Army Asked to Probe Duty Standards

Yesterday, 3-07-08, I quickly posted this about a Breaking story on Redeployment of injured, physically and mentally, Iraq and Afgan Vets.

I'm bringing an update to that post hopefully as a way to place preasure on the Pentagon and Congress to carry through with Spec. Bryan Currie, 21, of Charleston, S.C. request, through the Army legal channels, for the Court of Inquiry to investigate top generals at Fort Carson; Fort Drum, N.Y.; and Fort Hood, Texas.

Also hoping that others, reading this, don't let this, or any of the many reports on Military/Veterans care that have finally surfaced and continue to do so, slip away. Pass any or all information to others, contact your Representatives, they work for you, and have them contact the Pentagon. In this primary season Contact first the Presidential Candidates, especially John McCain - Veteran, and tell them you want these reports addressed. Second contact your reps, especially if you have a republican? that was in Congress in the leadup to the Afganistan and Iraq Invasions, Demand answers as to Why Military/Veterans care wasn't Front and Center, Top of the List, in their Desire to send Troops into Harms Way. Forget about contacting the White House, we know how they would reply.

It wasn't that long ago, and most of them are old enough to remember, what Veterans from another Failed U.S. Foreign Policy went through on their return and many still are fighting the systems this Country has set in place through it's lawmakers, Systems and Agencies that should be the Tops, Bar None, in the World, what with our wealth and thirst for Wars of Choice!

More of the Lessons not learned from those Failed Destructive Policies of that time!

Currie, who was injured in Afghanistan by a blast from a roadside bomb, recovered from his physical injuries but suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder severe enough that an Army doctor wrote "cannot deploy" in his physical profile. But he was ordered back to combat anyway.

He went AWOL, the only option left to him, but he's coming out to Help himself and his Fellow Military Brothers and Sisters go up against a Military and Country that show they care Little about those they send to War! For that's what the answer to a question asked, by a 'Gold Star Mother', to the president, of his statement as to the 'Noble Cause'. In Conflicts/Wars of choice it isn't for Country and most certainly not for defending the National Security, on that point it just gives credence to those who've already come to hate us for our policies and increases their numbers for the truths we are showing, what we really are, not what we say we are!

The 'Noble Cause' is protecting ones self in any battle, but more importantly Protecting those you are serving with, be it on the battle fields of conflicts or battling the agencies you are supposed to be fighting for when one Serves their Country!

I quickly gave a few other examples of this Army Policy, here's a few more, if you didn't read yesterdays nor visited the link:

An unnamed Fort Carson soldier who was deployed from Cedar Springs psychiatric hospital in Colorado Springs before he could finish a 28-day treatment program for alcoholism. An Army e-mail, dated Dec. 14, 2007, shows the soldier was taking psychiatric medications, pending a diagnosis of bipolar disorder, "but that information was not passed on" before he was discharged.

Staff Sgt. Chad Barrett, 35, a Fort Carson soldier from Saltville, Va., who died in Iraq on Feb. 2. The Army is investigating the cause of his death.
"He allegedly was found not deployable by military medical personnel, but he was deployed anyway and reportedly committed suicide in Iraq in February 2008," the request says.
Barrett's wife, Shelby, who lives in Fountain, said Thursday that she does not believe her husband killed himself. She said she believes he died of a heart-related ailment, a condition that runs in his family.

As I posted yesterday, the News Conferance scheduled was probably going to be at the Differant Drummer Cafe in Watertown NY, it was.

Here's a short report on that News Conferance

"There was no care everywhere I looked. There was a lot of hazing from higher-ups. People that should be there to help platoon sergeants and stuff were just not there or didn't care," said Spec Bryan Currie, 10th Mountain Division.

There's also a Video Report from the Press Converance

Watching the Video, at the end, the camera shoots to Bryans hand, which is holding his wifes, or girlfriends, hand. Their hands are Shaking, and why, because this Country is putting this Man into the uncharted waters of More Trauma, after already living with the Trauma's of War, he never thought he needed to go, to Fight the Battle for the Support that should be a given, and she has joined him in these New Battles with her Love and Support, Where's The Country!!

