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Jeffersons Ghost (1000+ posts) Sat Apr-22-06 12:14 AMOriginal messageHOW MANY DIED TODAY? THEY'RE NOT JUST NUMBERS: A LETTER FROM NAM As the Iraq death count runs into the thousands it's easy to think only in numbers. For anyone still stupid enough to be pro-war, however, it gets sticky to realize that each of those digits is someone's spouse, father, mother, son, daughter or friend. Here's a letter I recently received in private messages. Does current top leadership remind you of the big brass in this letter?If you ever wondered why John Kerry became an anti-war activist after Nam, read this and wonder no more.Hey, JG, I just thought I would share this with you.I was stationed on the Qua Viet with 2nd Marine. The river ran parallel with the "line", a couple clicks south of Ia Drang. It was red hot and rocking.We did river patrol, long-range recon and target extrication (basically banging targets, supplied by the cretins in Intel, who never knew what was going on.) We went through plenty of personnel. It took a certain kind of crazy to make it there, where we had no time to think, as instinct ruled.After being wounded when we lost a boat, I went home to Houston from the Naval Hospital in Yokusuka, Japan, to get better, before going back again. By '72 things were so bad most of us thought that when we finally bought it, useless leadership at the top would be to blame, rather than the gook on the other end of the sights.The Trickster had appointed John Warner as Secretary of the Navy. This was bigger news than it should have been because he was dating Elizabeth Taylor who just happened to still be married to Richard Burton. When I was recovering, I saw him on the TV and figured he was another pompous ass.After they sent me back, you know how it was, no news and very little mail from the outside. The only current events we got were guys back from leave or R&R. Or NFGs, but nobody listened to them.They were attaching us to a new boat, called a Nasty Boat because it was little more than water-borne Death. There were only a very few of these built, thank God. Muscular and twin-screwed, those boats were crazier than we were.After a couple days on the river shooting water buffaloes and anything else that moved, we got word that SecNav (Warner) was coming to turn over the keys to our new boat. After nearly three years in country, you can guess how impressed we were with that grand-standing mountain of crap.So I got busy bringing the guys up to speed on good ol' Liz-whipped Warner.Keep in mind that uniforms and grooming were not our strong suit. We wore our hair long and black, for obvious reasons. My uniform was jungle shorts, tee shirt, bandanna and Converse AllStars. When we were at camp I generally carried a sawed off, 12 gage, Ithaca pump-shotgun. It spends retirement leaning in a corner of my bedroom.This boat was super-secure. Admittance was at the pilot's (me) discretion- with orders to shoot to kill if proper protocol wasn't followed.Well, here they came. Transports with guards, jeeps with junior officers and heavier brass, including ComWestPac and SecNav John Warner, in dress whites, no less.It was ****ing hilarious and outrageous, to us.So they all pile out on the beach and fall in. You know how it goes, lining up just right so they can lick appropriate ass as it goes by.There were only two of us on board, me and a Gunner, the rest of the guys were hanging back on the beach. I think a few might have been in their hammocks. We didn't much give a shit.As ComWestPac walked to the bottom of the gangway, I could tell he was pissed. They had asked us to clean up, etc. Well, to hell that. He knew me from giving us medals before. Warner was also there to give us a Presidential Unit Citation. We weren't thrilled about that either because of the 9 guys getting the medal many were dead. I don't like to think in numbers because every one of those guys was a brother. We already had so much hardware to pin on, it just didn't matter anymore. We wanted our buddies back.So ComWestPac scowls at me and requests permission to board.Tom- "Permission granted."ComWestPac walks up gangway and then SecNav comes prancing up without a word.Tom- walking down gangway- "Halt who goes there?"CWP- shouting- "Sailor that is SecNav."Tom- 1/2 way down gangway and drawing down- "Halt or I'll shoot."CWP- running down gangway and screaming in Tom's left ear-"Sailor, that is SecNav!"Tom- trusty Ithaca focused on SecNav's sternum- screams, "I don't care if he is ****ing Elizabeth Taylor! Where's the boarding protocol?"Sometimes I wish we had shot that prissy bastard.And that Citation? It is with all the rest of them, midway of a span under the San Francisco Bay Bridge. On a clear day, I can see the bridge from my parking deck.May those medals Rest in Peace for eternity, like the bravest guys that ever lived - my guys.I can barely see the keys as I type this.Some things will never change.CURRENT LEADERSHIP IS WORSE THAN NIXON! PLEASE SIGN AND FORWARD THIS PETITION TO BRING THEM HOME DU! WE ARE ALL THEY HAVE!http://www.johnkerry.com/action/deadline/?sc=e.20060418http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2583517
