Vietnam War Archives • DAVIDPDX

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POLITICAL HISTORY = HISTORY

January 18, 2026 by David Gillaspie

When you consider historical facts, when you read history, you’re reading political history. With any luck, what you read is put together by someone who has read and understands the role of politics. What is that role? Creating a just and vibrant society for the greatest number of people. But that’s just my opinion.

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: Army, Baby Boomer blogger, Baby Boomers, blind allegiance, boy scout, buzzwords, defective people, draft, draft dodgers, education, excuse, followers, full force, giving back, good times, history, learning, magna carta, modern problems, naive, Nixon, poor behavior, Portland Oregon, relatable, show it, story, tell it, travel, twitter, Vietnam War, writer, writers, writing, WWII

HISTORICAL ADVENTURES: REAL LIFE vs MY LIFE

November 24, 2025 by David Gillaspie

Last night we reviewed historical adventures at my local five star with friends Some of us had a hand in it, one of us made things up. Guess who is who? Even I got confused, so much so that I have to get things straightened out. How does a baby boomer blogger do that? By […]

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: adventure, adventures, Albany, America, Baby Boomer blogger, Baby Boomers, blog, blogger, boomer blogger, boomerpdx, cluster bombs, education, family, historical adventures, history, Iraq War, North Bend Oregon, paper, screen, spy, spy story, story, travel, Vietnam War, writer, writing, WWII

COMMUNITY STORYTELLING: U.S. ARMY 1974-1976

September 30, 2025 by David Gillaspie

The definition of community for Community Storytelling from Oregon Humanities: When we say “community,” we mean any group of people who share a common experience thanks to where they live, the language they speak, their race, their religion, their age, or some other attribute. When we say “storytelling,” we mean nonfiction stories conveyed through […]

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: admirals, Army, Authority, baby boomer, blogger, boomerpdx, chain of command, community, community storytelling, cultural, culture, education, family, generals, history, leadership, millennials, Oregon, Portland, Portland Oregon, revival, soldiers, story, storytelling, travel, veteran, vietnam era, Vietnam War, Vietnam-Era Veteran, writer

LIFE LONG LEARNING STARTS WITH A CALL

July 8, 2025 by David Gillaspie

Life long learning doesn’t end with the last school day, the last class, the last good-bye. It doesn’t end with a diploma, a certificate, or a license. Those indicate the culmination of a training sequence, but the learning is just starting. Now you find out what you need to know, which is . . . […]

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: Afghanistan war, aging, baby boomer, BOOMER, business, city, etiquette, feelings, felon, helpful advice, high school, improvement, learning, life, life long, life long learning, livability, manners, message, North Bend, small town, turkey neck, Vietnam War, young people

LEARNING MORE AS WE GO? OK BOOMER

June 22, 2025 by David Gillaspie

Learning more is a life goal. Sharing life goals with others makes it even better. Baby boomers in the long haul of marriage have so much to look forward to, and look back on. That’s the benefit of sticking around, of sticking together. Embrace your history, ok boomer? How does that work? Stick around.

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: baby boomer, black belt, BOOMER, education, history, history books, history question, learning, learning more, listening, martial arts, more better, ok boomer, pain, personal history, pho, read books, reading, sticking around, sticking together, teachers, teaching, the boss, Vietnam, Vietnam War, war story, what happened, writing

BLOG TRAFFIC INTERPRETED 2025: HAVE A SCHTICK

April 18, 2025 by David Gillaspie

More blog traffic is the goal of most every blogger. Some call it an obsession. Figuring out how to draw more readers is an industry onto itself. Writers write the posts and hope for the best, then quit. But where is the help for better traffic goals?

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: better idea, blog, blog traffic, blogger, boomer blogger, boomerpdx, brighter idea, education, gimmick, IDEA, new generation, persona, readers, recruit, schtick, showboat, sixties, subscribers, traffic goals, Vietnam War, writer, writers, writing

ON VETERANS DAY 2024

November 11, 2024 by David Gillaspie

Veterans Day is for the old folks who remember their youth and those who were young with them. They remember the young people who didn’t have the chance to get old. My Dad got a chance to get old. He out-lived his Dad, just like I’m out-living him.

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: Army, college, conflict, education, enlistment, france, germany, italy, Korean War, Marine Corps, Navy, Oregon, Portland, Portland Oregon, service, Ukraine, Veterans Day, Vietnam War, WWII

HOW OLD IS ‘OLD ENOUGH TO KNOW BETTER?’

December 23, 2023 by David Gillaspie

How old were you when you first heard it? My memory says I was a seven year old who couldn’t field a grounder after my last ‘bad hop’ bounced off my face. I wasn’t technically afraid of the ball, except I was afraid of what the ball might do. When one of the baseball fields […]

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: Afghanistan war, blog, blog post, blogger, boomerpdx, Christmas party, Christmas spirit, christmas time, christmas truce, christmas wars, David Gillaspie, Death, family, gaza, history, Iraq War, know better, Korean War, old enough, Syria, travel, Ukraine, Vietnam War, writer, writers, writing, wwi, WWII

THE INTIMATE PERSONAL, BUT WHY?

April 30, 2023 by David Gillaspie

The intimate personal is the #1 Rule of memoirists, novelists, poets, playwrites, noodlers, doodlers, and bloggers. Their readers want to know things, not necessarily first hand. Something on a page, or screen, is more than enough. But, someone’s still got to get it there. Some of my favorites:

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: blogger, boomerpdx, intimate, intimate personal, love story, memoirists, novelists, personal, Vietnam, Vietnam War, Vietnam-era, writer, writing

VIETNAM VETERANS ON BOOMERPDX

March 29, 2023 by David Gillaspie

My Vietnam Veterans show up on BoomerPdx not as veterans but as guys I’ve met along the way. Extraordinary guys I’ve been lucky to meet. What’s my plan to meet anyone? Get out of the house and walk around and you can’t go wrong.

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: active duty, Air Force, Army veteran, blogger, boomerpdx, john prine, navy veteran, Portland, sam stone, south portland, story, veteran, veteran status, Vietnam, vietnam veterans, Vietnam War, Vietnam-era, war zone