For those wanting to post up the Video, I have downloaded it already and placed it Here - Blip TV and Here - Google Video as well as Here - Live Video

Recently I put up a couple of posts about "Supporting The Troops", { the links will lead to my site } here and here. In the second one, before even writing about what that means, I visited a few sites of those groups, Veterans sites, that Loudly Voice their Support and are the Only True Patriots That Do.

This is what one finds in their visits of first the Premeir Veterans Organizations:

The American Legion

The American Legion was chartered by Congress in 1919 as a patriotic, war-time veterans organization, devoted to mutual helpfulness. It is a not-for-profit community-service organization which now numbers nearly 3 million members, men and women, in nearly 15,000 American Legion posts worldwide.

A quick search of their site finds extremely little, to none, of the Outrage this Huge Premier Veterans Group should be expressing about the reports that have finally been reaching the main stream, Us and Military Veterans about the preparation, in the leadup, and still unresolved, Care of this Generations Combat Veterans of Multitude Tours in Two Combat Theaters!

Not only that but the Almost Complete Silence as these reports come forward, nary, to absolutely none, a word from their Media Reps to the Public!

Their most recent post covers their support of American Legion Commander to Congress: Pass Surveillance Law Now.

How quickly many forget, if they ever spoke or read their Oath:

I, (name), do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. (So help me God.)

They have a new video on their front page, but in the previous visit the video was about the want for pasage of a new Immigration Law. I would suggest to the 'Legion' they visit the memorial lists, of the present combat KIA's, and read the names. And with a little searching they can find out how many were Non-Citizens, of this Country, when they were Killed, with promises of becoming a Citizen of the Country They Are Serving! Than start thinking More Clearly about the Spin on Immigration and Service from those Born Into Citizenship!

The other Premier Veterans Group the Veterans of Foreign Wars is much better on their concern and voices as to the returning Combat Veterans, at least on their site as well as in their magazine. But Where Is The Leadership and their Media Voices in showing their Outrage and Disgust, once again, as each of these reports are serfacing into the main stream! I don't Hear it nor See It, I'm left, like the rest of us Veterans and Citizens of this Country, in Conflicts, to Search It Out, that's a Disgrace!!

If one reads their thoughts, and you read between the lines, you come away feeling there really isn't any Outrage just the use of words to satisfy what they are supposed to stand for but really don't!

No wonder many of us 'Nam Vets never joined their ranks.

That was one reason for me.

Here's another group, with a very noble cause under their banner POW's, Rolling Thunder, which many, like myself, thought they were really concerned with, untill they took 'The Wall' and their Rethoric in front of Political and that's how they approach the subject of the POW/MIA's and other Military/Veterans Issues, as they do with the present Military/Veterans Care issues and reports as well as the legislation, which is the reason many Veterans don't Participate with this group nor, what was once, a Very Noble Action, the Memorial Day Ceremonies in Washington, now tinged with Political Rethoric. Those that Serve don't do their Service for Political Ideology they do so for Country and All who inhabit same!

Many who ride with Rolling Thunder aren't Veterans, that's not a problem for those who aren't but Truely Support Non-Partison Non-Political Rethoric on issues important to the Military and Veterans. The ones who wear the Military Insignia's and try and act as Veterans but Never Served are the ones I have a Huge Problem With!

Another, we will be hearing mentioned in the coming weeks, leading up to the 5th anniversary of the start of the Iraq Invasion/Occupation Quagmire will be a new group, started well after the Invasion of Iraq, and made up of mostly Non-Military/Veterans but with a very Military/Patriotic sounding name Gathering of Eagles which on their front page they have a new post for a call to action, on the recent bombing of the recruiters station in New York with this statement:

We at GOE are therefore, calling all Eagles and supporters in the Northeast to join us as we stand in support of the troops stationed there. We will gather at 1230hrs until 1600hrs, this Saturday, 8 March in Times Square to serve notice that our troops do not cut and run, and neither do we.

Now I won't bore you with their posts on 'moonbats' and their imagined victories against 'code pink' or 'Gold Star Fathers' {not mentioned in my travels around their sites}, or Real Veterans Groups as they protect the Memorials of this Countries Wars, from the Rumours of Damage to be done to, guess where those Rumours originate {ahhhhh Folks we know how they start and by whom}, you can visit and read for yourselves.

But I will point out, there is Extremely Little to None, mention of Outrage on how our Returning Combat Veterans, of Multiple Tours in Two Theaters, are being treated, what with All The Reports, seems they're more concerned with keeping the Troops in these Theaters so they don't Cut and Run just like themselves, though their not even Close to their fears and enemies!

