Earned right to ask

Stating that Tom Cotton is, in my view and that of many other vets, just a loud-mouthed self-promoter is not a denigration of his military service. I asked for his record. Still don’t know if there is a “V” for valor on that medal. He may be a good soldier, but that does not translate to a wise diplomat or genius in matters of foreign policy. Many good soldiers have records comparable or exceeding his. But they recognize their own limitations and would not stoop to bootlicking for “Private Bone Spurs,” who claims to know more than any of his general officers.

Mr. Terry Evers, I’m 78 years old and a U.S. Army vet with time spent in Kue hospital in Okinawa in 1959. Made my bona fides, and earned my right to question Cotton’s competence and state my views of him as being politically a phony. Like the Vietnam vets and most now serving in the military, I didn’t go there to get medals to brag about. We went to do a job we were asked to do for our country by our country.

Many of us later determined that our government lied to get us there and lied to America concerning what was going on there as we carried out our orders. Ken Burns’ documentary on Vietnam showed betrayals by those in power. It proved what I’ve said here. Too many vets could not watch what they knew would be very painful to visually relive. That is too bad since most may never realize what this country was told because they were too damned busy fighting in paddies and jungles to watch on TV (which they didn’t have there). They were not resented for what they did there. They were resented due to false presentations of it by self-serving sensationalizing of incidents by those among us who profit from war, and still do. Those who refuse to learn from mistakes, be it a country or a people, will pay by repeating them. KARL J. HANSEN

Hensley