Liberal Street Fighter
We hear it often, the assertion that protests at home destroyed troop morale in Vietnam, and that peace protesters "hurt the troops". This convential wisdom, a cultural ointment smeared on any debate about war, seeks to "explain" why the United States lost in Vietnam.
It is, frankly, crap. The photo to the right has the following caption:
Grieving soldier
An American infantryman mourns the death of a fellow soldier in Haktong-ni, South Korea, August 1950.
What does broken morale really mean? Isn't it just a form of grieving, a sudden acceptance or realization that a "noble cause" wasn't worth the cost in blood, in treasure, in lost limbs and shreaded souls? It is a byproduct and a part of all wars, and the protests at home were only one of many reasons for soldier's lost morale in Indochina, reasons as numerous as there are
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