Why do I say we'll be hearing more from them, well their in planning for Winter Soldier II, you see like Winter Soldier I this is one of those fringe groups, none have been In-Theater, or at least I haven't seen any Iraq/Afgan Vets with those I've observed, who Actually Know who is Really a Combat Vet and Exactly what they saw or experinced, they have the Real Answers, not those testifying!

On March 15, 2008, Gathering of Eagles, in coordination with Move America Forward, Freedom’s Watch, The Band of Mothers, Vets for Freedom, DC Protest Warrior, Eagles Up, Free Republic, New England Warrior and rank and file patriotic Americans, will come together to Support Our Troops and their in-theater commander, General David Petraeus.
Under the banner AMERICANS STANDING UP, we will gather to face down the associated groups who are against everything we hold dear. We will stand united, wave Old Glory, and remind them that they speak neither for us nor for most Americans. We encourage you all to join us in Washington, DC . It is time to once again take back the streets and remind all those people
in their living rooms that there are people who think like them. It is time to once again remind the nation that our brave volunteers in uniform have earned our support. The Surge is working. The tide has turned. I promised some time ago to do everything in my power to BUY THE TROOPS SOME TIME TO WIN. I will stand and support them, come what may, and I look forward to seeing you, my brothers and sisters, again.

They had a post up, recently, about someone having Proof that those Testifying at 'Winter Soldier II' weren't Iraq/Afgan Vets, ought to be interesting to see this Proof, certainly didn't come from the DoD, like the 'Proof' from 'Winter Soldier I' not so long ago!

Again, ZIP about the Care Returning Military and Veterans are Receiving, to them they buy the propaganda the 'surge' is working, as Troops are Killed and Maimed, as well as the Iraq People, and they Really want them to Stay so More can get Killed and Maimed1 These are the same types who bitch about the Taxes they pay, not wanting to Really Sacrifice anything Themselves and Especially UpHold the Contracts made to those who join and serve!!

Oh and what about our old friends, who not only disgraced their service, but All us 'Nam Vets Service in Vietnam and Especially us Navy Personal, Swift Vets for Truth now calling themselves 'Swift Vets and POWs for Truth'.
Well it seems They Really Don't Care About The Returning Combat Veterans, on care, or frankly much else. Their lastest news posting comes from Dec 16, 2006, and their front page is still on John Kerry, go figure!!

Why is it the above, few groups, there are others, as well as civilian groups and parties, show so Little Outrage over the reports of how those who Serve are Treated, yet wrap themselves in a Flag, most never Served under or for, and Claim they are the Only Ones Who 'Support The Troops'!!

Why is it Newer Veterans Groups like Iraq and Afganistan Veterans of America, Iraq Veterans Against the War, Vote Vets, Veterans For Common Sense, Veterans For America, and there are others, especially smaller groups of recent veterans, on campuses and elsewhere, have to Visit the Halls of Congress, or Search Out Media Outlets that'll allow them to speak of what should already be a given, a Country Honoring the Contracts of those who Served it!

They follow groups like VVAW - Vietnam Veterans Against the War who not only waged the battle against the failed policies of that Conflict but fought for the Benefits they Deserved and were Promised!

Joining with them, but not so much against the failed policies, was Vietnam Veterans of America, pretty much a-political and non-partison, but a strong fighter for veterans rights, All Veterans!

Later, in the early 80's, Veterans For Peace was born

STATEMENT OF PURPOSE
We, having dutifully served our nation, do hereby affirm our greater responsibility to serve the cause of world peace. To this end we will work, with others
(a) Toward increasing public awareness of the costs of war.
(b) To restrain our government from intervening, overtly and covertly, in the internal affairs of other nations
(c) To end the arms race and to reduce and eventually eliminate nuclear weapons
(d) To seek justice for veterans and victims of war
(e) To abolish war as an instrument of national policy.
To achieve these goals, members of Veterans For Peace pledge to use non-violent means and to maintain an organization that is both democratic and open with the understanding that all members are trusted to act in the best interests of the group for the larger purpose of world peace.

And are extremely strong advocates on Veterans Affairs and All that concerns Veterans!

