Comments on: Does War Ever End For Veterans?

By: Tom Weiner

Tom Weiner — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 21:54:26 +0000

First, let me say thank-you for sharing your story on this blog. I deeply appreciate your taking the time and putting forth the requisite energy to get this down. I am wondering what it was like for you to revisit the story. It certainly has some very odd moments including your rejection by the program you so wanted to be part of because of a gap in your front teeth and then the totally mysterious and for a time completely incomprehensible orders. The first sergeant certainly led you to believe that no matter what the papers he threw at you contained, you and your fellow trainee were still going to Vietnam, which turned out to be completely untrue. From all of the unsatisfying and even disturbing things that happened to you I am guessing that the relief you must have felt in being spared service in Vietnam enabled you to be a “good soldier” to whom “good things happened”, because up until your arrival at Ft. Riley you certainly sounded embittered and determined not to be the good soldier after the way you had been treated, including the lack of any response from McNamara about whom I wrote a post a few days ago that you might find worthwhile.
In any event, having someone share their saga always affirms my having created this blog, so tell anyone else you know that it’s here if they want to visit and thanks again for what you contributed…

By: Kent

Kent — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 03:58:57 +0000

I graduated from high school in June, 1964 and headed for college with my II-2 deferrment. I was raised in a family where we were taught that service to God and country was the highest honor one could achieve. I desparately wanted to fly jets and make a career of the Air Force and so I attempted to get a Congressional appointment to the U.S.A.F.A. Our Congressman used a federal civil service test for determining his appointments and my score was not quite high enough. I was appointed as an alternate to the U.S.A.F.A. and was offered an appointment to the Merchant Marine Academy (which I declined). I went to Penn State for a year and, during that year, I again went through the process to get an appointment. This time I succeeded. All I had to do was pass the physical fitness test and the physical examination. I spent two days at Olmstead A.F.B. in Middletown, PA. I passed the fitness exam without a problem. And, I passed all of the physical exam except for one thing. The rejection notice stated words to the effect Failed. Eight millimeter diastema between upper two front teeth. In short, I had a space, a gap, between my upper, two front teeth. That space called me to fail the physical which, in turn, kept me out of the Air Force Academy.

All of a sudden, my respect for the military evaporated. I was frustrated, angry and, generally, had an anti-military attitude. My Dad wrote a letter to Secretary of Defense McNamara. It went without a response. Eventually, I completed my four years of college but had not gotten my degree. Of course, my deferrment ended and given the on-going Tet Offensive in Vietnam, I received my draft notice around Halloween. I left for Ft. Dix, N.J. on December 10, 1968.

I had such a bad attitude that it is impossible for me to describe it. However, fate had something else in store for me. Although it wasn’t really a surprise to me, when I completed basic, I was assigned to an A.I.T. unit also at Ft. Dix. I was going to learn to fight as an infantryman for a war in a jungle with a tropical climate by training in the winter in northern, New Jersey. I wondered how often it had snowed in Vietnam? We were advised that our A.I.T. program was a new ARVN training program that last 9 weeks (instead of the usual 8 weeks). I still thought it was a joke: training people to fight a jungle war in the woods of New Jersey in the middle of the winter.

As anticipated, about 3 weeks before AIT graduation, I got alert orders for Vietnam. After graduation, I got 30 days leave then I report to Travis A.F.B. in northern California to be send to Vietnam. About 10 days before graduation, we had just returned from a 4-day FTX and had been released to clean and stow our gear, get a hot shower and grab some sack time. I was putting my gear away when the CQ runner came into the barracks and told me and another trainee to report to the orderly room. When we reported, the first sergeant had a bad attitude toward us. (My impression of the first sergeant was that his IQ was slightly higher than a sackful of doorknobs). He said something to the effect of: “Who the hell do you think you are. You’re asses are going to Vietnam so don’t think this is gonna change any of that!” Then he threw a few papers at each one of us and said, “Dismissed.”

We had no idea what the papers were except they appeared to be some type of orders. Other than that, we had no clue what they said. We were able to find our platoon sergeant and we asked him if he could help us understand these papers. He said he would. It turned out that our prior orders were canceled including our 30 day leave. In the middle of the night after graduation, we were being shipped to Ft. Bliss, TX to something called the Redeye missle school for weeks. We then had 2 weeks leave and were assigned to the 24th Infantry Division at Ft. Riley, KS. As it turned out, my attitude improved, I never left Ft. Riley, and I was a buck sergeant (E-5) one year after I entered the service. Talk about being at the right place at the right time. And, while I never forgave the DOD for depriving me of the career I wanted, I was a good soldier and good things happened for me.

