Hello fellow boomers. Just say thanks.

[radiochaser]

20 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

and the South Koreans.

 

NZ had less than 600 personnel in Vietnam at any one time. The NZ artillery reportedly did a good job. The government was reluctant to send anyone, but NZ needs the US to protect us, so probably a good idea to send a nominal force. NZ also had a civilian nursing cohort there. I knew one of them- a lovely woman.

Even Thailand had military fighting in Vietnam.   

[wombat]

On 3/22/2025 at 11:37 PM, swissie said:

The "boomers" were too young for the Korean/Vietnamese war.

er...no...wrong

[radiochaser]

16 hours ago, MalcolmB said:

How many Vietnamese people did you kill?

Oooohhhhhh.. Look at that nasty comment/question!!!

[alex8912]

On 3/22/2025 at 11:43 PM, Kinnock said:

Vietnam war ended in 1975, age of conscription started at 18 .... so boomers were involved in the war.

A lot of " boomers " were born after 1960 

[Presnock]

7 minutes ago, radiochaser said:

Kennedy started Vietnam.   

actually VN started prior to Kennedy but he expanded the number of people there and sent Johnson to determine the progress with Diem.  

[radiochaser]

2 hours ago, Presnock said:

Yeah whenever a negotiator gives up anything of importance just to get out of a situation i.e. Trump and the Taliban too as he must have learned from HENRY kISSINGER the art of negotiating just to get out of a situation and blame it on others.  MHO anyway as a VN vet involved in that fiasco for 10 years.

Deleted 

 

[radiochaser]

40 minutes ago, Presnock said:

49 minutes ago, radiochaser said:

Kennedy started Vietnam.   

actually VN started prior to Kennedy but he expanded the number of people there and sent Johnson to determine the progress with Diem.  

Yeah, I think you are right about that.   I think Kennedy authorized the Army elements that  I worked with to go into Vietnam in 1960. 

[Yellowtail]

27 minutes ago, radiochaser said:

Yeah, I think you are right about that.   I think Kennedy authorized the Army elements that  I worked with to go into Vietnam in 1960. 

Did the French not start Vietnam? 

[IsaanT]

On 3/22/2025 at 10:04 PM, swissie said:

Hello fellow "boomers". I think it's time for us to realise in what "golden age" most of us lived. An age where most "little people" were able to improve their financial standing. With the outlook of a financially secure old age. We diden't have to fight in any disastrous wars like generations before us had to. And we live longer than our grandparents.

 

We should be thankful.

 

The "new age" that is now dawning is more than worriesome. Generations can handle 1 or 2 major problems. But the multitude of problems at our doorstep will likely surpass the capability of humans to handle the multitude of major problems all at the same time.

 

I myself find being an old man is not that great. But at least I have some sort of "solace". Hopefully, I will have passed the "pearly gates" before king Chaos will reighn the world once more.

 

So, fellow boomers, thankfullness and gratefullness is in order. We were truly born into a historical "window of opportunity" that is rare in history.

 

@swissie, you are right.  I reflect on my gratitude most days.  The next generations will never have it so good.

I took early retirement two years ago.  I worked hard all my life but I always knew I was a good time to be born.

My investments currently keep me going, and when all my pensions kick in the next few years I'll be getting more than when I retired from a good job in IT in the UK.

We are comfortable but consumption for its own sake is unfulfilling so I'm expecting most of my money will be left to the children.  They're going to need it more than me.
 

[nauseus]

On 3/22/2025 at 10:04 PM, swissie said:

Hello fellow "boomers". I think it's time for us to realise in what "golden age" most of us lived. An age where most "little people" were able to improve their financial standing. With the outlook of a financially secure old age. We diden't have to fight in any disastrous wars like generations before us had to. And we live longer than our grandparents.

 

We should be thankful.

 

The "new age" that is now dawning is more than worriesome. Generations can handle 1 or 2 major problems. But the multitude of problems at our doorstep will likely surpass the capability of humans to handle the multitude of major problems all at the same time.

 

I myself find being an old man is not that great. But at least I have some sort of "solace". Hopefully, I will have passed the "pearly gates" before king Chaos will reighn the world once more.

 

So, fellow boomers, thankfullness and gratefullness is in order. We were truly born into a historical "window of opportunity" that is rare in history.