There, once again, are some other groups out there, who are Strong Veterans Advocates, as well as Individuals, and they Don't Use Politics as their Crutch, they Stand and Fight Freely!

But why does this Country Force it's Veterans to Fight At All, only You can answer that!!

Speaking of Veterans and Military/Veterans Care:

From the VFP Newsletter:

VETERANS MARCH FOR PEACE - ESTABLISH FIELD HOSPITAL IN D.C.
March 19, 2008 - 9 a.m. - at 7th Street NW on the Mall

As many of you may be aware on March 19th, the fifth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, VFP will be marching throughout Washington, DC. But what you may not realize is that we are also setting up a Field Hospital in McPherson Square. The purpose of this action is twofold. First all of the purpose is to bring attention to the problems of Veterans returning home and the lack of care from the VA. Secondly we hope to alert passersby to the reality of the horrors of war. Everyone is encouraged to join us!

Donate

Join Us

Learn More

Soldiers Want Answers, NOW!! {UpDated w/Video}

Has the Army not only lowered it's enlistment qualifications but also ignored the Health and Welfare, because of Physical and Mental health problems of already, once twice three time...., deployed Army Personal?

"Army policies and practices which permit the deployment of medically unfit soldiers."

A day after this: Screening for redeployment passes

A month-long investigation by Fort Carson's inspector general has found that screening processes for soldiers returning to war are sound, according to Maj. Gen. Mark Graham, commanding general at Fort Carson.
The investigation found that a lag in paperwork prompted Fort Carson in January to report that 79 soldiers who were deemed medical "no-gos" at a screening site were deployed, though the actual number was much lower.

Lets just say there should be None, Zero, redeployed into any Theater of Conflict!

The Soldiers come back with this: Soldiers seek deployment probe

Secretary of the Army Pete Geren will be asked today to convene a panel of officers to investigate "Army policies and practices which permit the deployment of medically unfit soldiers."
Spec. Bryan Currie, 21, of Charleston, S.C., will ask Geren to convene a Court of Inquiry — a rarely used administrative fact-finding process — to investigate top generals at Fort Carson; Fort Drum, N.Y.; and Fort Hood, Texas.

A few of the listed Incidents:

• Lotero, a soldier diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder "who was subjected to ridicule and threats for seeking medical attention."

• Master Sgt. Denny Nelson, who had a severe foot injury and was deployed to Kuwait. A physician in Kuwait urged in an e-mail to the brigade surgeon that Nelson be sent back to the United States: "This soldier should NOT have even left CONUS (the U.S.). . . . In his current state, he is not full-mission capable, and in his current condition is a risk to further injury to himself, others and his unit."

There are more at article link

Font and Citizen Soldier, a veterans advocacy group, plan a news conference today in Watertown, N.Y. Copies of the request will be provided to the House Armed Services Committee and the Senate Armed Services Committee, Font said.

The news Conferance will probably be held at The Differant Drummer Cafe in Watertown, home to Fort Drum.

Press Conferance Report

Soldier Files Deployment Probe

You can find this report here

"There was no care everywhere I looked. There was a lot of hazing from higher-ups. People that should be there to help platoon sergeants and stuff were just not there or didn't care," said Spec Bryan Currie, 10th Mountain Division.

While serving in Afghanistan with the 10th Mountain Division Currie was hit by a roadside bomb.

"Sustained a broken jaw, broken cheek bone, lost four teeth, burned my hands. I've got shrapnel wounds, PTSD, lacerated my lip I had to get stitches, my knees were swollen, I couldn't walk the dashboard crushed my legs," said Currie.

A Discussion for Thought

The following is a short discussion, abit of a long read, by two Vietnam Veterans, on a VFP/VVAW, group board. The first post is a copy of a question asked and answered by another Vietnam Veteran. The two posts following that are a reply to the original than an answer to that reply.

I would hope that it might help our present Brothers and Sisters, serving in Theaters of War and when they return from, to help find the answers to any questions that may be.

With the Mutiple Tours, Extended Tours, ever Changing Reasons For, and the initial ignorance of what type of Conflict they were led into, as this countries military had already had a long running battle with Guerilla/Insurgent warfare and those lessons still aren't being applied, there will be many more questions that need answering than even we 'Nam vets have been seeking answers for, to the closed ears of our Government and the People of this Country.

