Crippled Eagles, redux
Christian Beekman over at Task and Purpose went spot on with an analogy between the current wave of U.S. vets headed over to fight against ISIS in the Syria/Iraq region with another group of out-of-work soldiers from the Vietnam era.
As Vietnamization took hold and American involvement dwindled, many Vietnam veterans found themselves uncertain about what their future held. The American military was at a cultural low point, and the inflation-based economic woes of the late 1970s presented many vets with an unfavorable employment market.
But for some men, like John Alan Coey and Ken Gaudet, it went deeper than that.
Coey, who was an ardent anti-communist, was set to become a commissioned officer in the Marine Corps when the U.S. began drawing down in Vietnam. Coey viewed the American withdrawal from Vietnam as a betrayal of the United States’ commitment to fight communism.
Gaudet, who had served two tours in Vietnam with the 173rd Airborne Brigade, found he missed the military life, and wanted to get back to professional soldiering.
Dubbed the “The Crippled Eagles” by author Robin Moore, Coey and Gaudet were among roughly 300 Americans who decided to travel to Rhodesia and fight.