TomInTib Donating Member (1000+ posts) Sat Sep-01-07 12:15 PMResponse to Reply #4563. I don't vote, either. That shit will get you jury duty in California.And I am no asshole, I just hate those bastards for stealing our country.I didn't mind it when the Vietnamese hated me for being part of an attempt to steal their country.At the same time, I felt sorry for them.But I killed them, anyway, to keep them from killing me.But I absolutey hate these bastards and wish them the worst.Sorry about your mother. Brain cancer is bad business. Melanoma is killing me even as I type this. http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x1709061
TomInTib Donating Member (1000+ posts) Sat Dec-09-06 11:00 PMResponse to Original message2. I once watched a night launch from the roof of the Naval Hospital Orlando, Florida.Maybe '72.We were wasted..Just wasted..And we could hear it.They took all of the combat vets up to the roof.I will never forget it. And I don't even give a damn about space stuff.TomInTib Donating Member (1000+ posts) Sat Dec-09-06 11:39 PMResponse to Reply #34. Maybe I didn't hear it. Maybe it was my heart beating in my ears. But I remember that it looked as if was spurting upward, not real fluid.I was a couple of weeks back from getting kinda ****ed up in The Bad Place (SE Asia) and the feeling of the moonshot's absolute freedom from the Earthly coil was exhilarating.http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2646482
TomInTib Donating Member (1000+ posts) Tue Oct-16-07 06:43 PMResponse to Original message5. This one takes me back 35+ years. I was TDA on the US Rathburn, a destroyer escort (since de-commissioned).We were conducting anti-submarine drills in WestPac and were prepared to engage a dummy sub with an armed ASROC missle.So we found the dummy and fired one off. Those babies would arc out a couple of miles, punch in and head for the nearest large chunk of metal.That rocket hit the water, searched around, and headed straight back at us.Priceless.TomInTib Donating Member (1000+ posts) Tue Oct-16-07 06:50 PMResponse to Reply #67. No kidding. Not until Fire Control blew it up about a half-mile from the boat.Then we were rolling around on the bridge like a bunch of chimpanzees.http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x2061955
TomInTib Donating Member (1000+ posts) Mon May-29-06 12:31 AMResponse to Reply #89. 'an ill-begotten war based on human arrogance and greed' Aren't they all?Every day I grieve for my guys (62 of the 74 I served with) who did not make it Home.Memorial Day weekend just drives it home a little bit harder. http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x1305615
TomInTib Donating Member (1000+ posts) Mon May-22-06 12:36 PMResponse to Reply #34. This reminds me so much of the guys I used to run into in the... Edited on Mon May-22-06 12:38 PM by TomInTibback streets of Bangkok and Olongapo.Facial wounds, grotesque shit. And no fault of theirs.Missing too many parts, they would gravitate to places like that where they wouldn't be either stared at or pitied, but just fit in and support themselves in any fashion they were able to stumble onto.And those were our guys, American Soldiers. ****ed for Life.I often wonder where those guys are today and what they are doing.So you write that letter and may God bless you. It will mean more than you will ever know.I've been there.The most memorable Christmas of my life was spent with a lady from the Red Cross in a miserable hospital room in the Naval Hospital, Yokusuka, Japan.http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x1256457
TomInTib Donating Member (1000+ posts) Tue Sep-19-06 07:09 PMResponse to Original message4. I am absolutley ashamed of our military ****ing up a guy in the field is one thing (I, myself have been guilty of same).Doing this shit to a confined person is just plain chickenshit.k&rhttp://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x2174139
TomInTib Donating Member (1000+ posts) Mon May-22-06 11:21 PMResponse to Original message8. Wrong. Not 'napalm'. Napalm has been outlawed. So we... re-formulated it to contribute to the firestorm of the City of Angels (Panama).100,000 - that is how many Panamanians died in that GHWB outrage. http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x1261561
TomInTib Donating Member (1000+ posts) Wed Jun-07-06 09:05 PMResponse to Original message4. We used 47s whenever we could get them in Vietnam.M16 rounds take too long to kill. No knockdown power to speak of.We used shotguns, too (I still have my Ithaca 12). http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2327394
