GETTING FIRED

This morning as I was perusing the NY Times, I read this extensive article on homeless vets who make up a quarter of the total homeless population. I am always flummoxed  at this. How do some make it and others crash and burn. Regardless, Vietnam remains in vets' psyche. 

I have a related war story. My old boss in Vietnam is reported to be one of the homeless. He and I never got along. It culminated in him telling

me to do a certain thing. I refused because I thought it would put soldiers in jeopardy. I had been with these guys for almost a year and thought I knew best. 

Probably some sort of jealousy. He replaced me with somebody else and sent me to the rear area to be sent home. What nobody could understand is why that should bother me as it got me out of combat; but to me, it was a big thing, really devastating. I was a young Captain and he was a Lieutenant Colonel. 

At war unusual things can happen. My commander was based at this place called Camp Eagle. It was at the headquarters with all the staff people and the generals--they had never been attacked. Most considered that it was safe and impenetrable. They had all the amenities. I was down South, getting ready to be unceremoniously thrown out of the country and out of the Army. Most figured I must have done something bad or whatever or else this would not be happening. I didn't understand it myself. 

Without warning, Camp Eagle came under a ferocious attack. Actually a siege, nobody could get to them. It went on for about three days. Finally, they were rescued. My boss was literally catatonic and had to be sent back to the States. I went back to my old unit. 

The interesting thing is that nobody other than me or my boss were even knowledgeable of what had gone on. Had the siege not happened, I would have gone home and been out of the Army. The rest of this is history, I guess. If there is a moral to the story, it is just, "keep your head down and see what happens." There is nothing worse sometimes than jealousy. And, in our culture, money also seems to be the winner but I am still naive enough to believe that "right" is the winner. I can tell you what it did for me throughout my career, it made me a champion of the underdog, the downtrodden or those who got on the wrong side of the beauracratic establishment. Most of my peers feel that my public "stands" probably kept me from being a general. I don't think so. 

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