War (uunh!) What is it Good For?

Post by **brian** » Mon Aug 16, 2021 4:34 pm

If you don’t follow @Stonekettle on Twitter, you probably should. He’s a vet and he’s got a typically great piece on the fall of Afghanistan.

degenerasian · Post by **degenerasian** » Mon Aug 16, 2021 4:52 pm

Had lunch with my dad today and obviously we talked about what's going on in Afghanistan. He is shocked how fast Kabul fell.
He left Saigon on April 28, 1975 three days before the Fall of Saigon, during the three day provisional government. Now 3 days doesn't sound like much but it was enough to get 100,000 people out. And the North Vietnamese weren't really obstructing. They would go door to door later on.

He says the biggest difference was that the South Vietnamese soldiers, even though certainly defeated by April 28, were still around helping to evacuate people while they were to stay behind. My dad forgot a suitcase and paid an officer to go back and get with all the remaining South Vietnamese money he had. Where is the Afghan army? he asked. Are they just gone? Totally surrendered? Leaving their people to die.

Post by **brian** » Mon Aug 16, 2021 4:58 pm

Basically, yeah. Way more of a paper army than the ARVN was in 1975.

Johnnie · Post by **Johnnie** » Mon Aug 16, 2021 6:28 pm

Steve of phpBB · Post by **Steve of phpBB** » Tue Aug 17, 2021 7:54 am

I was yesterday years old when I learned that the famous photo from 1975 was *not* the US embassy roof. It was a nearby apartment building that had housed various US employees.

tennbengal · Post by **tennbengal** » Tue Aug 17, 2021 9:34 am

The Sybian · Post by **The Sybian** » Tue Aug 17, 2021 9:47 am

Steve of phpBB wrote: ↑Tue Aug 17, 2021 7:54 am I was yesterday years old when I learned that the famous photo from 1975 was *not* the US embassy roof. It was a nearby apartment building that had housed various US employees.

I learned this from your post. Interesting.

degenerasian · Post by **degenerasian** » Tue Aug 17, 2021 10:33 am

Yes. 22 Gia Long Street. It's now a rooftop cafe

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/22_Gia_Long_Street

Steve of phpBB · Post by **Steve of phpBB** » Tue Aug 17, 2021 10:51 am

They should sell tickets to walk up those steps.

Johnnie · Post by **Johnnie** » Tue Aug 17, 2021 10:58 am

This was an incredible feat. I just wish we could've had an air bridge for everyone else.

Post by **brian** » Tue Aug 17, 2021 11:05 am

Steve of phpBB wrote: ↑Tue Aug 17, 2021 10:51 am They should sell tickets to walk up those steps.

Probably still not really something the Vietnamese are keen to exploit or revisit.

degenerasian · Post by **degenerasian** » Tue Aug 17, 2021 11:27 am

brian wrote: ↑Tue Aug 17, 2021 11:05 am
Steve of phpBB wrote: ↑Tue Aug 17, 2021 10:51 am They should sell tickets to walk up those steps.
Probably still not really something the Vietnamese are keen to exploit or revisit.

They don't know about this. It's not taught officially. I mean, who in their right mind would escape when the Vietnam was being unified? Woohoo! That should have been cause for celebration! Like right now, who would escape the Taliban? That's stupid.

Like anything unpleasant or non-communist, it's just now stories passed down from people who were there.

Pruitt · Post by **Pruitt** » Tue Aug 17, 2021 12:06 pm

Johnnie · Post by **Johnnie** » Tue Aug 17, 2021 2:38 pm

That woman is a crisis actor. Looks like there's an actual website to recruit these people from to feed to the GOP hate machine.

(This thread is wild, btw.)

Pruitt · Post by **Pruitt** » Tue Aug 17, 2021 2:53 pm

Just amazing.

Post by **Shirley** » Tue Aug 17, 2021 3:34 pm

I don't know. There are a lot of kooks out there who try to be actors. And some dude on Twitter claiming "no visible means of income" really doesn't mean anything. How do you know what someone else can afford or how they might get paid? Sure, maybe they're being paid to show up to rallies, but it seems pretty unlikely to me. All it would take is just one of these losers to gather some evidence and take it to CNN or the NYT and get a shitload of attention and notoriety. You mean to tell me that all of these out-of-work actors actually good actors and never break character?

Post by **brian** » Tue Aug 17, 2021 3:36 pm

One of the better uses of this meme.

Post by **brian** » Tue Aug 17, 2021 4:49 pm

tennbengal · Post by **tennbengal** » Tue Aug 17, 2021 4:55 pm

Johnnie · Post by **Johnnie** » Tue Aug 17, 2021 7:14 pm

And this is just heart breaking.

