Letters to editor of the Pahrump Valley Times

The road that we’re on has changed direction

Reading Mr. James G. Herzog’s PV Times letter of Dec. 20, I agree and question many of the same things. I personally went to Vietnam in its early years, when there seemed to be wide support and it seemed most of us then had an attitude we were doing the right good thing as our fathers had done in World War II.

Then after my second tour I saw the ugly changes the country had gone through. By many of us, there was almost a feeling of shame because the biggest percentage of us only did what our country asked us to do. Later, that attitude spread to the guys still there which became a “why should we give a damn” attitude along with widespread drug and alcohol abuse.

I later worked with a friend who was a Korean War vet and compared the two conflicts many times. I pointed out they had it much harder, particularly in winter because it had to be so difficult fighting the enemy but fighting the cold, with many times no way to get warm for days and sometimes weeks. He always told me Vietnam vets had it much worse in the aftermath. In his opinion, it was better to be part of the “forgotten war” than to be subjected to all the ridicule so many Vietnam vets received unjustly, which should have been directed at the political leadership and in some cases, military leadership. This sentiment is as true today as it was back then.

Just before President Obama’s first inauguration in 2008, a concerned man visited G.W. Bush in the White House and expressed concern of President-elect campaign promises of “change” and his world view. One of his promises was to get us out of “dumb” wars, which sounded like a good thing.

President Bush stated “little” would probably change, Obama will be getting the same information from essentially the same people, so there may be some changed around the edges but little else.

Think about it, even with all the promises, very little really changed. Worldwide turmoil may have moved and morphed but for the most part, there was little change for the good worldwide. As a matter of fact, it could be easily argued the U.S.’ blood and treasure losses have increased. Maybe not in actual loss of U.S. military life, but physical and mental wounds.

Then America elects a bombastic, non-politician, maybe because of all the failures of the “professional” politicians.

Mr. Trump comes from a world of “builders” where results and deadlines count. If something is not working and getting desired results, you don’t keep doing the same thing over and over, you change things, fire people if necessary. Doing these things bucks a powerful well-entrenched collection of “professional politicians and bureaucrats. Trump certainly always makes the “right” moves but shows he’s willing to change direction if something is not working. This, along with a level of self-preservation is a very strong motivation to throw the guy that’s “rocking the boat” overboard.

So raw hatred and self-presentation are really bottom line motivation no what you hear them say with all their contortions of reasons.

David Jaronik