"WHAT IS A VIETNAM VETERAN?"
by Dan Mouer 1996

A college student posted a request on an internet newsgroup asking for personal narratives from the likes of us addressing the question: "What is a Vietnam Veteran?" This is what I wrote back:

Vietnam veterans are men and women. We are dead or alive, whole or maimed, sane or haunted. We grew from our experiences or we were destroyed by them or we struggle to find some place in between. We lived through hell or we had a pleasant, if scary, adventure. We were Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, Red Cross, and civilians of all sorts. Some of us enlisted to fight for God and Country, and some were drafted. Some were gung-ho, and some went kicking and screaming.
Like veterans of all wars, we lived a tad bit--or a great bit--closer to death than most people like to think about. If Vietnam vets differ from others, perhaps it is primarily in the fact that many of us never saw the enemy or recognized him or her. We heard gunfire and mortar fire but rarely looked into enemy eyes. Those who did, like folks who encounter close combat anywhere and anytime, are often haunted for life by those eyes, those sounds, those electric fears that ran between ourselves, our enemies, and the likelihood of death for one of us. Or we get hard, calloused, tough. All in a day's work. Life's a bitch then you die. But most of us remember and get twitchy, worried, sad.
We are crazies dressed in cammo, wide-eyed, wary, homeless, and drunk. We are Brooks Brothers suit wearers, doing deals downtown. We are housewives, grandmothers, and church deacons. We are college professors engaged in the rational pursuit of the truth about the history or politics or culture of the Vietnam experience. And we are sleepless. Often sleepless.
We pushed paper; we pushed shovels. We drove jeeps, operated bulldozers, built bridges; we toted machine guns through dense brush, deep paddy, and thorn scrub. We lived on buffalo milk, fish heads and rice. Or C-rations. Or steaks and Budweiser. We did our time in high mountains drenched by endless monsoon rains or on the dry plains or on muddy rivers or at the most beautiful beaches in the world.
We wore berets, bandanas, flop hats, and steel pots. Flak jackets, canvas, rash and rot. We ate cloroquine and got malaria anyway. We got shots constantly but have diseases nobody can diagnose. We spent our nights on cots or shivering in foxholes filled with waist-high water or lying still on cold wet ground, our eyes imagining Charlie behind every bamboo blade. Or we slept in hotel beds in Saigon or barracks in Thailand or in cramped ships' berths at sea.
We feared we would die or we feared we would kill. We simply feared, and often we still do. We hate the war or believe it was the best thing that ever happened to us. We blame Uncle Sam or Uncle Ho and their minions and secretaries and apologists for every wart or cough or tic of an eye. We wonder if Agent Orange got us.
Mostly--and this I believe with all my heart--mostly, we wish we had not been so alone. Some of us went with units; but many, probably most of us, were civilians one day, jerked up out of "the world," shaved, barked at, insulted, humiliated, de-egoized and taught to kill, to fix radios, to drive trucks. We went, put in our time, and were equally ungraciously plucked out of the morass and placed back in the real world. But now we smoked dope, shot skag, or drank heavily. Our wives or husbands seemed distant and strange. Our friends wanted to know if we shot anybody.
And life went on, had been going on, as if we hadn't been there, as if Vietnam was a topic of political conversation or college protest or news copy, not a matter of life and death for tens of thousands.
Vietnam vets are people just like you. We served our country, proudly or reluctantly or ambivalently. What makes us different--what makes us Vietnam vets--is something we understand, but we are afraid nobody else will. But we appreciate your asking.
Vietnam veterans are white, black, beige and shades of gray; but in comparison with our numbers in the "real world," we were more likely black. Our ancestors came from Africa, from Europe, and China. Or they crossed the Bering Sea Land Bridge in the last Ice Age and formed the nations of American Indians, built pyramids in Mexico, or farmed acres of corn on the banks of Chesapeake Bay. We had names like Rodriguez and Stein and Smith and Kowalski. We were Americans, Australians, Canadians, and Koreans; most Vietnam veterans are Vietnamese.
We were farmers, students, mechanics, steelworkers, nurses, and priests when the call came that changed us all forever. We had dreams and plans, and they all had to change...or wait. We were daughters and sons, lovers and poets, beatniks and philosophers, convicts and lawyers. We were rich and poor but mostly poor. We were educated or not, mostly not. We grew up in slums, in shacks, in duplexes, and bungalows and houseboats and hooches and ranchers. We were cowards and heroes. Sometimes we were cowards one moment and heroes the next.
Many of us have never seen Vietnam. We waited at home for those we loved. And for some of us, our worst fears were realized. For others, our loved ones came back but never would be the same.
We came home and marched in protest marches, sucked in tear gas, and shrieked our anger and horror for all to hear. Or we sat alone in small rooms, in VA hospital wards, in places where only the crazy ever go. We are Republicans, Democrats, Socialists, and Confucians and Buddhists and Atheists--though as usually is the case, even the atheists among us sometimes prayed to get out of there alive.
We are hungry, and we are sated, full of life or clinging to death. We are injured, and we are curers, despairing and hopeful, loved or lost. We got too old too quickly, but some of us have never grown up. We want, desparately, to go back, to heal wounds, revisit the sites of our horror. Or we want never to see that place again, to bury it, its memories, its meaning. We want to forget, and we wish we could remember.
Despite our differences, we have so much in common. There are few of us who don't know how to cry, though we often do it alone when nobody will ask "what's wrong?" We're afraid we might have to answer.
Adam, if you want to know what a Vietnam veteran is, get in your car next weekend or cage a friend with a car to drive you. Go to Washington. Go to the Wall. It's going to be Veterans Day weekend. There will be hundreds there...no, thousands. Watch them. Listen to them. I'll be there. Come touch the Wall with us. Rejoice a bit. Cry a bit. No, cry a lot. I will. I'm a Vietnam Veteran; and, after 30 years, I think I am beginning to understand what that means.