 

 

I largely agree with your post but some others here evidently do not. I think that is due to the fact that, I assume, from your name, your comments are written from a solely western continental European perspective. Some Americans, and others, are fairly upset that you seem to have not included the war in Vietnam into your view - just my take.

 

Some analysts break the boomers into two stages (1 and 2), with (2) starting in 1955, so most in this latter category would likely have been spared involvement in Vietnam due their (younger) ages at draft time.

 

Being English by birth, and growing up there, I agree that most boomers in most of the western world were lucky to have had the benefit of a mainly peaceful society, fair education and a lot of care and love from two parents, many of whom had served in WW2. My parents both served and were so relieved that they got through the war - but they wanted to make sure that their kids would not have to do the same - I think that was a natural and common feeling then and, as a result boomers got extra parental protection though childhood. Looking back, in the UK at least, this post war relief seemed to last until the end of our generation and this infected people and society in such a good way that most people were actually polite and quite nice to each other for most of two decades.

 

For later generations to blame boomers, or anyone else, for today's problems, is naive. The direction of the masses and countries is rarely controlled by more than just a few people. These groups often cause damage but are spawned in every generation.

 

 

[malibukid]

i am so happy that i did not bring any children into this sick world and add to the suffering. it was not supposed to turn out this way, but least i am ok and relatively healthy.  we where indeed born at the right time and in the wealthiest country and got to grow up with horses and surfboards on the beach in Malibu with the best music!  what where the odds of that?

[malibukid]

On 3/22/2025 at 11:43 PM, Kinnock said:

Vietnam war ended in 1975, age of conscription started at 18 .... so boomers were involved in the war.

i lost 3 HS buddies in Vietnam. those of us who did not go fought like hell in the streets at home to end it, and we succeeded.  i don't see the kids today standing up to Americas complicit support for genocide in the Middle East.  too busy with their phones.

[thaibeachlovers]

3 hours ago, baansgr said:

You gotta admit though, Thailand hasn't really changed in 30 years..ok not Samui etc but generally Thailand is same same and hardly anymore expensive. If you didn't look at the news, you could stay in the last century without any of this woke, jihad, immigration crap...it simply does not exist here. 

Of course it has changed- the internet and the mobile phones. Girls are way more expensive in real terms.

The nice beaches are destroyed

 

Yes, in some ways it hasn't changed, but in ways that were not that important to me.

 

However, I'd still live there in a heartbeat if I could. I had a far superior lifestyle for less that what I spend here. Weather is nicer too. Some beaches have avoided destruction.

1 hour ago, Cameroni said:

 

You can say that again, leveraging pensions off of the backs of the next two generations to come the baby boomers have done very well for themselves. Sadly the young generations to come will have to pay off the good life had by all the baby boomers.

I do less well than my parent did on her pension, and I was paying tax for that. Health care is worse that they got.

[thaibeachlovers]

1 minute ago, malibukid said:

i lost 3 HS buddies in Vietnam. those of us who did not go fought like hell in the streets at home to end it, and we succeeded.  i don't see the kids today standing up to Americas complicit support for genocide in the Middle East.  too busy with their phones.

Must have missed all those protests in US cities then.

[Cameroni]

1 minute ago, thaibeachlovers said:

I do less well than my parent did on her pension, and I was paying tax for that. Health care is worse that they got.

 

Yah, in terms of pensions we got screwed by our parents, but our children will really suffer. 

 

Since women are not keen to have children anymore soon the whole system will collapse anyway. Malaysia and Singapore will be the models for the EU to come.

[thaibeachlovers]

15 minutes ago, malibukid said:

i am so happy that i did not bring any children into this sick world and add to the suffering. it was not supposed to turn out this way, but least i am ok and relatively healthy.  we where indeed born at the right time and in the wealthiest country and got to grow up with horses and surfboards on the beach in Malibu with the best music!  what where the odds of that?

Ditto

[malibukid]

On 3/23/2025 at 8:19 AM, thaibeachlovers said:

IMO any such discussion relates to white boomers in western countries.

I doubt anyone in certain countries are happy with their lot in life.

 

I certainly had the best of 50,000 years of advancement of civilization. It was good while it lasted, but younger generations have stuffed it up, and it's going down the gurgler at an ever increasing rate of knots. It could have been so good, but wars, woke, PC and BS like gender insanity have ruined it. However the main cause of the end is the unsupportable world population and debt.

