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[Andy]

I?ve mentioned in previous posts that this was the Vietnam War Remembrance Month in our county. Last night we had our panel discussion hosted by John Katzenback of the New York Times.

The panel was made up of an army nurse who didn?t go to Vietnam and is now the leader of a pacifist group. A navy guy who has been arrested a few times at peace demonstrations. A 9th Division Arty FDC guy who is a professor at one of our many colleges and a member of Veterans for Peace. A school teacher who was a Marine, air traffic control, who is an VVA guy who was sort of right wing. We had great fun.

Couldn?t believe the professor read, yes read, a 3 page statement about war. In it (I took notes as usual) he said 1., The US has never before been in a war that lasted longer than six weeks without having a draft; 2., No war the US has ever been in was popular with the American people which was not declared a war by Congress; 3. No war is moral without a declaration by congress; 4., Vietnam and Iraq are a mirror image because, as usual, we are backing the wrong side.

It was great fun ripping apart those statements. Won?t bore you with all the details but I started by quoting Churchill, ?I do not mind when a person diverges from the truth for the purpose of making a point. However there is a limit.? I always liked Churchill and it did seem like the thing to say.

The Navy guy took a long time talking about how mentally crushing Vietnam was for all of us and why there are so many of us who could never get employed or lived a ?normal? life. I just had to tell everyone about Psycho Mountain and the grunts, medics and even an air force guy. Told them there wasn?t a bum in the crowd. Also mentioned the squid was probably talking about Bobby McNamara?s Boys.

The navy guy also made mention that Vietnam was the first war this country ever fought that resulted is large scale drug abusing. Mentioned that after the Civil War about 400 opium dens opened in New York City alone and that several of them are still in operation. Even mentioned that Hannibal provided his army with hash to help them relax between battles. Navy guy asked if I could prove it was 400 opium dens. Alas, couldn?t do it, he got me.

The nurse talked about guys in the hospital wards who told her they had had necklaces with a dozen or so enemy ears hanging from them. No, she never saw such a necklace, no a guy never lied to her. no not even to get her in bed. Wonder what color the sky is in her world.

The audience was made up mostly of people our age with several teens and 20s kids. Funny, the older people did not really seem to believe there were ?No Fire Zones?, or that we had to get permission to fire back. (Pointed out this occurred in my AO with regard to the Michelin Rubber Plantation, The Black Virgin Mountain and Cambodian border. But the kids were both confused and interested. They wanted to know how we could win a war, if on occasion, we had to check in with the ?Committee for Firing Back?. Would you believe we didn't want to win???
It was a lot of fun, wish you were here.

Stay healthy,
Andy