AT LONG LAST

On the evening news recently was the heartwarming story of the Medal of Honor being finally presented to a Vietnam warrior, Leslie Sabo. Long overdue is an understatement of many moons.  The story behind the Medal is a backstory for sure: The writeup of the medal, lost in the fog of war or simple neglect, then recovered; there are many unsung heros, the researcher who found the citation in the archives and his own tenacity, possibly--all given faint praise in  "sound bites." At least in the modern world of media, it was something. And, we cannot forget the soldier who originally recognized the great bravery. And the recipient of the Medal: the trooper taking the fight to the enemy, pulling the pin on a grenade and shielding a fellow soldier.  It does not come close to the whole story. The drama of combat. Bravo company ambushed, firefight with North Vietnamese Regulars. In this battle, Sabo, along with many of his fellow soldiers stepped up. I hope all of them got medals. Sabo paid the ultimate price. And, his dear wife, married 31 days before her husband went to Nam. The President's remarks, very classic and sincere. He calls Rose, the wife: "I am honored Mr. President."  "No, Rose, I am honored." Classy! 

WAKE UP AND SMELL THE ROSES

When Jessie Helms ran for the Senate in NC, my mom got out of her sick bed to vote for him. He had been a long time TV type and even in those days defined bigotry. But, nobody who thought about it doubted that he honestly believed what he was preaching. Recently some Pew research type when asked, "how is it that Americans keep getting more tolerant of gay marriage when surveyed amd yet more and more states like NC prove otherwise. His answer: "those who are more open do so in a Laissez-faire type way. Yet those who are opposed are zealots. They vote. The rest of us better wake up and smell the roses or these people are going to be running the country. How scary is that?

FALACY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE

SAN FRANCISCO VOTING BALLOT GUIDE I just voted and always vote absentee  because I want time and I like doing it casually, sitting on the "John" or whatever. Because I keep up with politics, etc, I'm pretty much on top of issues. Voter Guide, we could probably save money. Do I think most pay voting much attention. Not really. I simply voted for non incumbents. Does my vote make a difference, doubt it. 50% don't even bother and this is one of the reasons that everytime I hear some politician say, "American people," I want to throw up. American people, bullshit. Most don't give a "rat's ass" about the electoral process. The dumb MFers. They vote against their own interests if they don't vote but they don't get it. It is such a bullshit term, "American People": should be "Americans who care." And, while I am on this rant, let me say this: I didn't vote for a single Republican. As an Independent, I, at least, want to be able to say I never voted for s party that wanted us to get back to 1950. In this election, I feel they will do anything to get rid of the President, even if they have to hold their nose and nominate a Mormon and gazillionaire with whom they have little in common. I'm going with a bumper sticker I recently saw which sums it up for me as I'm heading out to drop my ballot in the mail: "I think, therefore I am a liberal."

Soldier Suicides

"For every soldier 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 has 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 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. We don't have the political will. So, what then. F..K, I don't know.

ERI've never been much of a baseball fan. ⚾Not any particular reason but I recently went to a San Francisco Giants game. Baseball crowds are wonderful. Patriotic, they are singing, "God Bless America" with gusto. A violinist played the National Anthem (white violin). The crowd is whooping it up. I look around me: the ethnicity knocks you over. It looks like the United Nations if anybody is noticing: African Americans, whites, India types, Asians of all sorts. I'm the only one paying attention because things like this always overwhelm me about America. We are probably the only country in the world that is truly multicultural and by in large nobody pays it any attention and for the most part, we get along. On any street corner, you can hear five different languages. Sitting next to me is an older gay couple. How do I know? Well my seat mate, a beautiful Filipino American pointed it out. Why the interest? I thought the elderly man might have dementia, based on the way his partner was talking to him. Sun was great, perfect day. God is in his heaven and all is right with the world. Well, at least at this baseball game⚾.

