U.S. involvement in Vietnam: 1950-1975.
For 25 years under six U.S. presidents: Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Nixon and Ford.
Twenty-six years (just one generation) later:
U.S. involvement in Afghanistan: 2001-2021 (hopefully ending this year).
For 20 years under four U.S. presidents: George W. Bush, Obama, Trump and Biden.
First through my 16th birthday, and then during my 40s, 50s and 60s. For 36 of my 62 years.
2047?
I am hoping, and praying, to not see any more of this tremendous, and complete, waste of U.S. lives and resources during my lifetime.
And a quote credited to Winston Churchill, and others before him, from whom our current, and future, leaders apparently still have something to learn: Those who fail to learn from history are condemned to repeat it.
John Serpa
Dormont