...when i did a post called The Thousand-Yard Stare, which stirred up some controversy.
However, i think that (setting aside the controversy i touched on in that post) even the MOGger i was arguing with will agree that Viet Nam vets (real combat men, not REMFs like me) got a pretty shabby deal Back In The Day.
There's a reason that "Don't mean nothin'" was a Viet Nam mantra...
Johnny Cash spent quite a while in Viet Nam a full year, i think - on his own dime, getting to know the soldiers and their war, entertaining them to take their minds off the future before they went out, visiting them in the hospitals when they came back shot up.
He knew. And years later, he poured what he and June had learnt that year into a song...
After you listen to Cash's Drive On, i suggest you hunt up a copy of David Drake's SF novel, Rolling Hot, which will tell you more than you want to know about what Real War is like...Click here to go to my website.
Posted on 05/30/2008
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My Trusted MOGs
A most excellent track. If the Vet you were arguing with doesn't think 'Nam vets got a raw deal he's an idiot. A raw deal all around. From Uncle Sugar and quite a lot of our fellow citizens. It Don't Mean Nothin'<<<<< It has a very real pint, which I think you miss.
My Trusted MOGs
On a side note, just last night I watched "Fog Of War" with McNamara. Really powerful stuff. Have you guys seen that? In it he straight up admits he was a war criminal.
My Trusted MOGs
War criminal? Seems to be epidemic, doesn't it? That said, all honors to our veterans. Stand-up folks who were sent into harm's way for a whole spectrum of reasons - some worthy, some not.
My Trusted MOGs
Yeah - Let's hear it for the real vets who had the hard way to go; not like me in a rear area, even if i was scared spitless from time to time.
While i can - i think - sort of imagine what it must have been like...
...i'm glad i can't really.