BUFFET RULE

What we are talking about here is the "fairness" issue. Every MFer you talk to or hear, has a view. Most of them are into, "how does this effect me?" Let's face it, it is simply the way it is. The most opposed are the f..king recalcitrant  Republicans who are simply interested in one thing: defeating the President. Consequently, the same sort of bullshit that they ususually throw up is ever present: doesn't help the deficit, etc. I talked with a good buddy yesterday who is totally opposed to the buffet rule. His overall reasoning is that the rich already pay enormous taxes. Well, guess what, plain and simple, the rich also avoid a lot of taxes. The tax codes need to be reformed. All agree but on the Buffet rule, it simply is the right thing to do.

JUST BECAUSE SOMETHING IS LEGAL, DOESN'T MEAN IT IS RIGHT

Recently, I was at a social gathering. Wonderful group of folks, celebrating a bunch of kids running the San Francisco Half Marathon. As we chowed down on bagels and an assortment of unhealthy eats. (Well, there was fruit), we drifted, as we usually do, into politics. Not a good move. Anyway, across the table was this economics professor at one of the local Universities. I had already sized him up as a Republican and then was surprised to hear that he voted for the President in the last election. He added, however, that he was unsure for this one and definitely would not vote for our local rep, Nancy Pelosi. I concurred on the basis of the Sixty Minutes story where she was profiled as making millions on insider trading. As we learned in the Sixty Minutes' program, Congress was not subject to the same rules about insider trading as the rest of us. We go to jail. They make millions. Pelosi's defense was that she didnot do anything illegal. What about unethical and immoral. Just because it is legal, doesn't make it right in my estimation.

To my right was a female attorney. Her defense of Pelosi was novel, at least I had not heard it before. Pelosi should not be held accountable for this transgression even if it was immoral, unethical, whatever. Her support of her congresswoman was unwavering as Pelosi spoke to many issues that were important to Californians--Pelosi should get a pass. We chatted a bit longer and all reasoning did not prevail. Plus, she used an oft repeated view that if Pelosi were held accountable, so should all politicians as they all do the same thing. The fact that the loophole had now been closed with a bill making Congress play by the same rules as all of us didn't play with her. When the bill was first Introduced, only a couple of congressmen signed on. After the 60 Minites story, over a hundred did. In the debate, it sailed through. When the president signed the bill, not surprisingly, Congresswoman Pelosi was not present for the occasion.

The big point is there is no convincing this person that Pelosi has forfeited her good will. Forget it. To me, as basically an "Independent," this is why our system is broken. We are willing to accept unethical behavior, whatever from elected officials as long as our own self interests are met. MY BELIEF.
As my cowboy hero Gus, in the TV mini series, "Lonesome Dove" said in reply to a question of giving up on driving a herd of cows from Texas to Montana. "No, I try to always get where I'm going when I started out. And, it's the right thing to do."

END of LIFE ISSUES

Recently I took a much dreaded trip back East to visit my brother, seriously ill with congestive heart failure. Pretty ominous sounding but treatable, mainly a diet sans sodium. My brother looked awful. Mostly, he had lost so much weight. He knew me, we reminisced, he was pretty weak. I became his caregiver for a couple of days. Helping him get to the bathroom, in and out his wheelchair. Quite the experience. As I sat there the better part of a couple of days, I had go think, "What has brought us to this point?" He's 85, always been incredibly robust. He has been the patriarch of our family, always there for all of us: a retired school superintendent and then into farming. He loved it. 

Our brother has done it all, a Marine on Guadalcanal, school teacher, principal and superintendent. Successful author across genres: He is the challenge man. He has faced them and made them work. 

But, my brother is sick. Health is a challenge that is out of his hands. Time to go? I don't think so. I had come to say goodbye but after being with him for a short time, I'm thinking he can rebound. Returned to his once energetic self. No. A couple of more years with reasonable quality. I think so.

