Killing, War, and other things...

Хорошо сказанный мой брат Волкер ...! Аминь!

Holy moly, Donald you speak and write in Ruskie!

I've made this a Feature in The Renewed Activist.

I've made this a Feature in The Sixties.


I support the troops, too, but I never support war. Not Nam nor this one.

People should be allowed to enlist without having to go through mandatory combat duties. They should have the option to take on non combat duties such as emergency relief services, radio/electronic communications, and other engineering work. This would generate much more enlistments.

Yes, war is hell except to those who profit from it. And remember that the Bible says combat is unnecessary in order to have Peace {op cit}.

Спасибо мой друг. Я знал, что Вы поймете.

I knew, if anyone would understand, you would.

WOW spoken like a pro! I pray for our troops everyday because I know in my heart we haven't seen the worst of it. I feel for them and their families. Have we not lost enough innocent lives already? Has our country not already been tested to the highest? Apparently not cuz it is not getting any better. I have the highest respect for our troops because they do their jobs to the best of their ability, but unfortunately are faced w/ a battle that is not meant for them to fight. The saddest part is knowing that where our troops are needed most they are denied the additional support. The sad truth is that our once great nation is being destroyed by corruption, and deception. We need to regain our freedoms that our forefathers fought so hard to obtain for us. Our great nation has seen lots of battles but most were fought with valid reason, I see no validity in the war we are faced with now. So I end w/ this thought, what would happen if the citizens of this great nation gathered together in protest everywhere, not certain areas at certain times, but all for one and one for all wherever in unison. And if that idea cannot be reached then I urge everyone, everywhere to hit your knees and pray to whichever God, or higher power, you choose for the future and security of our GREAT NATION!!!!!

I know this is heavy...I also know that Doc and I were close to the same place at the same time.

Those of you who are either younger than us, or very well estblished in the crud we currently are, may please respond.

As I said, I am a registered American. I'm not liberal, I'm not conservative. I believe in the constitution as it was written by the freemasons that constucted it.

Kathryn,

You have no idea how we (those that had to do that) tear up when Dan Ellsberg shows up on TV. He did yeasterday on CNN and I started to smush up...What he did was 35 years ago.

I was there, Doc was there, and neither of us would have done what we did if we had a clue. As it was, Seal team 22 no longer exists. The primary reason is that we wern't psychotic enough to make the grade.

I don't care what country you live in, if you have a child who is interested in enlisting in your military, please have them speak to me.

Thank you Iva. You said precisely what I wished to say.

MP but was just aiming to hit the truth in basic terms. The truth in today's world is harsh, but we have to face it head on. If we don't we all in trouble, and so is the mere meaning of the USA. As far as I am concerned we have lost the whole meaning of the Constitution and the reason our flag has still flown over the years. This is something we desperately need to reestablish, but can only be done by standing together in the fight to regain the TRUE meaning of the USA.

Hello Walker Bennett,

You cannot have your cake and eat it to.

First, thank you for serving our country.

Now, all war is hell, that's just a fact of war... However, until mankind figures out a way to solve its personal problems in a more peaceful way, war will always be here to stay. Wars in general have always been fought because one person (Or groups of people) don't like the other and then use propaganda to influence their cause. With that being said, some wars are justified.

Using your same logic, would you wish that person who was thinking of enlisting, the life long responsibility of getting another human being into his sights and pulling the trigger if his only target was Al Qaeda?

I do not know what you did in Vietnam or didn't do in Vietnam, your statements are confusing at best, but that's not important. What is important is you are going around trying to tell others not to join. The world you lived in, in the sixties, no longer exists. Remember when you served it was just six years after the Cuban Missile Crisis and government murder, (on all sides), was rampant. Not to mention the draft was in effect at that time... (Question: did you volunteer or were you drafted?)

If anyone joins the military because they believe all they have to do is ride out four years of parade rest and salutes and walla you get a four year college education, is either a damn fool or damn foolish. The military's soul purpose on this planet is to kill other people, to deny that or to be shocked by that fact is either damn foolish or that person is horribly confused.

My point is, nobody should take joining the military lightly, ever. Your life and those of others could be adversely affected at best or dead at worst. However if someone wants to take on that responsibility, how dare you or others attempt to try and talk them out of it, from what I gather from your post, because of your own personal guilt. Explain your stories, tell them the truth, but don't jump for joy because one person who wanted to join is turned down because of a health defect. To me that is horribly sad, and I am ashamed I had to read it.

You are entitled to your opinion and I don't question your patriotism, what I do question is your motives. Before you jump all over me, I too am against war, I think it's one of the dumbest and most vile creations of man and God, but I am a realist. Wars will happen it's just a fact of man.

Here is a poem I wrote that explains why I am against war, it's called:

War's Endless Cycle:

The smell of power is in the air, bright lights that pain my eyes can be seen everywhere.

