The Vietnam War Anniversary

The Defense Department plans to kick off any time now the 50th anniversary commemoration of the Vietnam War -- even though we're already three months into the 50th year.

Like anything else involved with the war, it's hard to figure out exactly when it started, because casualties go back to 1956. But I guess that Defense officials have decided the start of the war was 1960, the date on the Vietnam campaign ribbon. That would make the 50th anniversary 2010.

Congress established the 50th Anniversary of the Vietnam War Commemoration Commission in the 2008 Defense Authorization Act , which President Bush signed on Jan. 28, 2008.

But it took until this week for Defense to get around to seek help to develop the 50th anniversary Web site.

Hopefully, the site will be in operation before the year ends, but if not, it's typical of my experience as a Marine Corps Vietnam Veteran who had to wait until Nov. 13, 1982, to have a parade in Washington. That was seven years after the last combat action.

I have one suggestion for the commemoration commission: If you look carefully at the campaign ribbon above, you will quickly notice it has no end date. I think someone at the commission or Defense Secretary Robert Gates needs to come up with an end date before we end this anniversary year.