A nasty little episode...

[TarJak]

http://www.smh.com.au/world/phantom-...0711-dgms.html
Not sure what to think about this...

[Schroeder]

Nasty stuff. But believe me, it happens on all sides. Everyone should know that by now. That doesn't make it less disgusting though.

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by Schroeder

Nasty stuff. But believe me, it happens on all sides. Everyone should know that by now. That doesn't make it less disgusting though.

Agreed.....confirmed by the APC driver and probably more in the coming days/weeks.

I can't help feel the injustice in witholding they're pensions though.

If we were to investigate the other side you'd probably find they would have been rewarded for their actions.

War is a messy business....regardless of which side you take.

It always confused me.
Why on earth did Oz and NZ get involved in that fiasco?

Then again ,as for this atrocity story.....Fair play, its no worse than the French did over there.
The trouble is that it don't work

[TarJak]

I think our government at the time wanted to cement relations with the US as Australian Foreign Policy shifted away from being reliant on Britain for support. Can't comment on the Kiwi's but assume it was much the same reasoning.

I know this sort of thing happens on all sides during conflict and that no-one hands can stay completely clean during a war. Just disappointing to hear about it so long after the event and in particular the attempt at covering the thing up by the authorities. Not unexpected, just disappointing.

[Schroeder]

Originally Posted by TarJak

Just disappointing to hear about it so long after the event and in particular the attempt at covering the thing up by the authorities. Not unexpected, just disappointing.

Get used to it. there is always way more going on than what the government tells you.
Every side likes to show itself as clean but I haven't seen one yet in any given war that actually was clean.

[Max2147]

Originally Posted by Tribesman

It always confused me.
Why on earth did Oz and NZ get involved in that fiasco?

The US put a lot of pressure on them. The US never invoked ANZUS, but it was understood that, as American allies that were close to Asia, they were supposed to send forces.

Australia's leaders were pretty enthusiastic about the war, and actually pushed the US to get even more involved. New Zealand was more reluctant, and they only sent a token force.

[JHuschke]

Sigh...

[bookworm_020]

A terrible thing to happen, but in war many things like this happen. Only when people address it will there be any form of closure.

[TarJak]

Originally Posted by Schroeder

Get used to it. there is always way more going on than what the government tells you.
Every side likes to show itself as clean but I haven't seen one yet in any given war that actually was clean.

He he. I'm well and truly used to it. It still disappoints me that they think that these sorts of things can and should be hidden from view.

War is as dirty as life/death comes. Never underestimate the evil that men do.

[kiwi_2005]

Originally Posted by Max2147

The US put a lot of pressure on them. The US never invoked ANZUS, but it was understood that, as American allies that were close to Asia, they were supposed to send forces.

Australia's leaders were pretty enthusiastic about the war, and actually pushed the US to get even more involved. New Zealand was more reluctant, and they only sent a token force.

The Vietnam conflict was the first in which New Zealand did not fight alongside the United Kingdom, instead following the loyalties of the ANZUS Pact. New Zealand and the Australian troops in Vietnam were given the nickname 'Great Ghosts of the Forest' by the Vietcong because the troops were the only army able to walk through the forest without being heard.

I remember my uncle speaking about how he was proud of been named a ghost by the Vietcong even if he did collect their ears!

Originally Posted by kiwi_2005

The Vietnam conflict was the first in which New Zealand did not fight alongside the United Kingdom, instead following the loyalties of the ANZUS Pact. New Zealand and the Australian troops in Vietnam were given the nickname 'Great Ghosts of the Forest' by the Vietcong because the troops were the only army able to walk through the forest without being heard.

I remember my uncle speaking about how he was proud of been named a ghost by the Vietcong even if he did collect their ears!

I remember seeing this one short documentary about a US infantry squad in the jungles of Vietnam. In the documentary they were shot at by a Vietcong sniper who wasn't much of shot but laid a booby trap for them. The Americans had a kind of jungle specialist guide from Guam, who subsequently ran into booby trap. One of the Americans lost his foot below the ankle and the guide died. The whole thing was caught on film.

I've been looking for that documentary for awhile but I'm not sure where it is. I saw it in a bigger collection of similar footage when I was in the UK. Lots of footage from the Vietnam war just kind of lost in time or never made public especially if it somehow made the US troops look bad.