The smell of death is in the air, bodies' dead, mangled, while their screams pierce into my ears.

No opposite of war just the carnage it brings, is this the life my mother planned for me?

The sight sound and oh god the smell when will it all end? This little piece of hell they force me to bear burns and stains my brain, forever, ever more.

My enemy no, not in my heart, but human's say go. So I grab my weapon and charge being pointed the way to kill, as they the man sit back and gloat, "Our boys, our boy's, how proud we are of our boys."

10, 20, 30 years all the way till I die, this war I survived will never end for me. And unless we teach children a way they won't forget, will all the lives that died screams ever cease.

War oh war human's way towards peace. Unless you've seen it first hand.

PEACE CAN NEVER BE ACHIEVED!

Copyright 1994-2004

Written by: Charles Marcello

Even though I am against war because of how it affects those involved, I support my countries right to defend itself, whether it's being re-active or pro-active. I support, without apology, our war in Iraq and Iran when the time comes….

I am sorry for your friends son who couldn't join the armed services, especially for the fact you celebrated over the point that he was rejected, seeing how your discussions with him didn't seem to change his mind. I am sure if he were given the chance, over your objections or in spit of then, he would have served honorably.

--Charles Marcello

... thanks to be you, Walker.


"Blessed are the Peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God"

Dear Walker - I share your feelings completely and am happy to repeat Luccky's comment, "Blessed are the Peacemakers"! :-))
The highest rating and best regards to you from Russia -

Sveta

Благослови Вас Бог! :-))

Charles,

I actually enlisted. I had received a draft notice from the Army, but found a Navy recruiter who worked like crazy to get me in before I had to report for it.

I figured Navy was safer...I was wrong.

luckky- where do you get the idea that you have to go through mandatory combat duties to be in the military?

I'm sorry for the young man that he couldn't do what he wanted. I often wish I had stayed in. I wouldn't stop my sons from joining if that's what they wanted. Nobody joins for just the education benefits only, that's just usually what they say. I told everybody it was to learn a trade, but it was really more than that.
If they really think that is the only reason why, they shouldn't go in anyway.

John S.,

I agree. The military services are wonderful. I couldn't spend more than my 8 years because of a medical disability (that may be another article someday). The VA, at the moment, does very well by me. I had the opportunity to hone several skills that I had before I went in (I was already a NAUI instructor - which is why I went for UDT -- they changed their name), a demolitions expert (primarily in home-made explosive devices, but nontheless), and an electrical engineer (my rate was technically an ET, Electronic Technician).

Despite the crap I had to do, I had a relatively enjoyable time bugging the officers (did you know that in the Navy, it is acceptable to salute with your left hand? I loved doing that to Ensigns leaving the base exchange. Ensigns are neat...everyone show own one).

When we were in between missions and back in Guam, my team and I would dive off of Agana (the capital) and then sell fish to the natives.

The Grunts and the Ground Pounders would have to remain in country in the mud and crud.

My team worked fairly closely with Air America...anyone who's seen the movie -- believe it. I was there, we did that.

On patrol one day I met Mikhail Gerasov, a GRU (Military Intelligence) agent. We did not shoot each other. He wanted to be there as much as I did. He liked my rations better than his and we would meet as often as possible and share meals because we shared patrol areas.

I liked him well enough to use his name in my novels. I have lost track of him when I was medevaced from the area. I hope he has had a good and productive life.

I, luckily, had learned enough Russian at that time (because it really pissed off my division officer) that we could have halting conversations. Someday, I would love to meet up with him again. He was from Murmansk.

Don't forget, this was in the late '60s when we met. There was the "Red Menace" and all of the other bull being shoveled on our shoulders from the U.S. Government (BOTH PARTIES). Here were two scared kids (we were both in our early 20s) sharing a meal in the middle of a freaking jungle while we were supposed to find each other and report back positions...:) That didn't happen.

I kept the AK-47 that he gave me until 2 years ago. I wish I still had it.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts with me. And thank you for the job that you did for me and our Country, by serving in the military.

Wow, Walker! This hits home for me too.

My Kid Brother wished to pre-inlist at 17 with the USMC. My father, also a Vietnam Veteran (82nd Airborne, Engineers), refused to sign for him. I didn't understand why until later, when he was deployed during Desert Storm (2nd Force Recon, Communications.) You see, my divorced parents frequently countermanded each other. My "flower child" mother did the signing. I'm still amazed by that fact.

But, I get it now.

My father warned me when my brother was deployed not to expect that same person to come home. He said there would be changes, irreversible changes, to his character, his nature and his outlook on life. His dire predictions sent me directly to bed for two days where I cried until I couldn't cry anymore. I couldn't cope with the fact that I could lose him for real, let alone that he could come home a shell of his former self causing me to lose the close relationship we had always shared. There was no way to win, the old Matthew was gone for good as of that moment.

