Home of Today's Common Sense

Published Brownsville Herald Nov 8, 2010

Veterans Day is coming on Thursday November 11. On past Veterans days I found it difficult to do much more than stay home and watch the news reports of politicians preening and taking credit for this or that little benefit they gave us or tried to become one of us and show how brave they were.
This is the first time that I have brought myself to think back and share my thoughts now some forty years later.
Being in War seemed to me to be a contradiction; There was the boredom of waiting for something to happen and the fear of what would happen. During the waiting we bantered back and forth about all the things we would do when the time came then the detached performance of the things we were trained to do, sometimes the impossible was accomplished; still you just did what you had to do, one thing after another. Then start it all over again when the next wave or assignment came.
It seemed that my mind always tried to keep me safe by focusing on those parties on R&R and the next drink.
More often than was healthy the idea of the next drink came too often to lessen the pain of some of the memories. Then after awhile it became possible to just not feel anything because it was safer; and remember only the pleasant times.
I can’t recall anyone I knew, that was THERE, that consciously tried to be brave but mostly tried to do what had to be done to survive and to help your buddies survive. .
At first it was like a grown up game until a guy you drank a beer with a few days ago didn’t come back or when the plane they were in, crashed into the rear of the ship; spreading pieces of everything all over the flight deck.
It immediately ceased being a game and the thought became. “it can’t happen to me!” But – we all knew it could!
How quickly we changed, we did what we had to but started counting out how many days we had left on this assignment or even to the next R&R in the Philippines, or Hong Kong, or Bangkok or even Taiwan or Japan. Some of our unit were captured, others never came back and one even escaped once he was captured and instantly became our hero.
I was lucky in that I survived though the visions of the war are still there; mostly safely hidden and because I had a good family and good friends, I learned to live and not just exist.
Sometimes there is the consuming sadness that pops up for awhile and then goes away. Now however, that is a relief, as I had few if any feelings for so many years.
Also, I understand how fortunate I am. I still converse with the few of my military buddies from my old unit, that are still with us and talk about the “good times” and wonder what we can do for those that are not so fortunate and still live “over there” in their minds .
Last year, I watched two really great movies on the Classic Movie Channel; The Stage Door Canteen of 1943, and the Hollywood Canteen of 1944. They showed the great things the celebrities did for our soldiers during World War II.
The “boys” were served, entertained and danced with the greats of the day in the “USO Canteens” in New York and Los Angeles. The support for our boys “over there” was far greater than today when Veterans Day is not even a real Holiday in many places.
With the undeclared wars in Korea and Vietnam regard lessened for the importance of our sons and daughters that volunteer to go to war to protect our “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness”.
Today, I see very few USO Canteens, no movies in support of their work, more frequently in some places, hostility.
How often do you see a uniform on the street? It used to be an honor, what is it today?
Yea, they get paid but no where near enough to take the risks and live through the aftermath when you go home. No one is ever the same!
I served in the Vietnam Conflict and had the privilege of seeing the Bob Hope USO tour and several others. Where are these today?
The Vietnam / undeclared war period really started the decline. I remember arriving at Travis AFB and took the bus to San Francisco, while being welcomed to chants of being a “baby killer”.
Fortunately things have improved but not nearly enough.
Our warriors need medical facilities close enough to get to them. Those that are here are certainly not adequate though there are so many in need.
I recently began receiving help at the VA Center in Harlingen an found it a pleasant place with some great folks there like Dr. Goggia and his nurses. I also appreciate the good natured folks that work in the pharmacy that somehow get the right meds to me in a timely manner. There are expectations that the more and better are coming; it cannot be too soon. However, the cynical side of me wonders who’s “friends” will benefit from the misery of the heroes being served there?
We can best honor our veterans by maintaining policies that pursue peace, and help ensure that they and their children will be sent into harm’s way only to defend our country, and then only after all efforts at peaceful resolution of conflict have been exhausted.
Changing rules and goals just tell our defenders that they are just expendable tools only of value at election time.
The costs of surrender or the likelihood of a quickly negotiated settlement coming back to infect us again and again should not be taken as a serious consideration just to recover some sense of saneness.
We can also see that the polarization of the country, without the domestic propaganda of the past, gains a life of its own and is aggravated by the personal goals of the media and politicians. That national divisiveness is in itself a weakening of our nation and its defenses and in part a success for our enemy.
It seems evident that the only real way for a war to end is when one side clearly loses the ability to prosecute the conflict or the war just continues to flare up later.
A much more acceptable choice is not to go to war, but if necessary, as a last resort we must learn from the successes of the past and the follies of the more recent past.
Let’s help all our military men and women become veterans, not casualties of war — especially a war that was built on lies and fought on questionable terms. Then they can live long, fruitful lives filled with parades and other signs of a nation’s gratitude”
To me the wars of today are questionable because Congress never declared them specifically; and the President did not request a declaration specifying what we were going to do and how we would know it was over.
“The War Powers Act of 1973” passed by Congress over the veto of then President Nixon, guarantees no accountability for the decisions that can have such a horrendous impact on us folks.
The Act requires the President only to report to Congress any introduction of U.S. forces into hostilities or imminent hostilities and when submitted, requires that the use of forces must be terminated within 60 to 90 days unless Congress authorizes such use or extends the time period. It also mandates that the “President in every possible instance shall consult with Congress before introducing” U.S. Armed Forces into hostilities or imminent hostilities. After that so long as Congress keeps authorizing money the war keeps on. Congress can keep providing the funding “for the troops” and avoid any responsibility the decision.
Currently there is no requirement for a request by the President, defining the reasons for “us folks”, to justify a declaration of war. Congress is also not required to declare their sentiments with a vote, so they don’t have to take any responsibility either. In fact there most probably has not been a legitimate military action since World War II, were the issue to be considered by the Supreme Court.
This open door for bureaucrats to start wars is just unacceptable.
We really need to let the Congress and the President hear that we are tired of being taken from one horror to another without any accountability.
Nothing less than, a Presidential request for a declaration of war and the requirement that every living member of Congress must vote only yes or no, in front of the watching television eye, can be acceptable.
We also need a law that would make any official who would provide false or misleading information to Congress or the public to affect the decision be charged with war crimes.
Perhaps this would give our rulers a little more to consider!
As we express our appreciation to our defenders this year, I suggest that we let our political representatives know that we are mad and will not take it any more. We might then have even some little confidence that when our “hearts” go off to war in the bodies of our children, that those responsible, made the decision more for the protection of “the folks” than just for themselves.