Narrowly crosses the line into chickenhawk status. While NG enlistment was widely seen as a way to avoid serving in Vietnam, there were no guarantees of that, unlike today where the NG gets called up so much I see no point in not joining the regular armed forces and getting a guarantee of a steady job so long as you can be called upon to serve.
His comment that by 1970 it was obvious that the Vietnam War was going to be lost because of the politicians shows that either in 1970 he was an idiot of the sort that populates politics internet boards today, or engaging in historical revisionism of the highest order. Granted, the war was lost because of the politicians, but if Nixon hadn't been caught up in Watergate, I think he would have been able to see to it that the South Vietnamese got the war material and air support they needed. Possibly even enough that the North would not have tried an invasion.
I agree with the first part- we all saw NG and reservists as play soldiers- get to don the utilities and salute but very rarely in danger...he's better then others
On the second part- in 1970 it was VERY clear that support for the war was dropping off a cliff...that was clear with LBJ in 68
Saying only the politicians were losing us the war is a stretch- but to say the home front not being able to stomach the carnage being a cause is very true. I always credit it to being the first war to be covered so significantly by the media- if NBC had cameras on Omaha Beach you'd get folks rioting back home...there are differences but the media is the root cause here
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