mike r]

12. On that day:

[Bandit]

13. There is a huge difference

The third largest army in the world was bearing down on Saigon and many Vietnamese that had helped Americans or the South Vietnamese government feared ,rightly, for their very lives..There is simply no comparison between Vietnam and Iraq

[mmonk]

24. True but I don't think the OP said anything about Iraq.

[Stinky The Clown]

14. yes

[CBGLuthier]

15. So Long and Thanks for the Soup.

I realized recently that for all the death and sadness of those times the ultimate result of the Vietnam war is that I can get one hell of a great bowl of Pho within a mile of my house.

To my children and their children that will be the sum of it all. That and learning how to pronounce names that start with Ng.

[mike r]

17. and the Vietnamese iced coffee and spring rolls and sandwiches

and vermicelli and assorted affordable French pastries...

[corkhead]

18. they are real fresh in my mind. I happened to watch the Deer Hunter last night

not knowing what was going on in Iraq. They showed actual footage from the fall of Saigon in the film.

What a contrast.

[Brickbat]

23. What a devastating movie that is.

One of the best.

[corkhead]

27. I've watched it about once a decade since it came out

and every time it is like seeing a new movie. I am in a different place than I was the previous time I watched it and get something different out of it. This is the first time I have seen it since Boosh was in office and we got into the wars we are in. It brought a totally different perspective. Highly recommended to anyone, even if you have seen it before; it is timeless.

[Brickbat]

29. Timeless is a great word for it.

[ThomWV]

20. Just goes to show, there's more than one way to start and end an illegal war.

[GreenPartyVoter]

26. +1000

[AngryAmish]

21. I do. I was very young.

Sad day for many people exiled or sent to the gulog.

[slackmaster]

25. Yes. I was 16 and it made a very big impression on me.

"Never again," I remember thinking.

That was about the time my mom told me we wouldn't see another Republican President for at least a generation.

I think people were still seriously talking about a "30-hour work week", the Metric System, and picture phones.

One out of five isn't too bad, I guess.

[Lost4words]

28. Oh Yes! nt