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Kind of late but CNN is airing a special on Kent State 7-8pm n/t (Original Post) doc03 May 2014 OP
I've got that on right now, thanks! Rhiannon12866 May 2014 #1
I was 22 at the time and just got out of the Army, I always thought doc03 May 2014 #2
I was 13, in England Skittles May 2014 #3
I was in high school Rhiannon12866 May 2014 #4
I watched the news from my Army hospital bed in San Francisco pinboy3niner May 2014 #5
Wow. I can't imagine how terrible that was for you. Rhiannon12866 May 2014 #9
I'd been hurt very badly and nearly died--a normal hazard for a combatant in war pinboy3niner May 2014 #11
I know and it still makes no sense Rhiannon12866 May 2014 #12
Thanks, I'm managing pretty well today pinboy3niner May 2014 #13
To this day most RWers say the kids deserved it. Boomerproud May 2014 #6
Oh yea my dad and his generation thought that doc03 May 2014 #8
Kent State changed my life malaise May 2014 #7
Why is it "late"? brooklynite May 2014 #10
No I just happened to find the show on about 20 minutes into it. I hope they play doc03 May 2014 #14

Rhiannon12866

(203,036 posts)
1. I've got that on right now, thanks!
Sun May 4, 2014, 07:50 PM
May 2014

Certainly brings back memories, though I was younger at the time. What a terrible tragedy, deserves to always be remembered...

doc03

(35,148 posts)
2. I was 22 at the time and just got out of the Army, I always thought
Sun May 4, 2014, 07:55 PM
May 2014

the whole thing was planned by Nixon and Gov. Rhoades.

Rhiannon12866

(203,036 posts)
4. I was in high school
Sun May 4, 2014, 08:03 PM
May 2014

Boarding school, actually, without a lot of access to the news media. But we certainly heard about it, remember having some kind of campus meeting that I attended. I was on crutches at the time, had broken my foot, and there's a pic of me on crutches wearing a black arm band. Think we started wearing those when Nixon invaded Cambodia. It was a very emotional and scary time, remember the student strikes, knew older kids who were in college at the time.

pinboy3niner

(53,339 posts)
5. I watched the news from my Army hospital bed in San Francisco
Sun May 4, 2014, 08:07 PM
May 2014

After being shot in Vietnam and being Medevac'd back from the war I watched in horror and disbelief that students were being gunned down by National Guard troops on an American college campus.

Rhiannon12866

(203,036 posts)
9. Wow. I can't imagine how terrible that was for you.
Sun May 4, 2014, 11:55 PM
May 2014

Being away from most media, unlike today, most of what I heard was word of mouth, but those were scary times. I had a radio, though, and remember hearing about Nixon escalating the war which made no sense to me, especially since the American people wanted it to end. What happened at Kent State is no less horrifying today, especially since we still don't know exactly what happened. I'm just glad to see you and other Vietnam vets here on this board with us today.

pinboy3niner

(53,339 posts)
11. I'd been hurt very badly and nearly died--a normal hazard for a combatant in war
Mon May 5, 2014, 02:50 AM
May 2014

But college students in the U.S. being killed and wounded by the Army National Guard? That was pretty hard to wrap my head around, on top of a host of other psychological war effects that I didn't have a clue about at the time and wouldn't even begin to understand for many years.

I couldn't understand why the Guardsmen even had live ammo in those circumstances.

Rhiannon12866

(203,036 posts)
12. I know and it still makes no sense
Mon May 5, 2014, 03:31 AM
May 2014

I can't imagine the reason people didn't cry for a real explanation. It had a profound effect on students everywhere, remember thinking that this could happen anywhere and it was frightening. I knew kids in college and this fired up campuses everywhere, including at the small liberal college I eventually attended.

As for the war, they say that this was the first war to be televised, but there was so much we didn't know and still don't know now. My cousin, who went to West Point, career Army and had his Dad in Vietnam, told me when Bush* invaded Iraq that we hadn't learned the lessons of Vietnam.

I'm hope you're doing well today. I worked with a really nice guy who was still experiencing both physical and psychological effects of his Vietnam service and he hadn't been wounded.

pinboy3niner

(53,339 posts)
13. Thanks, I'm managing pretty well today
Mon May 5, 2014, 04:28 AM
May 2014

It never goes away, but it can be managed. Old issues pop up again and need to be re-processed and having a good support system is crucial. I'm more concerned about the men and women returning from war now and meeting their needs.

We learned the lessons of Vietnam briefly--but they didn't stick. It was only because of Vietnam that the warmongers couldn't succeed in having U.S. troops sent to fight wars in Central America in the mid-'80s. (And I started a Vietnam Veterans of America local chapter project tutoring war refugee kids from Nicaragua and El Salvador in those days.)

I hope we'll eventually get more answers about Kent State. The victims and their families deserve that, and so does our country.

Boomerproud

(7,889 posts)
6. To this day most RWers say the kids deserved it.
Sun May 4, 2014, 08:38 PM
May 2014

I couldn't watch. I lived on the campus in the summer of 1976 and passed the spot every day going to work.

doc03

(35,148 posts)
8. Oh yea my dad and his generation thought that
Sun May 4, 2014, 09:10 PM
May 2014

they deserved it and Nixon was a hero for stopping the protests. I would bet 9 out ten or more of Republicans still believe that today.
Amurika love it r leave it.

doc03

(35,148 posts)
14. No I just happened to find the show on about 20 minutes into it. I hope they play
Mon May 5, 2014, 03:35 PM
May 2014

it again so I can see it all.

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