While I could fill several pages on this subject, I'll leave it at that.

 

Sayonara baby, it was real while it lasted and thanks for all the fish.

agree, read Malthus decades ago at Uni.  the writing was on the wall but greed succeeded 

[thaibeachlovers]

3 minutes ago, Cameroni said:

 

Yah, in terms of pensions we got screwed by our parents, but our children will really suffer. 

 

Since women are not keen to have children anymore soon the whole system will collapse anyway. Malaysia and Singapore will be the models for the EU to come.

I'm not surprised women don't want children- all that pain and then cast out on their own. In the 80s they got about a week in maternity ward post natal- now banished post haste. Then the kid needs a lot of time, and the cost of child care is monstrous. I don't blame them for wanting a career and money and time for themselves.

[thaibeachlovers]

3 minutes ago, malibukid said:

agree, read Malthus decades ago at Uni.  the writing was on the wall but greed succeeded 

Kennedy offered a world where we helped others, but greed won that battle.

[thaibeachlovers]

1 hour ago, Presnock said:

1 hour ago, radiochaser said:

Kennedy started Vietnam.   

actually VN started prior to Kennedy but he expanded the number of people there and sent Johnson to determine the progress with Diem.  

Do tell. The first US troops arrived in March 1965, and Kennedy died in........... yes that's right 1963.

 

If you want to go back to the start, it was in 1955, a while before Kennedy became POTUS.

[Presnock]

1 hour ago, Yellowtail said:

Did the French not start Vietnam? 

Yes they did and got kicked out at Dien Bien Phu in 1954

[unblocktheplanet]

On 3/22/2025 at 10:04 PM, swissie said:

Hello fellow "boomers". I think it's time for us to realise in what "golden age" most of us lived. An age where most "little people" were able to improve their financial standing. With the outlook of a financially secure old age. We diden't have to fight in any disastrous wars like generations before us had to. And we live longer than our grandparents.

 

We should be thankful.

 

The "new age" that is now dawning is more than worriesome. Generations can handle 1 or 2 major problems. But the multitude of problems at our doorstep will likely surpass the capability of humans to handle the multitude of major problems all at the same time.

 

I myself find being an old man is not that great. But at least I have some sort of "solace". Hopefully, I will have passed the "pearly gates" before king Chaos will reighn the world once more.

 

So, fellow boomers, thankfullness and gratefullness is in order. We were truly born into a historical "window of opportunity" that is rare in history.

 

Very insightful, thank you. 'They' have outlawed the 60s when we really thought we could make a difference, that one individual could generate meaningful change.

 

The US still has conscription. 18 countries have begun or restarted a military draft since 2020, 120 in total. I refused to register for the Vietnam draft in 1968. My friends went to prison. I went to Canada. I was arrested 35 times for demonstrations.

 

I rode for freedom; racism is on the march. I joined the women's march for equal rights. I marched against war; there are more wars now than ever. I went to the UN against nuclear weapons; now every country wants some. I worked to legalise dope, abolish prisons. Today, corporados farm the ganja and investors have privatised the prisons. In defence of the planet, I spiked trees against logging, occupied salmon farms, blocked pipeline construction. In total, I served several months in jail. Today, I'd be locked up as a terrorist.

 

Make no mistake, today is the zombie apocalypse. Chaos reigns, intentionally, to distract us while we're loking at our screens, envying celebrities, checking sports scores.

 

Surveillance is on every block and on every house, every doorbell. AI, facial recognition, completes the illusion of privacy. Security theatre is everywhere. Militarized police try to pit us against each other. Soldiers follow illegal orders.

 

Our children & grandchildren will never believe the genuine freedom we had. And still lives in us, no matter how old or invisible we are.

 

Remember when people paid attention to JFK & MLK? How many crusaders are there in the world now, leaders who believe in equality and justice? Nope, got to keep those guns flowing. The old shell game: who's your enemy. It's not the new age, it's the new wage on the Monopoly board with fake crypto money: billions for me, nada for you.

 

It's us boomers who raped and killed our mother. We don't deserve forgiveness, though it happened too slowly to see it happening and now it's happening all at once.

 

Sorry about that, kids. This old sinner be ready to go. We know They Live! I'm ready to be Soylent Green. 

[Presnock]

40 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Must have missed all those protests in US cities then.

