I have been pondering this post all week. I have been wondering how to speak what is on my mind and in my heart without offending anyone. It seems that our country is so polarized that having a 'discussion' about this serious topic makes people angry if they are not in agreement with your ideas. Well, ideas are just that,IDEAS. They are not FACTS but often just the opinion of the writer, who is in this case trying to sort out the world and the need for war.
I have been reading a lot about war lately. One of my Christmas books was a book about the Vietnam War which is called Matterhorn. I started it a little over a week ago and as difficult as it was to read I managed to finish it. It was very intense many times or so DISHEARTENING that I had to put it down and give my mind some time to digest the material. I won't go on about the story very much other than to say it is a piece of fiction based on the author's experiences as a Marine there. He is a very credible author since he received 15 medals as a Marine and is graduate of Yale University and a Rhodes Scholar. This book did not 'slam' the soldiers that fought this war but just told their story. One critic actually said that it was a "realistic portrait of eloquent tribute to the nobility of men under fire." I agree with that assessment.
I was in high school and college during the time of this war. It was a 'messy' war and a difficult time in our country. Like many other Americans at this time, I was against the war and felt that we did not need to be there fighting and involved in what I thought was a civil war. I will admit that I also marched one time in Mt. Pleasant when I was going to CMU in 1972.
This war was the first war that Americans protested in such large numbers, the first war that we lost and lost our heart for fighting and maybe the first war that many people tried to avoid fighting. Young men tried to avoid going to Vietnam in many different ways. In my graduation class, most of the boys went on to college if they could because there was an automatic deferment for college students. Some men decided to leave and go to Canada to avoid fighting. This was a very unpopular stand in America at that time. They were labeled as 'Draft Dogers' and it broke up many families. Some men joined the National Guard and managed to spend all of their time in Arizona (OK, I know that I just put a politically charged and biased statement in this blog but it is my blog. For those of you that don't know what I'm talking about I was referring to our former president George W. Bush who managed to stay out of Vietnam and really didn't have to even attend all of his training sessions to be able to count as 'doing his part' in that war.) Still others managed to volunteer for branches of the service that didn't have many soldiers in Vietnam or volunteered or volunteered to go to some non-combat zone.
Then the draft lottery came along and eliminated almost all deferments. All young men who had not served and were eligible were given a 'number' by drawing birthdays out of a lottery. If you were lucky you had a high number. Bud's number was in the 20s but they didn't draft that year so he was lucky. Whether you were for or against the draft lottery, it did keep people from avoiding the draft via college. I also think it contributed to forcing our leaders to bring an end to this unpopular war because everyone was now subject to the possibility of having "their son" in the line of fire.
The war in Vietnam was also messy because of all the protests. It became a protest against the war and against the soldiers that fought it. I am not sure how it evolved into this 'anti-soldier'. I, personally, didn't feel that way but having talked to vets, they came home to some pretty 'nasty' protests and were made to feel that they were part of the problem, not just following orders. This was the first war that was viewed in almost 'real time' on the nightly news. I remember the weekly 'body counts' on the Walter Cronkite news and watching soldiers being wounded or brought home in body bags. Visually, it was difficult to watch but I think that war usually is difficult. It was also the first war in which soldiers had a 'tour of duty'. The soldiers were in the war zone for 1 year and then they were able to complete their 2 years somewhere else if they survived the war. The soldiers had a short commitment to the war and they were constantly rotating in and out soldiers. It was a war fought by 18 year olds with a 1 year commitment to surviving. They cam home to protesters that made them feel less than thanked. I am glad that as a nation we have not blamed the current veterans for the wars that we are involved in now. I hope that is at least on lesson we learned from the Vietnam war.
As you can see, I do have pretty vivid memories of that war and this book brought them back to me. I KNOW that my memories are nowhere near as vivid and intense as those who fought in that war. I have NO idea what it was like to fight any war.
The title of this post is from a protest song of the 60s called 'Feeling Like I'm Fixing to Die Rag' by Country Joe McDonald. If you are interested, you could probably find it recorded some where. It does pose a good question though.
We have been involved in a war in the Middle East for quite a long time, and just put ourselves into another one this past week. I didn't agree with the Iraq war and I don't feel this one is necessary either. I know that I probably still have an idealistic view of how the world should be run but it seems that war really doesn't benefit anyone except those leaders that can't hang on to their power in any other way except to terrorize their own people.
This has been a thoughtful post on my part. NOT a divisive post. I hope it made you think a little. I will push the 'publish' button and put this out there for discussion.
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