But King Bhumibol Adulyadej - who has been in power 67 years, longer than any other living monarch - was born on a Monday, which Thais associate with the color yellow. The color politics in the country are rather complicated. But that hasn’t lessened the passions involved.Ĭonsider the current situation in Thailand. Sometimes, like during my soccer days, the colors seem entirely arbitrary. We’ve drawn our colors from uniforms and flags and political parties. The Cold War was only a minor variation on that theme, with the Reds arrayed against the Red, White, and Blue. The Russian civil war following the Bolshevik revolution of 1917 pitted the Reds against the Whites. Civil War was a contest between the Union blues and the Confederate grays. The use of colors to identify the sides in a conflict is certainly nothing new. A series of revolutions have pitted popular forces under the banner of a vibrant color against the gray bureaucracy of despotic government: Rose (Georgia, 2003), Orange (Ukraine, 2004), Blue (Kuwait, 2005), Saffron (Burma, 2007), Green (Iran, 2009), Rainbow (LGBT, everywhere). We have our own blue states and red states. In Thailand today, the red shirts battle the yellow shirts. We are still some years away from gladiatorial contests between Lockheed Martin and Microsoft.Ĭolors, on the other hand, have remained a major way of dividing up sides. Corporations are more powerful than 40 years ago, but even though they certainly have grabbed the naming rights of many stadiums, they haven’t replaced wealthy individuals as the primary owners of sports teams. We are only a few years away from the time that Rollerball imagined. We did, however, run around like little billboards for local businesses - though I can’t imagine that my striking out or repeatedly dropping fly balls in right field encouraged anyone to shop at the local hardware store. None of us Little Leaguers, of course, took the field in those days with spiked gloves like the ones James Caan flaunts in the movie. In that glimpse into the world of 2018, war has been outlawed and replaced by corporate-sponsored athletic contests just as ruthless as the battlefield. Adults back in 1975 might have found this arrangement vaguely ominous, since that was the year the movie Rollerball came out. The match-ups had an entirely different flavor: the dry cleaner vs. I loved being Green.īy contrast, the baseball teams in my hometown were sponsored by local businesses. We talked of “Purple power” and the “Gold tradition.” For all I know, the league was run by psychologists testing the influence of ideology on child development. Friendships across color lines became strained. The teams were chosen at random, but we became fiercely attached to our color. A portion of the proceeds of your purchase will go toward enhance Morale Welfare Recreation in the Marine Corps and the Army via Army Life and Marine Corps Life.I played for Green when I was growing up. Veteran-owned and staffed, Medals of America wants to give back to those who sacrificed so much for our country. There's something for every taste in our Vietnam t-shirt collection, with an array of vibrant colors, plenty of size options and even long-sleeve pieces for chillier weather. They make great gifts for veterans and loved ones. Be sure to browse each page to find the right t-shirt for you. Every aspect of military life during the Vietnam War is covered in our designs. We have many options for veterans who fought during the war, as well as beautiful graphic prints featuring soldiers, landscapes, sayings, symbols and so much more. Medals of America carries a huge selection of Vietnam t-shirts for every branch of the Armed Forces that served. One way to commemorate their service and this terrible conflict is with Vietnam t-shirts. More importantly, they'll never forget the brothers they lost there. Those who served in the conflict can never forget the time they spent in the steaming jungles of Southeast Asia. It was a brutal, controversial conflict that had grave consequences for many. The conflict continued for our nation's best and bravest until April of 1975 and the Fall of Saigon. For American troops, the Vietnam War began in 1965 with the United States Marine Corps' arrival at Da Nang.
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