September 19, 2020
Saturday AM

As a member of the military for six years during the Vietnam era let me address President Trump’s alleged use of the words or phrases “Poor suckers” & “Losers”.

First I reference an online dictionary definition for “Poor sucker”: Someone who was tricked, duped, became a sitting duck or a sitting target. I can tell you that during my latter high school years when the nightly news was reporting daily deaths at a rate of 80 to 100 per day of mostly kids a couple of years older than me, dying in a pointless war, it  is easy to refer to those poor suckers as such because they were duped and were sitting ducks.  I was “enslaved” with a draft lottery number of 27 and college friends of mine who got lottery numbers above 200 and were considered “safe” from going to Vietnam may well have referred to me as a “poor sucker.”  I would not take offense at being called that as it would be meant as a term of compassion for my misfortune. 

I advanced in my military training and became a 2nd Lieutenant.  Statistically over 800 2nd Lieutenants died in Vietnam.  They were by common definition “sitting ducks” as they led their squads on patrols through the jungles of Vietnam. This word is also used for showing surprise or admiration for something as in ”Look at that sucker go!” 

When my classmate Gary Griener died in Vietnam, I grieved for his life being lost for the sake of a pointless war.  I grieved for his family and friends who were “losers” in the most obvious way, his young life being snuffed out by a government making decisions that were un-necessary and decisions that held no moral high ground.  At the time of Gary’s death there were thousands of  demonstrators on the city streets around our nation crying out against the war. 

Those who gave their lives in Vietnam were not like the heroes of WWII who joined the war effort to defeat the Nazis or the Japanese Empire.  By definition a “Loser” is a person who takes a loss in a specified way.  Every life lost in Vietnam was NOT an “investment” in the future of America as was the case in WWII.  Perhaps their lives could be measured in the success of the “military industrial complex” and the lives thus enriched through the huge expenditures supporting the war effort, but for them and their friends it was nothing but a loss.  They were “losers”.  Their families were “losers”.  There were no “winners” among them whose lives were lost or among their families.

As far as Trump’s use of these two terms, I can only judge his intent and underlying meaning by viewing his obvious respect for the military and the many ways he has expressed his support and reverence for military members during his first 4 years as Commander in Chief.  Honoring the dead, giving the military a pay raise, ending pointless wars, supporting veterans, etc.  Trump’s support of our military belies the interpretation of the Biden camp and fake news in their efforts to vilify Trump’s alleged statements.  Would Trump use those statements in retrospect?  Probably not, yet my explanation should be part of the rational perspective that the liberal left is tone-deaf to.

Robert B. Holston Jr.
Vietnam War Era Veteran
Ketchikan, Alaska

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The text of this letter was NOT edited by the SitNews Editor.

Received September 06, 2020 - Published September 19, 2020, 2020

Related Viewpoint:

Alaska Veterans Denounce President Trump's Offensive Statements about U.S. Servicemen and Women By Mike Szymanski & 17 Veterans

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