This was posted in response to the above, by Jay Janson:

Fine article, CORRECTION: THEY DID NOT SERVE THEIR COUNTRY
Excellent text except for one horribly insensitive slip into a
sickening corporate media war promoting post Vietnam War propaganda
lie:

" Vietnam vets are people just like you. We served our country,
proudly or reluctantly or ambivalently"

Killing Vietnamese, Laotians and Cambodian in their very own lands
DID NOT 'SERVE' OUR COUNTRY! On the contrary, this brutal massive
killing and maiming in the French colonies of Indochina seeking their
independence, was a genocidal crime against humanity, the shame and
dishonor of which will forever printed in history books and
encylopedias for our children, and children all over the world will
read about for untold generations of the future.

Jay Janson's much reprinted article below, quotes Eisenhower, John
Kerry and Bob Kerry.

TITLE:
Respect Vietnamese Patriots Gunned Down by “Beloved” Swift Boats

AUTHOR:
Jay Janson, Feb. 4, 2008

DESCRIPTION:
Jolted to read in Jan. 23, Huffington Post article, “Swiftboating”,
John Kerry’s insensitive references to, “the Swift Boats we loved
while we were in uniform on the Mekong Delta" -“the boats we honored
when we were in uniform in Vietnam”. Kerry experienced the death
these boats brought, called the war an atrocity. Remarks especially
sickening for those who, like Jane Fonda, sided with Vietnam fighting
Japan, France, and U.S.

TEXT:
I mean what shock do Americans need to back off from accepting,
cheering on, and aping corporate media entertainment/news adulation
of war?

This is a heart breaking subject for one, who has lived in Hanoi
among Vietnamese who all lost family during what the Vietnamese call
“The American War.” “Killed by the Americans”, they would answer
with an expression of Buddhist equanimity on their faces upon inquiry
during a festive annual dinner in their traditional custom of
honoring of a deceased family member.

The U.S. government now makes nice with the same Vietnam communist
dominated government presidents from Truman through Ford sought to
destroy, seemingly oblivious to the incredible loss of life. America
has come to respect the Vietnam it could not defeat, and could not
cut in half.

That is why this writer, was jolted to read in the Jan. 23, 2008
Huffington Post article, “Swiftboating”, John Kerry’s insensitive
references to, “the Swift Boats we loved while we were in uniform on
the Mekong Delta" ... “the boats we honored when we were in uniform
in Vietnam”.

What chilling lack of compassion and poor taste, to call attention,
even in retrospect, to their having “honored” and “loved” war
equipment that brought undeserved death and destruction to Vietnam.

These unthinking hurtful written remarks are especially sickening for
those of us who, like Jane Fonda, were on the side of the Vietnamese
who fought first the Japanese, then the French, and thereafter
endured years of carpet and napalm bombing by the U.S. during their
American crucifixion.