Air Force launches investigation after human remains found in C-17 flying out of Kabul

Johnnie · Post by **Johnnie** » Tue Aug 17, 2021 8:52 pm

Not sure when you'll read this or hear it on the news, but from what I'm gathering there's a massive effort to fly people out of Afghanistan.

A lot of planes for deployers are just getting cancelled out of nowhere and suddenly re-routed.

Probably should have mentioned this earlier today, but I forgot.

A_B · Post by **A_B** » Tue Aug 17, 2021 9:59 pm

CNN had a story about that.

Johnnie · Post by **Johnnie** » Wed Aug 18, 2021 8:44 pm

Damn. Hits you in the feels.

Johnnie · Post by **Johnnie** » Thu Aug 26, 2021 1:08 pm

Bound to happen. And the Right is jumping all over this.

This evac operation could've taken place sooner. This isn't good for Dems.

Post by **brian** » Thu Aug 26, 2021 1:20 pm

These four dead soldiers are somehow more tragic than the other 2500 deaths in this meaningless war!

mister d · Post by **mister d** » Thu Aug 26, 2021 1:31 pm

Benghazi II: Not Benghazi

degenerasian · Post by **degenerasian** » Thu Aug 26, 2021 4:51 pm

I am surprised that ISIS still hasn't been able to recruit a single member with graphic design skills. Their flag looks like it was written with crayons.

A_B · Post by **A_B** » Thu Aug 26, 2021 4:53 pm

Have you seen most American state flags?

Rush2112 · Post by **Rush2112** » Thu Aug 26, 2021 5:08 pm

Or Canadian provincial flags?

Johnnie · Post by **Johnnie** » Fri Aug 27, 2021 7:11 pm

This is what Ramstein AB looks like right now.

Pretty incredible operation going on there right now.

And currently we're sending people out the door to Holloman AFB to do the same thing.

EnochRoot · Post by **EnochRoot** » Fri Aug 27, 2021 7:15 pm

Johnnie wrote: ↑Fri Aug 27, 2021 7:11 pm This is what Ramstein AB looks like right now.

Pretty incredible operation going on there right now.

And currently we're sending people out the door to Holloman AFB to do the same thing.

Agreed. Are all those tents for refugees? Cuz if so, they're gonna need to be running trucks to empty those port-o-lets 24/7.

govmentchedda · Post by **govmentchedda** » Fri Aug 27, 2021 7:20 pm

MREs, MRite?

Johnnie · Post by **Johnnie** » Fri Aug 27, 2021 7:45 pm

Sure is.

https://www.military.com/daily-news/202 ... begin.html

And you're totally right. Food, showers, general sustainment...big, big deal.

EnochRoot · Post by **EnochRoot** » Fri Aug 27, 2021 9:56 pm

Johnnie wrote: ↑Fri Aug 27, 2021 7:45 pm Sure is.

https://www.military.com/daily-news/202 ... begin.html

And you're totally right. Food, showers, general sustainment...big, big deal.

The comments section. Good fucking grief.

The Sybian · Post by **The Sybian** » Sat Aug 28, 2021 6:04 am

Johnnie wrote: ↑Fri Aug 27, 2021 7:45 pm Sure is.

https://www.military.com/daily-news/202 ... begin.html

And you're totally right. Food, showers, general sustainment...big, big deal.

Sounds like they need a logistics expert to help out.

Johnnie · Post by **Johnnie** » Sat Aug 28, 2021 9:29 am

The Sybian wrote: ↑Sat Aug 28, 2021 6:04 am
Johnnie wrote: ↑Fri Aug 27, 2021 7:45 pm Sure is.

https://www.military.com/daily-news/202 ... begin.html

And you're totally right. Food, showers, general sustainment...big, big deal.
Sounds like they need a logistics expert to help out.

Johnnie · Post by **Johnnie** » Mon Jan 24, 2022 5:55 pm

I'm not one of them, but uhhhh, some people are.

I'm not saying it's definitely going to happen, but when they tell people to evac the embassies in Ukraine, Russia, and China, something seems very likely to happen.

And this thread makes more sense than the Ball of Confusion one...

sancarlos · Post by **sancarlos** » Mon Jan 24, 2022 6:11 pm

Johnnie, what’re the odds on this fucking up your timely discharge?

The Sybian · Post by **The Sybian** » Mon Jan 24, 2022 8:21 pm

sancarlos wrote: ↑Mon Jan 24, 2022 6:11 pm Johnnie, what’re the odds on this fucking up your timely discharge?

I’ve been complaining about Johnnie’s untimely discharge for years.

Johnnie · Post by **Johnnie** » Mon Jan 24, 2022 8:30 pm

Haha. I think the last time there was a stop loss was 9/11. So I think I'll be ok, but it would be just my luck that some bullshit happens again before I get out.

It's ok though. I totally love my country.