There is always a certain projection with an experience like with my brother: what does this say to me? My brother had no plans to deal with a serious illness. Where to go? Caretakers? What is available? If you are someone like my brother or me for that matter, how can you let your personality get out of the way.i. e., you can say to my brother, how are you? He will teply, "I am great." (his personality--he has always been superman). He is not great and all must recognize it. For myself, should something happen to me, (Well, if I made it to 85, not bad so I could go with it). I would want to be somewhere where people could visit, like VA or some facility. But, my nature is that I would not want anybody interfering with their own schedule. For them to want to "wait" on me would simply add to the issues of my being sick.  I do not want other peoples' lives impacted because of my illness. So what to do? Make plans ahead of time. Write it out. Make sure that plans are in place. Can I do it? Will I do it?

YOU CAN'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO

Anybody who thinks the Supreme Court Justices aren't driven by politics, raise your hand. You have got to be kidding me. The so called conservative justices always vote the same way on hot button issues. If you listen to testimony, sometimes they disguise it but most of the time they don't. It really is a sham, I think. I tell you one of the things that really gets me. Where the f..k are all these people who have benefitted from the law. The parents, over a million of them, who have college age kids who can stay on the parents insurance until they are 26. Why aren't these people raising hell with those opposing the plan. I am no apologist for the health care bill but it at least appears to be an effort to rein in unwieldy costs, make health care affordable, an even more ethical. (I heard yesterday that some doctors order5 lots of scans. Why? They have invested in the scans and consequently the more they order, the more money they make). Damned if I get it. As a disclaimer, I have VA and Tricare and hell, anyway? as I understand it, over 60% of Americans are in some government insurance anyway. So, what is the damn outcry. I think that for some weird reasons, the politicians have made this such an issue that zealots are on board. (don't confuse me with facts, I have my mind made up). In thinking about it, "What would I get so fired up that I am out protesting?" Damn if it would be to repeal something like the Health Care law. Now, the Travon Martin shooting. I can get that: blatant injustice but health care. Come on! Do these people really hate the president this much and trying to disguise it with opposition to the Health Care Initiative, i.e., if they get this repealed, they defeat the president. What kind of thinking is that? F..king crazy.

HEALTH MANDATE

I have about heard enough. I think the courts will probably strike the "mandate" down. It sounds too UN American. Nobody is going to tell us what to do! At least not those hard headed types who don't have health insurance or those who don't think about it. I asked some thirty something at my gym about health insurance. He shrugged and said, "I never even think about it." He's healthy, in shape--he's invulnerable. And, there's an entire segment of the population that depends on emergency room health care. They are mostly the working poor, homeless, immigrants, and others that I can't even name. And who pays? We do.

The Movie, Separation

Every American ought to see this movie. It won the Best Foreign Picture at the Academy Awards. Watching it seemed that it lasted five hours but just two. Mainly the issues were so heavy and the Iranian legal system so different. I guess it was Sharia or Islamic law. Amazing. How to even explain this picture almost defies explanation. It started out with something akin to a divorce proceeding. Wife wanted to leave the country. Husband saying no, will not leave his Alzheimer's father.. A teenage daughter who will not leave the father.  Complicated to the max. The movie starts out in one direction but goes in an entirely different one. Withoit revealing too much and spoiling the movie (although to be perfectly honest, I don't think it is possible to reveal too much because the movie can't be described, only seen), let me say that it is truly worthy of the Oscar. I am going to see the others to compare. Caring and concerned Americans with even a smidgen of a world view would do well to see the movie. The Iranians struggle like us all. The sadness, the human drama: a pregnant woman, desperate to survive takes a cleaning job and as  caretaker for an alzheimers father. No training, ignorance and an adherence  to the basic rules of fundentalist Islam, is both perplexing and revealing. The mysteries of it all combined with not  lies so much as opposed to not telling everything. A trip through the legal system. Wow. Excellent acting. I give up on describing, go see.