Yeah I missed those proests too 'cause I was in VN

[Presnock]

2 minutes ago, unblocktheplanet said:

Very insightful, thank you. 'They' have outlawed the 60s when we really thought we could make a difference, that one individual could generate meaningful change.

 

The US still has conscription. 18 countries have begun or restarted a military draft since 2020, 120 in total. I refused to register for the Vietnam draft in 1968. My friends went to prison. I went to Canada. I was arrested 35 times for demonstrations.

 

I rode for freedom; racism is on the march. I joined the women's march for equal rights. I marched against war; there are more wars now than ever. I went to the UN against nuclear weapons; now every country wants some. I worked to legalise dope, abolish prisons. Today, corporados farm the ganja and investors have privatised the prisons. In defence of the planet, I spiked trees against logging, occupied salmon farms, blocked pipeline construction. In total, I served several months in jail. Today, I'd be locked up as a terrorist.

 

Make no mistake, today is the zombie apocalypse. Chaos reigns, intentionally, to distract us while we're loking at our screens, envying celebrities, checking sports scores.

 

Surveillance is on every block and on every house, every doorbell. AI, facial recognition, completes the illusion of privacy. Security theatre is everywhere. Militarized police try to pit us against each other. Soldiers follow illegal orders.

 

Our children & grandchildren will never believe the genuine freedom we had. And still lives in us, no matter how old or invisible we are.

 

Remember when people paid attention to JFK & MLK? How many crusaders are there in the world now, leaders who believe in equality and justice? Nope, got to keep those guns flowing. The old shell game: who's your enemy.

 

It's us boomers who raped and killed our mother. We don't deserve forgiveness, though it happened too slowly to see it happening and now it's happening all at once. 

yeah IMHO you and your fellow demonstrators were just like the movement after floyd died that escaped prisons as the woke society changed the laws that they broke to misdemeaners and not charges or penalties which led to gang raids on department stores so then the wokers change the crime to less than 900 or 1000 dollars or so, which led to own recognizance for most crimes as the woke didn't want to jail them as they felt that they were part of the team against all organized government.  Then your group elected official after officials - all with that criminal mind IMO that then induced them to commit fraud and abuse of the system to get rich.  Now one of you is the leader of the USA and well on his way to destroying the economy.  IMHO you are one of his main followers, though I really have no idea what your poliical persuasion is today.  WE each are entitled to our opinion so I will respect yours too no matter what it is but I sure don't hve to agree with you life experiences.

[ElwoodP]

Offensive post removed.

[radiochaser]

1 hour ago, Yellowtail said:

Did the French not start Vietnam? 

If you mean the French version of  Vietnam war, no, I think it was the Vietnamese version of communists.  

[radiochaser]

54 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Do tell. The first US troops arrived in March 1965, and Kennedy died in........... yes that's right 1963.

 

If you want to go back to the start, it was in 1955, a while before Kennedy became POTUS.

No, Army Security Agency personnel were in Vietnam in 1960.  First official American military death was in 1961.   I worked with people during my time in Vietnam starting late 1970, who were in Vietnam then.   I had instructors in my MOS that were also in Vietnam during that time.  

 

I agreed with someone else, that a president, other than Kennedy, was first sending military in.   Kennedy, I believe, is the one that authorized ASA personnel.  They were the ones that were the first Americans involved in the conflict there. 

 

I do think that some other American military were wounded or killed as a result of the conflict, but as collateral damage between South Vietnamese Army and the communists.   From what I remember, they were there training the South Vietnamese on the U.S. military equipment provided them by the U.S. 

[spidermike007]

19 hours ago, MalcolmB said:

I blame their parents. (Boomers)

No, for the most part it was Generation X that's responsible for Generation Z, not the Boomers. The Boomers are grandparents are ready. 

[ignore it]

Couple of points here.

 

1.

Boomers seems to be derived from the term " Post War Baby Boom" 

So the guys came home, got laid and knocked girls up and as it happens babies are born.

So technically this boom began after World War 2 and lasted as long you can guess, but I'd say until the next generation. 

 

2. Transistors, lazers, fiber optics, integrated circuits ,

Kevlar, night vision goggles, and Disco were derived from materials collected from the Roswell ufo crash and later Rap music too.

 

[TedG]

3 hours ago, Yellowtail said:

Did the French not start Vietnam? 

Yes.