What is most appalling about Kerry’s slip of conscience, is that we
have always supposed that given the memory of Kerry’s famous brave
action saving his ship and the lives of his comrades by shooting to
death a Viet patriot about to launch a rocket, that Kerry must have
nightmares about that Viet soldier’s grieving family.

Is this the same John Kerry who denounced the U.S. war in Vietnam as
an atrocity in testimony before a congressional committee?

No, one quesses it is the John Kerry who thirty-five years later
saluted the Vietnam Veterans, warriors who fought a near defenseless
population in a poor Asian French colony of rice farmers, parading
across the stage with large American flags to thunderous applause at
the convention that would nominate him the Democratic presidential
candidate? During his campaign, Kerry and commercial media made the
'Vietnam War' strangely heroic again.

With all the U.S. rapprochement in backing that same communist
government for World Trade Organization membership, one wonders if
Kerry ever try to contact the family of that Vietnamese patriot he
shot to death in combat?

One wonders why Kerry would not be embarrassed to recall love for his
swift boat. What of his memory that the crews of those boats
participated in a war on the Vietnamese that Kerry testified to have
been an atrocity?

Kerry reenlisted for a second tour of 'duty', but took discharge to
run for Congress. Did he not know when he enlisted the first time,
that Eisenhower had written in his book "Mandate for Change" in 1963,
that if there had been an all Vietnam election (blocked by Ike
himself), that Ho Chi Minh would have won by a plurality of more than
80%? Oddly enough Kerry would run in part on his military service
record in Vietnam fighting to prevent Ho Chi Minh from becoming
elected president.

Why does Kerry now believe that he or any Vietnam vets 'served' their
country by taking part in a war that killed Vietnamese in their own
country, often enough in their own neighborhoods and homes as he
deplored in his testimony at the time?

Kerry had a fine college education, which must have included a
history of colonialism, which would have included the brutality of
French colonial subjugation of the Vietnamese. He must have known
that Ho Chi Minh was decorated by our OSS as a dedicated ally of ours
against the Japanese and Vichy French. He must have known that
Truman, against Roosevelt's promise, had brought the French army back
in US ships to fight an 8-year war against our former allies, the
Vietnamese. All this because Ho Chi Minh was a communist? A top
cabinet minister of the U.S. allied French government was also a
communist, but that was OK. Martin Luther King spoke of this history
in his 1967 condemnation of U.S. imperialist war.

Perhaps it useless to fault the mature John Kerry for a commonly held
American attitude of disinterest in the suffering of families of the
millions slaughtered in America’s mistaken and unwinnable wars and
nostalgia for his stint in the Navy.

Recruiting our boys to go kill around the world is made easier for
the ‘glory’ now associated with the massive killing of Vietnamese,
Laotians and Cambodians. ‘U.S. Big Brother’ media has turned the
pre-1975 [shame] into [fame] in the new millennium. No more mention
of the war having been ‘a terrible mistake’, and every single
politician who ‘served’ in Vietnam is acclaimed as a hero!

Calling the Iraq war a mistake, as do the Democrats, does not carry
with it any horror, shame or even the slightest interest in the
million Iraqi lives lost. It’s the very few, by comparison, American
military lives lost that are worthy of attention and mourning. In
American media, a million Iraqi, Afghani, or Vietnamese dead do not
equal the weight of one American fallen in the occupation of these
nations.

The only attention non-American deaths get is in the highly heralded
insurgent, and suspected insurgent, body counts that include men and
boys who join up to fight against the American occupation of their
countries and are automatically labeled terrorists in U.S. military
reports.

The world, watching satellite TV, notices that the general American
public, indifferent to its government policies, nevertheless seems to
enjoy hearing of the U.S. killing record and body counts in the many
small nations its always heroic military invades.

There is zero interest in the suffering of the family members of
'foreigners' who die ‘in harms way' of U.S. military firepower.

With John Kerry recent acquiescing to today’s wars, it is both dismal
and disheartening, even bizarre, to recall that young Kerry
denouncing the U.S. war on Vietnam as an atrocity in testimony before
the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in 1971.

Muhammad Ali did not need to go to Vietnam to know it was wrong, and
he has never changed his mind.

