On the 59th anniversary of the Fall of Dien Bien Phu I thought that I would re-post this little article…
Just shy of five years ago in February 2008 I returned from Iraq after a tour with our advisors to the Iraqi Army and Security forces in the far reaches of Al Anbar Province. I flew back to the United States on a chartered flight with about 200 other men and women, individual augments from the US Navy who had served in Iraq and Afghanistan. We had a few days in Kuwait to “decompress” and then were on our way home. Those that conducted our training in that time had been in Kuwait, at large bases, separated from home but enjoying creature comforts that made it feel that we were in “Little America.”
Our aircraft stopped at Ramstein Air Base in Germany for a crew change and refueling. While there the aircraft was filled to its capacity with servicemen and their families returning from Germany to the United States. Crying…
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The Inglorius Padre Steve's World 
I did a post earlier today, on how the Irish parliament is in the process of passing a bill to pardon troops that fought with the British Army in WW2. The government of the time deemed these men “deserters”, banned them from any government position in the future, and stripped them of their state pensions. Finally, after over 70 years of shame and disgrace, those few vets still alive, and especially all their descendants, can now be proud that their fathers fought for freedom from Nazi tyranny.
A friend of mine, an Army Lt. Colonel, made a passing swipe about Vietnam, then partially apologised. I told him to make such comments at the top of his lungs. Between the Irish WW2 vets, our own Vietnam veterans returning to a hateful country, and our current vets’ benefits being so incompetently handled that building floors are in danger of collapse from the backed-up paperwork, it seems we have a VERY difficult time learning from our past. (I won’t even mention the British and Soviet experience in Afghanistan going unheeded…)