STORMIN NORMAN

Stormin General Norman Schwartzkopf stormed into? He served two tours in Vietnam (earning three Silver Stars, a Bronze Star, a Purple Heart and three Distinguished Service Medals) To any Vietnam combat vet, the first thing we say, no disrespect intended, how the f..k can a Lieutenant Colonel be awarded three silver stars. He was a battalion commander, not a grunt who should have been awarded medals and who usually got s..t. Know why? Nobody was looking after the grunt. Somebody was looking after Stormin Norman.

The first time I had ever heard of him was when he was contacted by the mother of one of his troops in Vietnam. The mother was someway like Pat Tillman's mom (Remember, he was an NFL player who gave up a promising career to become an Army Ranger and go to Afghanistan) whose son was killed by friendly fire probably but reported as hostile fire. I hate to be the military's advocate, as I am better suited in an adversarial role; but often the military at war tries to do the right thing. Most casualties are reported as hostile fire. Their thinking: (nobody admits this. In Vietnam we always said, hostile fire! )Parents and loved ones surely will feel better about their incalculable loss knowing they were killed in the line of battle. What parent or sweetheart would want to know their soldier died at the hands of fellow soldier. Negligence, dereliction of duty at war is a different thing but an accident is an accident. Hostile fire! Apparently the mother as related to Schwartzkopf was not satisfied. A reporter, I think, wrote a book about the soldier, Friendly Fire. I first read the article I think at the Command and General staff College. The article was not favorable to the military and shouted, "cover-up." An apocrypha story which I'm not sure is true but the mother took the money from her insurance and had tiny crosses placed all around the City Hall of Davenport, Iowa. (not sure) This single act is credited with lighting a fire under the anti war movement.

All that aside and as we say in NC, never speak ill of the dead. If so, Stormin Norman, sorry and God bless you on your journey..

Movie Reviews

ARGO Suspenseful and based on a somewhat implausible story. So improbable that it was true. Ben Afflick playing the part of an CIA agent heading up a rescue attempt of six Americans who managed to escape Iran--remember the hostage crisis. The Six were hiled up in the Canadian Embassy. One of the few times my brother and I saw things differently. Could have been that Vietnam was pretty close to me. My brother, Raz, a big Jimmy Carter fan, felt that we should have forcefully gone after them. I think Carter did the best thing. I heard an interview with him recently talking about it when he said that he told Iran, "if you harm any of the hostages, I am sending in the 82d Airborne.

LINCOLN. I didn't care much for the movie. Daniel Day-Lewis looked like him for sure. I've read lots of Lincoln and I didn't think this movie cast him in a good light. Sure, those who see a dysfunctional Congress as we now have would say we need a Lincoln. Who can dispute that? But, I have always thought of Lincoln as bigger than life, making right decisions way above petty politics. This movie cut him down to human and I didn't like it.

Jango. Typical Terantino movie. Blood and guts everywhere. A kind of Western in the format of No Country For Old Men. Everybody killed but the Director. What made the movie worth it for me was to see how awful we treated slaves. I have to assume that it was historically accurate. It made me ashamed to be a Southerner. We should be paying "reparations" to African Americans. Watching the movie, I wanted to hide under a rock. There was one scene where some stereotypical Southern begot, fat, beaded is whipping a slave while carrying one of these old fashioned dog eared Bible, quoting the Old Testament.

Terantino is apparently taking a page from Hitchcock where he put himself in the movie. What the movie did for me and maybe the Director had this in mind: make us feel so bad that our whole attitude changes , if need be, toward our fellow AA Brothers.

The Generals

Time Magazine recently did an article which basically said, what is going on with the generals. I wrote a letter to the Editor. I do this all the time and they are rarely published. It is why I love blogging. Always published and for me personally, I don't give a f..k if it is read or not. Here it is. Oh, another thing. I like most Americans who care (and not all do) am in a day of mourning. My heart is broken over this senseless shooting in Conneticut. There are idiots like Huckabie who are f..king stupid MFers who will say anything to get some attention. What in the f..k does prayer in the classroom have to do with this national hurt (I love to cuss but seem to be worse today because I am angry). Anyway,

TO TIME MAGAZINE. Thank you for the excellent article about the Generals. It was good but didnot go nearly far enough. The blame for our debacles in Iraq and Afghanisyan can be directly laid at the feet of these assholes, I think. They gave these rosy reports and invented terms like the "surge" which the American people who care (and not all do) swallowed hook, line, and sinker because they didn't know any better. The surge worked, not because of more soldiers but because we separated the warring factions and paid off those that had been fighting us and let them join our side. It worked for awhile but over the long haul, I doubt it, based on the violence that still racks Iraq.