And Daddy was right.

Some good did come of it. At 18, he left a boy, but returned a man. However, the twinkle was gone from his eye. He was quick to anger, slow to forgive. His quirky sense of humor and his love of word play gave way to a somber seriousness that left no room for games. Fireworks are a nightmare for him. Certain television programs cause him sleepless nights. A sonic boom will cause him to hit the dirt faster than an anvil could drop. All these years later, much of that remains. I lost my brother in Desert Storm. My father lost his son, in the same way he knew he had also lost himself.

I know far too many young men and women who live with the idea that it "can't happen to me." My brother wasn't one of them. As he enlisted, he told me that since his contract was for 8 years and the U.S. tended to engage in some sort of armed conflict on an average of every 6.4, he knew he'd see "something." At least he was prepared. Too many others go in on a wing and a prayer, listening to the ads on TV that promise a free education, a better life, a chance to see the world, a skill that will be highly valued in the workplace later on.

They're kids. They think they are invincible and basic training just reinforced that ideas. The reality of war is not something that can be imagined, for combatants or for their loved ones. Too many don't know the price they could pay.

I'm glad you do and I'm glad you tried with your young friend.

Webwriter AND Walker! The two of you together have said a mouthfull.

I've never been there, and I never will be there to experience it first hand, but I am close to people who have. Even before I knew them I cried at the thought of it.

"What do you know?" some would ask me. "Why the hell are YOU crying? You're not there, you weren't there."

Of course not, but I imagine that if I took the scariest thing that ever happened to me and ever WILL happen to me, and multiply it by 1 million, it won't come close to what veterans and their families will have to deal with when they come home.

Thank you Walker for opening our eyes, thank you Webwriter for also sharing your family's experiences.

I've been thinking a lot about supporthing the troops. YES it is possible to support the troops without supporting the cause.

Thank you ALL!

And Doc, though I don't read a word of Russian (yet) I imagine you had something wonderful to say too.

Thanx, Leah.

That was hard to write.(There's an article there, but I haven't found the guts to write it yet.) It's good to know that others get the message. I miss my brother to this very day. I always will. He's here. He's a breathing, living, contributing member of society. But what MIGHT've been had he been forced to take another route? Would my laughing, witty, playful, uncontested champion and confidant still be here?

What would have happened had he not found himself, six weeks home, with the first suntan of his life, drunk to oblivion with a map and a pen, and huddled with his head in my lap like a child, crying like a baby over what he saw, what he had to do? What would have happened had he not been forced to deny it to remain a man and a Marine? What would have happend had there never been a G.I. Joe to commemorate his brave and ingenuitive deeds, the ones saved his own life and caused 100's to die horrible deaths as he sat on a rooftop and watched, knowing those horrible deaths saved him?

I lost my father in Vietnam, just as I was born. All hope of ever having that relationship healthy and whole died in the jungles there. I lost my brother in Kuwait City. All hope of having the ally and friend that got me through some of the hardest times in my life died in the American Embassy.

How many more?

I am proud of them both. I am proud of their contributions. I am proud of THEIR pride, their pain and their gifts. (Neither were drafted, tho much like Walker, my father joined knowing it was coming, using what little control he had left to influence his destination.) But I am NOT proud of the reasons they were sent into hell and I'm NOT proud of the men who sent them there.

Yes, we CAN support our men and women at arms, but we DO NOT have to support the reasons for their necessity.

And we can, each of us who knows, try to save just one.

There are tears on my face tonight. I first wrote this article out of thankfulness that Nadia's son was not accepted into the military. I have told her of the horror that I endured and never wished anyone else to have to go through.

There is a fundraiser on PBS tonight that I just watched featuring Peter, Paul and Mary. They are the one group that have shaped my entire life. I saw them in person in 1963, and I carried them with me in Vietnam. Their music will endure as long as there is injustice or inequality, wherever it exists. It is timeless.

I hope that Webwriter will complete an article. There are thousands of us who still exist out here, that hit the deck at a backfire, or now have to think twice at a joke. We are currently creating thousands more of us without a good reason.

PLEASE support them and welcome them when they return. They have witnessed and performed deeds that exceed your wildest nightmares.

Walker!

Does Nadia know anyone who speaks English? I am sure she would be touched by the discussion you have started. Please give her and her son best wishes from everyone who has contributed here.

Unfortunately, she knows less English than you know Russian :) Nobody where she works speaks English, either.

I am in the process of translating this for her. Sasha (Alexander) moved to Moscow about 3 months ago and now is living with his father. He's learning a good skill and will soon (by Russian standards) have a good income.

I'm going to ask her to pass this on to him when I finish. Unfortunately, my Russian, even though better than her English, is not all that great and I spend a LOT of time with the dictionary.

A wonderful idea, Walker. I am sure he will get the message.