Kent B. Seitzinger

By: Kent

Kent — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 03:26:50 +0000

By: Tom Weiner

Tom Weiner — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 18:25:30 +0000

Dear Steve,
Thank you for your honesty and your incredibly insightful words about how our country operates. It takes both determination and courage to acknowledge both the effects of war on EVERYONE involved and the degree to which the warmongers and the rest of us are complicit in creating the conditions that lead to war and the seeming inevitability of constant war. I appreciated as well your explanation for why there is terrorism given how we “steal the natural resources from every country we conquer, control or occupy”. The only place I take any issue with you is your conclusion that not punishing the ones who perpetrate these acts will cause your life to be a lie. It is the truth you are speaking that refutes that statement and thankfully, over time, more people speaking the truth to the awful power that has been running the show for far too long gives hope that things can actually change. I am not sure you saw the post I wrote where I reference Tyler Boudreau’s book, PACKING INFERNO, but I highly recommend it since he is compelled by what he has participated in and witnessed as a Marine serving in Iraq, to tell the truth about war. He is currently leading an effort to begin to redress the horrific mistreatment of the civilian population of the country in which he helped carry out an invasion and occupation. He is traveling to Jordan to meet with refugees and find out what he can to help them. Yes, the lies continue to be fed to an all too willing populace in this country, but there are many who are fed up and finding ways to let it be known. I believe, from your comment, you are one of those people and appreciate your efforts.
Peace,
Tom

By: Steve

Steve — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 05:36:12 +0000

I’m a combat veteran and all of my friends and I live our life with post traumatic stress syndrome. The lives of everyone we have ever associated with, family, loved ones and even acquaintances have in some way been affected by this. This war as with our war (Vietnam) was initiated by the lies and deceit of a corrupt government. All our life we have been taught to be patriotic, that we live under the greatest system in the world, a government by and for the people, one nation under god. Were raised as good Christian children.Then were sent to some third world country, one inhabited by some godless people you know Communists, Muslims, Indians or the like. We go and fight our wars for god and country only to return to a country that has little or no use for it’s good Christian warriors any more. The government we so love and cherish now sees us as a liability and John Q public dispose of there support the troops magnets and now see us as those crazed vets. We spend the next thirty or so years fighting the VA for care for our cancers war wounds and depression. We watch our friends die of cancers caused by exposure to some chemical sold to our government for use on these godless lands, and we watch the corporations responsible shirk there responsibilities only to make the public foot the bill. We spend the years after our wars studying, trying to find the reason for our war only to realize it was a war for profit. The profit of people whose children never have to fight these wars. We finally realize that all of our wars have been for the profit of these people, the same people that are stealing the natural resources from every country we conquer, control or occupy. The same people we elect to govern this fine country, and the cause and reason we have terrorism. Finally we realize the cause of our post traumatic stress syndrome, and as long as the people that perpetrate this are allowed to continue unpunished our lives have and will continue to be a lie.

By: Diane Clancy

Diane Clancy — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 00:31:52 +0000

Hi Tom,

I agree … with you and Sarah. It is so hard to deal with this dichotomy – yet when one has lost someone the rest of the world goes on. When someone is raped or abused, the rest of the world also goes on.

But this war in Iraq is being done in our name with our money. I hate that we are not feeling the sacrifice at home! Then maybe people would think.

~ Diane Clancy
http://www.dianeclancy.com/blog

By: Sarah Buttenwieser

Sarah Buttenwieser — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 14:01:36 +0000

I was so knocked out by this opinion piece in the paper yesterday: the reality he faced, the surreal experience of returning to “normal” & the very concerning truth he raised about the fact that this country, even when talking about Iraq we’re not generally talking about anything with the high stakes this man writes about. For the concept that these are life & death matters, life changing matters, limb losing matters, it’s not happening to a wide swath of our country & somehow remains unreal… My heart breaks for him & others to live with this experience of not being understood. I see we are maybe trying harder than with Vietnam overall to care about/for the troops in the larger public but it’s almost beyond us still.