The President and most of Congress have no real military experience and can be led around by the nose which the generals have done. The first time I noticed this was when they had a Pat Tillman hearing before Congress (Part of a documentary about Tillman. Very good and I recommend). The Generals showed up with all their salad. That is what we call the decorations adorning their uniform. We know the Army loves badges and patches, Petraeus is a good example (Time showed his uniform, should have tipped us off early on as to his character, modesty surely on a holiday). A general can decide what patches and badges to wear or none. For instance, Petraeus (not from this hearing but other times) uniform has it all--at the hearing, the generals looked like preening peacocks. The Congressional hearing spent most of the time bowing and scraping. I have never felt so badly for a family.

We need serious military reform and I don't see it on the horizon. What a lame excuse that someone like Gates gave: didn't want to take them on. There are many things that we need to do and the first place to start is by culling the numbers of generals we have. Here are a few more reform ideas: provide more Inspector Generals to investigate questionable actions of any form. And, they need to be free of military influence. Get real about honest care of the soldier. There is a saying, "nothing is too good for the soldier and that is what he gets, nothing. The military talks a hell of a lot more about doing than they actually do for the soldier. Civilians don't really know anything about soldiers lives. Soldiers and families live on posts, often have their own schools for kids and in many ways are a sub culture. And, assholes like Rumsfelt makes major changes in the lives of soldiers and nobody even questions, much less notices. He consolidated several posts and took out of the communities any identification with the military as the communities never see a military uniform. This is the unintended consequences. There are some things where consolidation would be a good idea. Do we really need all three military academies: Air Force, Army, Navy. We would save billions by consolidating. Think that will ever happen? LOL! This is the last one: stay the hell out of wars. We cannot continue to do this. I am not talking isolation. We will continue to engage with the world but we need major retrenchment. For once in our lives, let's let experience teach us. The Arab Spring has done fine without us. Iraq is over and most Iraqis would prefer to have Saddam back. We got nothing but loss of young Andrican lives. We didn't even get a break on oil. Afghanistan. If we stay there a hundred years, we could not materially bring about change, much less democracy. We have poured in billions and seen those dollars disappear into the black holes of the country. God bless us.

GRIEF

Recently at the Kim Girls Barber Shop in North Beach, (San Francisco) to a person, the patrons sincerely lamented the National Tragedy of the school shooting. We all were grieving about the kids. Unspeakable.

How can parents handle grief. They can't. All they can do is get through it. And all, will handle their grief in different ways. And, the national media attention is a "given" for which I have mixed emotions. For some, it is OK, they will talk about their kids. The President speaks. But, maybe for some, the attention will be intrusive? If it were me, I could not stand the barrage of questions, the trying to make sense of the happenings. Some reporter, doing their job but still intrusive, asking, probing. I want to go off by myself, scream, curse and be left alone until I am ready which may be never. I can only relate the feeling to losing my best friend in Vietnam. I had gone on R&R (rest and relaxation. It was a seven day leave). When I left on the chow helicopter from the field to the Fire Support Base, then to the rear area and on to Hawaii, the last person I saw was Rollie who screamed an obscenity at me. It is what your best friend does and "bring me back a bottle of Jim Beam." I gave him the finger--it was what you did to your best friend. I had a great R&R. The helicopter landed me back at the Fire Support Base. Where the f..k was the reception. I laughed. Rollie, my best bud was going to meet me and we were going to drink the bottle of Jim Beam that I brought. "Sorry, Captain, Rollie was killed." I was not sure I was hearing it. I cannot relate at this point in my life, my exact emotions but they were so intense that to this day, I tear up. That day I wanted to scream, to be left alone, to suffer in silence. I did not want anybody trying to comfort me. I could not be comforted.

And, I would have to think that in this great tragedy, there are some with those emotions I felt long ago in Vietnam: Leave Me Alone! God bless them in their grief and God bless all of us in ours.

