Veterans for Common Sense

Bobby Hanafin, Major, USAF-Ret

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OHIO
Birthday: November 09, 1950
Hometown: MARYLAND
Website: http://www.veteransforamerica.org/index.cfm/profileid/54220?CFID=4616861&CFTOKEN
Occupation: Retired Army/Air Force MUSTANG!

My Quote:
"MAKE THE PLEDGE THAT NEVER AGAIN WOULD ONE GENERATION OF VETERANS ABANDON ANOTHER GENERATION OF VETERANS MEAN MORE THAN A FLAG WAVING AND RECRUITMENT SLOGAN."

About Me:

As Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW) approaches its 40th Anniversary, my quote is, "MAKE THE PLEDGE THAT NEVER AGAIN WOULD ONE GENERATION OF VETERANS ABANDON ANOTHER GENERATION OF VETERANS MEAN MORE THAN A SLOGAN." NO Veterans Left Behind means more than leaving them behind in regards to RIGHTS and BENEFITS. Leaving Veterans behind on the battlefield also means leaving them in harms way once our government leaders who sent them their have failed them, never had a plan to win, and are seeking A WAY OUT. Every potential Veteran that loses their life between NOW and the time that we eventually leave Iraq, and we will, is one more VETERAN we have left behind. That is WHY Major Bobby Hanafin has joined the only true Veterans groups pledged to leave no Veterans Behind - VVAW and Iraq Veterans Against the War.

I was 17 years old when I served as the last group of youngsters to deploy to Vietnam. I was about a decade younger than our average Vietnam Veteran today. Meaning that those of us that decided to stick around the All Volunteer Armed Forces, and there were quite a few given the anti-Vietnam war sentiment on active duty, did not experience the depth of trauma or divisiveness Vietnam caused the rest of the nation. Guess one could say that those hurting the most from their Vietnam experience were those that believed in it. Those that trusted our government and went to Vietnam blindly and obediently prior to the Tet offensive (1968).

That is what those Vietnam Veterans that oppose IRAQINAM are passionately trying to avoid more than anything beside the wrong war in the wrong place. Be it there are those who oppose ALL WARS, we are not all cut from that cloth, but will put aside our views to unite to end IRAQINAM. Why?

Because WE do not want to see another decade in age difference between the first group of youngsters to invade Iraq and last to leave the Iraq occupation or be thrown out. We don't want to see an age span of Iraq Veterans from 57 to 67 years old or more when they are our age 40 years from now. (ALL from the same war that is disgusting, and to have mostly non-Veterans tell the youngest among us that we look too young to have fought in Vietnam or Iraq because we are not physically or mentally devastated by Agent Orange, Depleted Uranium, or PTSD which knows no time frame or age limit.)

When I returned from Vietnam with the 4th ID it was to Fort Carson, CO where our entire unit was demolibized during the Vietnam drawdown between 1971 and 1972. We were converted into the 4th Mech Infantry about the time that I got out to attent Air Force ROTC at the U of MD, College Park near DC where I eventually got my commission at Andrews AFB in 1976. Though I (and other ROTC cadets opposed the Vietnam War) none of us were members of VVAW, but we were involved in activities depicted in the documentary Sir No Sir. By the time we went on active duty the Vietnam War was all but over, and in the blink of an eye it was the 1980s - the Reagan Years and the Cold War was on.

My views and attitudes on war and everything related to it went conservative, but nowhere near what the NEOCONS have in mind. However, that did not change my attitude on the need for a strong defense and for wars of necessity. I never advocated an offensive or aggressor United States of America or U.S. Armed Forces, and I still do not.

That said one Honors the Warrior Not the War, because the Warrior has NO SAY in which war they are sent to fight.