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[pct-l] Dog Tags and Why I Hike
Wayne,
What I am writing here is difficult for me to write. Still I need to
write this.
I was in college when the VietNam war heated up. After doing my own
study I was opposed to our involvement in VietNam. Still due to family
pressure, etcetera I eventually enlisted in the Navy in 1965 figuring
the closest I would get to 'Nam would be a few miles offshore. I was a
storekeeper (supplies) in the Navy and after school I along with many
others in my class got orders to Naval Support Activity, Da Nang. While
there I got sent as a liaison with the Marine bulk fuel platoon at Dong
Ha air base. After my time in VietNam itself I spent another 14 months
on a ship and we spent 8(?) months resupplying ships off the coast of
VietNam. I remember the morning while at Dong Ha when I heard LBJ's
speech saying he would not seek reelection. I told the other Marines
there and they gave a cheer. I also remember when a maid cleaning our
offices in Da Nang heard I was going to Dong Ha and asked me to kill
many VC for her and I explained that I would be in a non-combat role.
When I got out of the Navy I avoided both the news about VietNam and
about the protests and protesters. I detested the protesters for their
attack on service members doing their duty and the protesters'
exaggerated lies about the war. I also detested the pro-war hawks who
bought the official lies. I disliked the news media for their inadequate
and biased coverage.
Over 58,000 GI's were killed in VN; many more injured. Millions of
Vietnamese died on both sides. Lots of the ethnic groups who sided with
us were abandoned when US left. Today we know from official US
government documents that at least part of the justification for the war
was based on lies. The war caused deep long-term divisions in the
country and what did we gain? Opinions vary widely.
Even today after many therapy sessions and many people telling me
otherwise, I still feel guilty that I did not refuse to serve.
Hindsight is not 20/20. At best we have more accurate information about
what happened. Worse, the truth is often obscured by lies and deliberate
deception and supression. None of us will ever know what would have
happened if we had made a different decision at any point in time.
I don't know what you were told and what you consider lies. As the
saying goes, truth is the first casualty in war. I only hope that you
diligently studied the situation and made the best decision you could at
that time.
----------
Tortoise
I switched to Mac OSX rather than fight Windows
Using Mozilla Thunderbird http://www.mozilla.org/products/thunderbird/
Wayne Kraft wrote:
> Quite unexpectedly the list's discussion of dog tags and military
> experiences has caused me a bit of a personal epiphany. I have never
> served in the military and during the Vietnam War, when I was of an age
> to do it, I didn't volunteer. In fact, I was pretty vocal in my
> opposition to that war. At first I applied for a student deferment.
> Later, when the draft lottery was implemented, I drew a number so high I
> was guaranteed never to be drafted. I was blind in one eye and,
> although I didn't know it yet, already beginning to lose my hearing.
> Had I volunteered, I don't know if I would have been taken and, if
> taken, if I would have been thrown into combat. I was about as far from
> fighting that war as you could get.
>
> Since then I've discovered a lot of what I "knew" at 20 was just plain
> wrong. I let others fight for me and I abandoned them when they needed
> me most. If this was because I believed lies that were told to me, then
> I am at fault for being so gullible. Although it was not something I
> spent a lot of time thinking about, over the years I found myself trying
> to make up for this personal failing. I picked hard tasks and set
> audacious goals. Law school. A high pressure career. Running
> marathons. Cooking up outlandish challenges. To some degree, I've
> volunteered for all these things because I didn't step up when it really
> counted.
>
> When I told my dad one day that I wanted to hike the Pacific Crest Trail
> from Mexico to Canada some day, he asked me "Son, why don't you set some
> easier goals?'' I deflected the question with some humorous remark I
> no longer recall. I wonder what he would have said if I had responded,
> "Because I didn't go, dad. Because I didn't go." If I ever I do get to
> hike this trail, I guess I'll be motivated in some way by all of you who
> did go and to whom I am forever and irrevocably indebted.
>
> So, if they find my mangled corpse some day and someone kneels down to
> read my dog tags. And someone says to him, "Well, who is he?" And the
> man with my dog tags responds, "Well, I don't know who this is, but he
> walked from Mexico to Canada." Well, if that were to happen, I guess it
> would be OK with me.
>
> Wayne Kraft
>
>
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