Uganda

Like most people in America, I have been heartbroken over the tragedy in Conneticut. On trying to think about it, my Mom gave me a new view. She is a doctor who delivers babies. Two times a year, she and several other doctors go to Uganda to teach doctors the best techniques and to help in saving lives. "Youngsters die every day, she said and told me about Sarah. She was married at the age of thirteen. By fourteen, she was pregnant and had AIDs. She went into labor with her baby and when she didn't deliver her baby in three days, her family walked her to the hospital ten hours away. When she got to the hospital, her baby was dead and three hours later Sarah died. This happens every day. It does not diminish the deaths of the 20 children who died in this senseless act. It makes me realize, however, the sadness known all around the world.
FLJ

GUNS

We need Gun control. Let's face it and it is going to happen. It should. F..k the NRA. Let's use common sense. What person in America needs an assault weapon? Nobody. And, we have these idiots out buying up weapons after 20 kids are slaughtered by an an "insane evil presence," using weapons that no American needs. Give me a break!

Are we a violent society. Yes we are. Do video games and TV and movie violence contribute to our cultural violence. Damn if I know but I do know that no American needs an assault rifle, Glocks, that sort of bullshit.

As Americans, witnessing a heinous act, we want to do something and we should and we will. Gun Laws. Will everybody be happy F..k NO. What we have a hard time accepting is that there is a percentage of Americans who don't give a flying fig as my Dad would say, about what is right or anything that trumps their idiocy. They are out for themselves and their own desires/ wants. They are stupid MFers and let's accept it--let the majority of Americans rule. We need gun control legislation as a tribute to those slain kids who will never get to live out their lives. We would like to say to the right wing nonthinking zealots: f..k you very much and get a life.

Just Interesting

Sometimes I go to Brooklyn to visit my sister. I have a 91 year old sister who is in a nursing home. She had a stroke like, fourteen years ago. She does not have the use of her right side. She's in a good frame of mind. And sometimes she would like Chinese food or rice and beans. There is a restaurant nearby and so I go and get it, and share it with her. Sometimes she wants ice cream or coffee. I take the train--I got to get the bus and two trains to get there. A lot of times I din't get a seat on the train because it is too crowded. Sometimes it is really exhausting but my sister would have done the same thing in my position. Out of nine kids, we are the only two left.

Christmas Sadness

In Vietnam, the saddest time of all were the holidays, being away from families, thinking about all the holiday activities back home. When we were back home, we might have thought the holiday season and all that comes with it was an enormous hassle; but in Vietnam, we would never admit such blasphemy.

40 plus years later, those Vietnam memories are cherished ones. I remember one very traumatic Christmas in Nam which made all of us sad and mad. The helicopter bringing the Christmas mail in a sling--a type of contraption that literally was swinging under the helicopter--hit some turbulence and the the mail was dropped. Help! Before the soldiers could get to the mail, the Vietnamese had gotten it and were nowhere to be found. Could have been the enemy, but more than likely, the friendlies, local villagers. Regardless, it was very tough to have our mail stolen at Christmas and had the troops been able to get to the ville another MyLai insanity would have been in the offing. More likely than not, the villagers innocently took our mail because it was a target of opportunity, goodies to sell on the black market.

Usually in Nam, there was a stand down, meaning that suddenly the fighting stopped. This always sounded a little crazy to me to stop the war for Christmas. If you can stop a war for Christmas, why don't you just stop

I also remember one very sad casualty during a Christmas stand down. Our FO, forward observer, stepped on a booby trap and was killed. Very sad. He was such a great guy and had a super sense of humor. Tall and handsome, 22, a graduate of St. Bonaventure University. Talk about a wasted life. As poet, Phil Woodall, says, "He may have died in vain, but he lived in honor."

This is such a difficult time for soldiers and their families. Soldiers are still in harm's way in Afghanistan. They, like in Vietnam, are in a misbegotten war.

We now celebrate the One who is the Prince of Peace, a difficult thing to think about during this time; we might use Jesus' words of peace--"peace, peace but there is no peace."

We have to see the bigger picture of Christmas, I believe: the realization that God can and does break through all the turmoil of our world. There is an enormous sadness that envelops those of us who care because of the unthinkable tragedy at Sandy Hook School in New Town, Connecticut. We can't put it down. The loss is too great. The grief is overpowering.

American soldiers who had their lives taken and the Sandy Hook youngsters and adults who had their lives "taken" are alike in this, "they may have died in vain but they lived in honor." And, for me, soldiers who died and the Sandy Hook victims will continue to live in my heart forever.

