War and Time

“how do you ask a man to be the last man to die in Vietnam? How do ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?”.......... John Kerry 1971

     What happened to John Kerry? What happens to a man as he grows older and is no longer directly involved in the fighting of wars, but only supporting them through funding them?

     Kerry is six years older than me, but I remember the passion of the Vietnam Veterans against the War. I remember how angry we all were that the United States was involved in a war of aggression against people half a world away. I remember the shame that, because of inequity of the draft laws, mostly disadvantaged youth were being sacrificed so that our country would not “lose face”.

     We are now engaged in two “wars” half a world a way which Kerry supports. We no longer have a military draft so there is far less anger about the lives lost. Still, we send the National Guard to these wars while the professional standing army “trains” at Fort Bragg, Fort Hood, et.al.

     Our journalists are now “embedded” with the troops, so we don't get the kind of brave reporting we got from Vietnam, where it was those brave enough to show us the true face of the war who were largely responsible for ending it.

     I used to be angry, now I'm just sad.