I am hard at work with my dear friend, Diane Clancy (yes, she has a blog, too, www.dianeclancy.com/blog and she is an extraordinary artist) who is teaching me much about blog creation. Today we have added several new features including poetry about the war as well as several more stories from CALLED TO SERVE. I am presently reading the book I have now included by Marilyn Young, entitled Iraq and the Lessons of Vietnam or How not to Learn from the Past and in her introduction she quotes Chris Appy (author of Patriots, the War from all Sides) whose words are haunting in their linkage of the two wars in terms of those who served. I would appreciate any feedback this engenders:
“Another perhaps less noticed connection between the wars in Iraq and Vietnam is that in both cases the U.S. sent a disproportionately working-class military to kill and die while asking or demanding virtually no sacrifices from more privileged Americans at home. Despite the differences between the Vietnam-era draft and the current all-volunteer force, both systems put most of the dirty work of warfare in the hands of people with significantly fewer choices and opportunities.”
Tom Weiner