Fitzgerald Family Christmas

This is one of those Ed Burns movie, all about big Irish family, smaltzy but delightful. I liked it. Emotional drama is everywhere. A dad who took off for 20 years--abandonment issues with most everybody, especially a son who is a drug addict and just got out of rehab. The father shows back up for his last Christmas since he has pancreactic cancer. See what I mean, drama. One sister is banging the boy who cuts her lawn. Another sister is fixated on her child, nasty to husband. Another sister and brother are going after abusive husband. Ed Burns plays the role of patriarch who wants to fix everything. Main plot centered around mother who won't allow father to come home and to Christmas dinner. Like I said, pretty smaltzy.

In some ways the movie reminds me of my own family at a lower level. We were NC farmers and didn't have the same types of drama rather an amazing devotion to each other and our parents. What is the major difference in our drama and the Fitzgerald Family Christmas is the military. We were all in the military, all five of us, like stair steps, starting with our oldest brother who was a Marine on Guadalcanal. From then on with the four of us it was war and absence in some fashion: Korea and Vietnam. This factored in everything. When we gathered for Christmas, part of our drama was the absence probably of a brother gone to war or preparing to go. In the Fitzgerald Family Christmas, not even a mention of Military Service. Very interesting.

NRA

Listening to the National Rifle Association "ASS" made me think there are idiots and then there are maxed out idiots. This guy is unbelievable! What is absolutely disheartening is that there are actually Americans who go along with this stupid MFer's beliefs. Well, it is America and even this asshole can express his views.

DIPLOMATS

Bengazzi. Very sad and who kbows if anybody was asleep at the wheel? Here's a novel idea: let's cut back on all these diplomats, all over the world. Are they really needed? And, who is providing the security? A few Marines and thousands of private security forces and millions of dollars. Let's wake up and smell the roses.

GRIEF

Recently at the Kim Girls Barber Shop in North Beach, (San Francisco) to a person, the patrons sincerely lamented the National Tragedy of the school shooting. We all were grieving about the kids. Unspeakable.

How can parents handle grief. They can't. All they can do is get through it. And all, will handle their grief in different ways. And, the national media attention is a "given" for which I have mixed emotions. For some, it is OK, they will talk about their kids. The President speaks. But, maybe for some, the attention will be intrusive? If it were me, I could not stand the barrage of questions, the trying to make sense of the happenings. Some reporter, doing their job but still intrusive, asking, probing. I want to go off by myself, scream, curse and be left alone until I am ready which may be never. I can only relate the feeling to losing my best friend in Vietnam. I had gone on R&R (rest and relaxation. It was a seven day leave). When I left on the chow helicopter from the field to the Fire Support Base, then to the rear area and on to Hawaii, the last person I saw was Rollie who screamed an obscenity at me. It is what your best friend does and "bring me back a bottle of Jim Beam." I gave him the finger--it was what you did to your best friend. I had a great R&R. The helicopter landed me back at the Fire Support Base. Where the f..k was the reception. I laughed. Rollie, my best bud was going to meet me and we were going to drink the bottle of Jim Beam that I brought. "Sorry, Captain, Rollie was killed." I was not sure I was hearing it. I cannot relate at this point in my life, my exact emotions but they were so intense that to this day, I tear up. That day I wanted to scream, to be left alone, to suffer in silence. I did not want anybody trying to comfort me. I could not be comforted.

And, I would have to think that in this great tragedy, there are some with those emotions I felt long ago in Vietnam: Leave Me Alone! God bless them in their grief and God bless all of us in ours.