This is a response to what Mr Janson had posted, by George Weber who brought us Dan Mouers well thought answer to a simple question:

Mr. Janson,

I would argue that we did indeed serve our country....meaning that as young recruits our intentions were honorable, regardless
of the fact that we were deceived and ultimately used as pawns by a dishonest government in an unjust war.



Perhaps you overlooked the sentence.......


"We came home and marched in protest marches, sucked in tear gas, and shrieked our anger and horror for all to hear."

I would guess that there are many Vietnam vets who disagree with our point of view......but in this case you're preaching to the choir.

I think perhaps you may have overlooked the spirit in which the piece was written.



In Peace,

George Weber
VFP Tappan Zee Chapter 060
VVAW NYC Clarence Fitch Chapter

I leave you to Think on the many similarities to than and today, the many differances as well, and the perceptions of this Country brought about back than to the perceptions we live with now and well into the future!

Add-On: I posted a response to both of the above writings by my brother 'Nam Veterans, on the Morality and Reality of our Country and received this Response back; Moralism Vs. Reality: Take your pick. from another brother.

Monitoring the surge, i.e. Esculation

The BBC World Service has been monitoring the esculation on a week by week basis.
Links to their previous reports, starting with a July 4th report, will follow but this is just one of the recent graphs used:

Security

The graphics and analysis are based on figures from the US and Iraqi authorities, Baghdad's hospitals and three families from different neighbourhoods in the capital.

During the seven days from 9-15 August 540 people were killed in violent incidents across Iraq.

Another graph of extreme interest as to what is apart of 'Counter Insurgency', Winning the Hearts and Minds of the Occupied:


It gives the location of each family in the report.

Keep in mind Iraq has consistant temperatures well above 100degrees at this time of year, and lack of power for comfort is only part of that equation.

BAGHDAD HOSPITALS
There's another graph on this part of the report as well.

But this is very telling:

The number of police protecting the hospital has fallen, from 12 to five officers.

Again, 'Winning Hearts and Minds of the Occupied'!

You can view previous reports here:
Surge report 4 July

Surge report 11 July

Surge report 18 July

Surge report 25 July

Surge report 1 August

Now someone, in this country, needs to explain the Why we have to search out the News on a War, and not only Iraq but Afganistan as well, that we have Our Military fighting in!

The only real news we seem to get, out of both theaters, comes from foreign correspondents, video and print, while U.S. correspondents seem to Not Leave 'The Green Zone' nor are in any numbers in Afganistan, if at al.

The only good reporting from U.S. correspondents comes from the independants not working for any particular outlet!

We have 'Talking Heads', on the tubes and radio, reporting and leading discussions of so called experts while in comfortable studios in the U.S. rarely setting foot in either theater, if at all, for the majority of the News We Receive!!

Propaganda is alive and well in the 21st century!

PTSD Combat : Winning the War Within; Newsletter

Military Resources Strain a Disservice to Current and Former Vets?

Posted: 16 Jan 2007 06:22 AM CST
Donna Teresa in today's Monterey Herald: Joshua Amaya, son of Raul Thomas Amaya, a Navy Vietnam veteran, who served in the reserves in 1967-1968 and active duty in 1969-1970, who recently died, experienced some of the consequences of this war. Josh and his family were having........

Personality Disorder -- Or Combat PTSD?

Posted: 16 Jan 2007 05:26 AM CST
A recent post on the fact that 22,000 OEF/OIF troops have been discharged with personality disorder -- the same diagnosis given to Steven Green, the soldier charged with raping an Iraqi girl and then killing her and her family in Al Mahmudiyah -- stimulated quite a bit of..........

Back from Memphis - Journalism That Matters

Posted: 15 Jan 2007 11:16 PM CST
After dealing with some technical difficulties that prevented me from posting while I was away in Memphis attending both the Journalism That Matters sessions [pictures] and the National Conference for Media Reform [pictures] from Thursday through Sunday, I'm finally back...........

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"I think the Iraqi people owe the American people a huge debt of
gratitude" - The pResident {Yep up to 655,000 are really Grateful, many in
their Mass Graves, as are their Survivors}
"I think once they get in harm's way, Congress's tradition is to
support those troops," Mr. Hadley said. {Harms Way, shows what the
administration thinks of the Troops, it's called a Strong Defense!}

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The Failed Policies will Haunt Us and the World for Decades!