Comments on: Imagining the Vietnam Veteran http://www.intellectualconservative.com/2005/10/20/imagining-the-vietnam-veteran/ Conservative and Libertarian Intellectual Philosophy and Politics Wed, 08 Feb 2012 23:00:53 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: david andrew barchi http://www.intellectualconservative.com/2005/10/20/imagining-the-vietnam-veteran/comment-page-1/#comment-6203 david andrew barchi Mon, 29 May 2006 09:14:34 +0000 http://www.intellectualconservative.com/test.php/?p=718#comment-6203 I am a combat decorated vet.I have on my dd214 army commendation w/valor and the bronze star w/valor I was put in for the silver and bronze and was downgraded because officer rank were dead and only sgt.remained to tell the story.I was with the 11th armored cav from 8/67 to 12/67,gun jeeps recon ,search and destroy up north and near or in Cambodia.I was 18yrs old.Just before Tet I was told to get on a chinook and was sent to the 9th infantry 2/47th,I was involved in many ambush patrols and searc and destroy.I was in Tet and fought on the Y bridge and into Cho Lon door to door!! After the victory!! Our unit helped Grave Registration "to pick up the remains "of our courageous brothers,some who were burned to a crisp by our own jets.I was hit by shrap metal on two occasssions{minor}although drew blood and the small scrs remain today.Each time I sought no base camp medical and continued to stay wiyh my men I was a sgt e-5 at 18 yrs old.As you know some purple hearts were given for less than my slight injuries especially at higher ranks!!So don't judge the book by the cover,get all the facts first. I went on to become a V.P of GECC and V.P of Citicorp and finally a E.V.P of Nat'l Mortage Co.After returning from Nam in 8/68 I ran the night shift at Ft.Devens priso{with no prior Miltary Police training,My commanding officer was former Mayor Buddy Cianci{currently in Federal Prison!! After getting things under controlthe out of control prison I was rewarded with AWOL apprehension for New England,a terrible dangerous job finding men who "ran" from the Nam!!Men who broke there arms as friend jumped on toilet seats as there arms were underneath!! ""The fear of the Nam!!Today I am 57 yrs old and there is not a day that I dont think of my brothers"fallen on the battle field or fallen at home to Drugs!! I am a combat decorated vet.I have on my dd214 army commendation w/valor and the bronze star w/valor I was put in for the silver and bronze and was downgraded because officer rank were dead and only sgt.remained to tell the story.I was with the 11th armored cav from 8/67 to 12/67,gun jeeps recon ,search and destroy up north and near or in Cambodia.I was 18yrs old.Just before Tet I was told to get on a chinook and was sent to the 9th infantry 2/47th,I was involved in many ambush patrols and searc and destroy.I was in Tet and fought on the Y bridge and into Cho Lon door to door!! After the victory!! Our unit helped Grave Registration “to pick up the remains “of our courageous brothers,some who were burned to a crisp by our own jets.I was hit by shrap metal on two occasssions{minor}although drew blood and the small scrs remain today.Each time I sought no base camp medical and continued to stay wiyh my men I was a sgt e-5 at 18 yrs old.As you know some purple hearts were given for less than my slight injuries especially at higher ranks!!So don’t judge the book by the cover,get all the facts first. I went on to become a V.P of GECC and V.P of Citicorp and finally a E.V.P of Nat’l Mortage Co.After returning from Nam in 8/68 I ran the night shift at Ft.Devens priso{with no prior Miltary Police training,My commanding officer was former Mayor Buddy Cianci{currently in Federal Prison!! After getting things under controlthe out of control prison I was rewarded with AWOL apprehension for New England,a terrible dangerous job finding men who “ran” from the Nam!!Men who broke there arms as friend jumped on toilet seats as there arms were underneath!! “”The fear of the Nam!!Today I am 57 yrs old and there is not a day that I dont think of my brothers”fallen on the battle field or fallen at home to Drugs!!

]]> By: Bob Stapler http://www.intellectualconservative.com/2005/10/20/imagining-the-vietnam-veteran/comment-page-1/#comment-311 Bob Stapler Thu, 09 Feb 2006 19:54:30 +0000 http://www.intellectualconservative.com/test.php/?p=718#comment-311 A great review and wonderful analysis. It will make the reading much richer. With regard to your final comment: "This poses the interesting question of whether it is possible to win a war, and if no one believes it, do you really win the war?" No, no one ever comes away from war better than we would have been had we been sufficiently omniscient as to avoid it in the first place. Sometimes, we are jumped in a dark alley and have to fight to stay alive. Other times, we fight to defend our property or rights (like the right to pass through that dark alley unmolested). Our forbearers recognized not only the occasion for fighting, but also a duty to do so and built the means for it into our founding documents. The militia was not a volunteer organism. Every able bodied man was expected to turn out in time of danger with his weapons, and was subject to sanctions for failing to do so. I agree that war is the last resort of an incompetent. Those who resort to war to appropriate that which does not belong to them, who bully the weak into their service, who use war to impose their ‘divine vision’, &c risks himself and his friends on a fool’s errand. When we have allowed things to drift so far they are no longer under our control to circumvent, we have demonstrated our miscalculation or incapacity to prevent. That is the theoretical reality. The non-theoretical reality is that none of us are as omniscient as that. Not even close. The most observant of us may see a fight coming our way, and side step it only to blunder into another. Even when we see it coming, we find it impossible to convince others it is serious and are dragged along against our better judgment. This makes the oft refrain, “War is not the answer”, a glib and trite misdirection. If it is true we can’t win at war, it is also true we can lose far more hiding behind the comforting aspect of a dove than the fierce aspect of a hawk. Opportunists looking for the easy victim will ever take down the dove and leave the hawk in peace. A great review and wonderful analysis. It will make the reading much richer.

With regard to your final comment:

“This poses the interesting question of whether it is possible to win a war, and if no one believes it, do you really win the war?”

No, no one ever comes away from war better than we would have been had we been sufficiently omniscient as to avoid it in the first place. Sometimes, we are jumped in a dark alley and have to fight to stay alive. Other times, we fight to defend our property or rights (like the right to pass through that dark alley unmolested). Our forbearers recognized not only the occasion for fighting, but also a duty to do so and built the means for it into our founding documents. The militia was not a volunteer organism. Every able bodied man was expected to turn out in time of danger with his weapons, and was subject to sanctions for failing to do so.

I agree that war is the last resort of an incompetent. Those who resort to war to appropriate that which does not belong to them, who bully the weak into their service, who use war to impose their ‘divine vision’, &c risks himself and his friends on a fool’s errand. When we have allowed things to drift so far they are no longer under our control to circumvent, we have demonstrated our miscalculation or incapacity to prevent. That is the theoretical reality. The non-theoretical reality is that none of us are as omniscient as that. Not even close. The most observant of us may see a fight coming our way, and side step it only to blunder into another. Even when we see it coming, we find it impossible to convince others it is serious and are dragged along against our better judgment. This makes the oft refrain, “War is not the answer”, a glib and trite misdirection.

If it is true we can’t win at war, it is also true we can lose far more hiding behind the comforting aspect of a dove than the fierce aspect of a hawk. Opportunists looking for the easy victim will ever take down the dove and leave the hawk in peace.

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