T'Giving in Vietnam

Happy Thanksgiving. The one I remember the most is Vietnam. It was always a little funny to me that the war kind of stopped on holidays. We had this Lieutenant in Charley company. The greatest guy. Tall, blond, really handsome and he played a "mean" guitar. All those songs like "Gentle On My Mind." He sounded more like Glenn Campbell than Glenn Campbell. The Company was close into the FSB ( Fire Support Base) mainly so all the troops could be served a turkey dinner. Our Brigade commander a little of a nut to me,but I liked him. He insisted that the troops have a carcuss turkey, meaning that the troops could have actual slices of turkey right from the carcuss. A nice idea but we were at war even though not a lot was going on. Things were going pretty smoothly. I was planning make my rounds to one or two of the Companies (company is roughly a 100 men or so). Suddenly, there was this horrendous explosion. We knew immediately what it was: some troop had tripped a booby trap. It was the Lieutenant. A sadness gripped us. We were suddenly alert to war and less to a carcuss turkey.

War is awful! What a story. How sad. I know you're not the only one that remembers that day in detail. Of course, I am now wondering, "What happened to his guitar? Did they mail it to his family?" (the way my mind works)

Funny you should ask about the guitar. I kept up with the family for a long time and after I came back, I visited them in upper state NY. In their living room, they had mounted the guitar on the wall like a trophy but it had been smashed. Apparently the father was so angry that when the LT's personal effects arrived, he went crazy, smashed the guitar. Later on after he calmed down, he collected it all and pieced it together.

WOMEN IN COMBAT

SHOULD WOMEN BE IN COMBAT? Of course, they already are. They deserve the recognition they've already earned. I have no reservations, just a couple of comments. Combat is no day at the beach. It isn't a movie. All great to "support the troops" but recognize that war is hell. Young Americans die. The second thing is that women change the dynamics. I once taught in a military school at the graduate level. In a class of all men, you have one set of dynamics. Introduce a female, everything changes. The men are preening like a f..king bunch of peacocks. It is not the woman's fault. It is us sorry ass men and guess what: that ain't going to change.

A CARCUSS TURKEY

The Thanksgiving I remember the most is Vietnam. It was always a little funny to me that the war kind of stopped on holidays. We had this Lieutenant in Charley company. The greatest guy. Tall, blond, really handsome and he played a "mean" guitar. All those songs like Gentle On My Mind. He sounded more like Glenn Campbell than Glenn Campbell. The Company was close into the FSB ( Fire Support Base) mainly so all the troops could be served a turkey dinner. Our Brigade commander was a little of a nut to me, but I liked him. He insisted that the troops have a carcass turkey, meaning that the troops could actually have slices of a turkey as opposed to canned turkey. It was a wild idea but somehow we had all these turkeys. . A nice idea but we were at war even though not a lot was going on. Things were going pretty smoothly. I was planning to make my rounds to one or two of the Companies (company is roughly a 100 men or so). The Lieutenant stepped on a booby trap and was killed. It put a real damper on the day. War is awful. Sorry, mahal KO, running off at the mouth here. I love you

The troops call him Saint Petraeus. He f..ked up. Thinking with as we say, the "wrong head". I have to confess I have never  liked Petraeus. It wasn't anything personal. As a rule, I don't like generals. By the time they get to be general, they are so political that they are about worthless in terms of objectivity. And, since our leadership has no military experience, these generals lead them around like f..king sheep. The generals give what I called the "Home Before Christmas" reports--That was Westmoreland and Nixon in Vietnam. "Home Before Christmas" was bullshit as the Vietnam war went on five years more and thousands of American soldiers lives were lost because of those rosy views. MFers.  The American people who give a shit trusted Petraeus. Oh well...he moved to the CIA. As an aside, I always saw that as an escape. Petraeus knew we couldn't come out with a win in Afghanistan. He had sold the counter insurgency theory: Win the hearts and minds of the people. It can't be done. And, if it had any chance, it would take years. 10-20. Forget it. We are not staying in Afghanistan. Petraeus got the hell out. Escape to the CIA. He has literally f..ked up. Now, to defend Petraeus. He's human, seduced by some female. Thinking with the wrong "Head." I hate it that he was that stupid. I will give him this. Admit, fall on your sword and move on. The only one who could survive; "the Bill" as in Bill Clinton. What is absolutely a phenomena to me is that in the modern world for someone like Petraeus to think he could do this and not be discovered. Damn crazy. That aside, philosophically, what the f..k. The guy was stupid and it sounds like, seduced. It was a point in time where he had a shot at being above it. He failed. He is human. Next case. 

I am about tired of this but fascinated that we have Linda Tripp (of Monica and Bill fame) revisited. I am amazed. Women talk. What the hell. Us men are sorry, good for nothing MFers, let's face it. As public figures, they are not going to get past this. Petraeus and Allen have f..ked up. Just that simple. Petraeus has tried to go. Allen has too. Bad judgement, 20,000 pages of emails. The f..ker Allen is suppose to be looking out for his troops and he's emailing 24/7 to a women who appears to be a loony tune.