SOLDIER SUICIDES

Recently, I met some of my Vietnam buddies at one of the Indian Casinos in California for a little R&R. This is the second time we’ve done it, mainly to honor Scotty who died a gcouple of year’s back. And, get this: he left several thousand dollars in his will for us to show up every year or so to commemorate a day when fifteen of Scotty’s comrades were killed. They were ambushed by a battalion of NVA soldiers. Our guys fought them tooth and nail, killing or wounding over a hundred. This is war, not a movie. But, Scotty and the rest of the platoon felt they’d failed. Not so but they were unconvinced.
In fact, at the gathering we worried that one of our guys was so morose that he might do himself in while here. Try as we might, we could not snap him out of it. A little like the Kansas City Chief linebacker who recently killed his girlfriend and then shot himself. Our good Sergeant didnot kill hself at our gathering but a few weeks later, he disappeared into some remote area in Alabama and probably did. What moves a person to take such a desperate out. I thought about our soldiers and vets and decided to do some research.
“For every soldiered killed on the battlefield this year, about 25 vets are dying by their own hand. An American soldier dies every day and a half, on average in combat. Veterans kill themselves on average one every 80 minutes. More than 6500 veteran suicides are logged every year. More than the total number of soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan combined since those wars began (A columnist in NY Times).
What the f..k! This is outrageous and guess who is to blame. We are. For example, recently I had breakfast with about six or eight fellow Vietnam vets. To a person, talking about the rash of suicides, they felt that repetitive tours is the culprit. The emotions of going back and forth have to take its toll. And why is this? It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to piece it together. During Vietnam, we had the draft, a ready pool of soldiers. Few Vietnam veterans did more than one tour, usually lasting 12 or thirteen months. That is it, over, finish, next case. The military wants some more soldiers/cannon fodder, they draft some more. The draft was far from perfect as about anybody who wanted could get out of it. Interestingly, often soldiers were happy to be drafted. It was a point of pride. Then along came SecDef Melvin Laird and icon Milt Friedman who sold Americans on ending the draft. The unintended consequences was a Volunteer Military that was too small and totally unrepresentative of our democracy. In other words, we now have a military of other people’s children fighting our wars. Less than 1% have any investment in our ill conceived wars or our military. And, of course Donald Rumsfelt and draft dodger, Dick Chaney, who had other priories during Vietnam, only added to the difficulties now causing an epidemic of soldier suicides. Military leadership, mainly the generals (When they are not out screwing around or sending emails: Petraeus/Allen) have to bear some responsibility with their “can do” attitude.

Fluctuating economy, kids who have limited options have joined this AVF (all volunteer force) and added to the fact that you have a lower socieo economic category (class) of soldier which also means that he has less coping skills.
It is scandalous as my mom would say. So, what is the remedy. Too late for those soldiers who have cashed out. Bring back the draft or some sort of community service. Unfortunately, we don’t have the political will. So, what then? We are F..K.

WHAT INTELL?

Listening to the UN Ambassador being grilled by John McCain and Lindsay Graham reminds me of a North Carolina bootlegger claiming his moonshine is for medicinal purposes. BS. I had always liked John McCain but think that the AZ sun and all those right wing zealots have distorted his logic. We owe the old John McCain something, not the spoil sport since the 08 elections. And, I am being charitable here. He and Graham pontificate while they ought to feel shame for supporting our misguided and misadventures into Iraq and Afghanistan. Intelligence is smoke and mirrors at best. I rate it to a long ago incident in Nam wrapped around "Intell," dicey at best. Our Intell section had said there was a big enemy presence in the area. It was after the 68 TET Offensive when the NVA (North Vietnamese Army) had replaced the VC (Vietcong) as the primary fighting force. The Company Commander didn't believe Intell. They rarely got anything right. He sent a reinforced platoon on a scouting mission and they got attacked by about a battalion--close to a thousand men, against about 40+. By the time we could rescue them with gunships and F15s, 8 guys were dead and the rest wounded. The one time out of dozens that "Intell" got it right.

Bradley Manning

What in the f..k is going on here. All along, I've thought the treatment of Bradley Manning has been heavy handed. Even if a fraction of what is reported is true, we should be ashamed of ourselves. Where are the people who are suppose to be looking at stuff like this: the Inspector general, chaplains to name a couple. We are talking an American soldier here. The last time I looked a soldier, like anybody, is innocent until proven guilty. It is almost like the Justice Dept. has its head up their 4th point of contact? Meaning their head up their ass. Manning is a soldier. As an ex soldier, I want to know, "why have we treated this guy so badly?" He has passed some gossip to Wikileaks. What is this! Look at the Generals. Petraeus has been out screwing around while he was suppose to be running a war and later the CIA. His replacement in Afghanistan, a Marine, instead of out fighting a war has been spending his time emailing some bimbo in Florida. This is f..king crazy. If the criteria is "harming the nation," let's free Manning and jail the generals. This is bullshit.

COMMO

PAYING ATTENTION AND LISTENING. I go into some pizza place to get a beer. A homeless guy (more a street hustler who knows how to spot a mark) hits me up. I say to myself, "What the hell and give him $5." He says, "Man, I got cancer." Without paying attention I say, "Good for you." Guess I should have said, "I hope you go fast."