From The Gals And Guys Who Know The
Face Of War Up Close And Personal-The Iraq And Afghan War Veterans
Frank Jackman comment:
In America there is an overweening
respect for the military, for military officers mainly, the guys and gals who
lead the bloody endless wars of this century. They look good on camera, all
austere and all business as they lead the general population by the nose into
the next ambush. But starting back in Vietnam, starting back in the war of my
generation soldiers, sailors, air personnel, regular rank and file guys (almost
all guys then) started balking at their fate. Started to talk back, to say stop
the madness. And if they could not do it when they were service-bound they
certainly did so in their thousands after they got out of the service. That “could
not do when they were service-bound” no mean hurtle since a lot of the constitutional
rights we take for granted out in the civilian world wind up in the latrine
once you take the oath. Even more so then than now since there have been some
court decisions reining in the military brass as they try to trash a soldier’s
will. Let me tell you though many a soldier who couldn’t speak out because he
was in Vietnam and under fire or stateside trying to keep out of the line of
fire spent many a tortuous night trying to figure out whether to just say “fuck
it,” to refuse to go along, to fight.
Those irate and lied to military
personnel formed an organization Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW) that
did a hell of a lot to bring the anti-war message home. See they had “street
cred”,’ they had been in the hellholes and beyond, had come back to the “real
world” a lot wiser than the kids who went in with dreams of glory and fistfuls
of medals. The guys and gals who fought, and continue to fight don’t forget,
the damn Iraq and Afghan wars have that same “street cred.” Listen up,
please.
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