Rush LIMBALLS

I've heard and seen some sorry ass apologies but Limbaughs takes the cake. If I was the law student, I would accept the fact that my "fifteen minutes of fame" is going to last a long, long time and so why not go with it. Sue the s..t out of Limbaugh, the people he works for, the janitor, any and everybody; think of it as practice for a newly minted lawyer. It could be her career. There's probably a platoon of shyster lawyers standing outside her door, ready to help her. The only way to  touch a guy like Limbaugh is to hurt him or his bosses in the coin of the realm. At least wound him: People quit listening, sponsors leave. Suddenly the asshole is a liability.

I don't know s..t about the process but this makes sense to me. Every woman in America ought to be up in arms. Finally, I will have to say this: I don't pay attention to the "shoulters" regardless so mine is just opinion. If I personally had to deal with an a..hole like Limbaugh, I would say, f..k you and the horse you rode in on. Sorry Mom for my language.

MARCHING TOWARD WAR

My Dad had this typical Southern view of the Jews: anybody who f..ks with the Jews will eventually get zapped. Without dissecting that view, I'm going with it with reservations, i.e., Iran.  However, what I'm seeing now is the same song, unfortunatelysecond verse. And, it appears that the President is falling into the trap. Iran has got to be contained: how to do it is a challenge. I have great faith that we can figure it out. We are smart. What we can't be is stupid like we were with Iraq and weapons of mass destruction which proved not to exist. We f..ked up but would never admit it. So here we find ourselves maching toward war again. Goated into it by Israel and to some degree, the Republicans who are reproccessed neocons, sorry f..kers who haven't had an original thought since Noah. They led George W into being stupid. Every Vietnam vet that I know who is cogitating his navel feels that Vietnam and all the lost American lives didn't count for s..t. We moved right ahead with our idiocy into Afghanistan and Iraq. Frankly, I honestly think that the American people who care (and not all do) are f..king tired of war. The country has change. Let's recognize that we cannot be the world's policement. Some hard choices here. One is that we have to tell Israel, "you start a war, your ass is on your own."

SADDENED

Nobody that I know is not saddened by what has happened by a deranged American soldier in Afghanistan. But, as the president says often, "let me be perfectly clear: this is war." As with all of Afghanistan, there is nothing that is not f..ked up. This is somewhat different but, despite the rosey reports which are so much bullshit or with lofty ideas of strategy which is equally stupid, we have a system which gives Americans, regardless of how awful the crime, their day in court.

A CRAZY SOLDIER-SNAPPED

Nobody that I know is not saddened by what has happened by a deranged American soldier in Afghanistan. But, as the president says often, "let me be perfectly clear: this is war." As with all of Afghanistan, there is nothing that is not f..ked up. This is somewhat different but, despite the rosey reports which are so much bullshit or with lofty ideas of strategy which is equally stupid, we have a system which gives Americans, regardless of how awful the crime, their day in court.

GET THE F..K OUT OF AFGHANISTAN

Listening to the SECDEF who was in Afghanistan to assure them that we're hanging in there, my first thought was "what planet are these people on?" I guess it is politics but pretty discouraging to me. In short, the SSG who killed innocents snapped, plain and simple. As disheartening and tragic as it is, this incident is not the problem but should be the catalyst for getting the f..k out of Afghanistan. There are many issues that bring us to this point.
Part of it has been in how we have promoted the success of the All Volunteer Army. I believe the Army is somewhat broken: Repetitive tours, the way wars are fought now, easy assess to family back home. The inequities of combat, infantry soldiers carrying the burden, a strategy that might work if we stayed in Afghanistan a hundred years. Should I go on.

One of the big problems as I see it: there is no political capital to be gained by leaving Afghanistan NOW. The President has a timetable, the Repubs don't want to be seen as "lite" on war. Gingrich did say, "time to leave" but he can't seem to get any traction. We are stuck. The rosy reports, the bowing and scraping to Karzai, who has only a fraction of the populace under his government--the multiple problems: drugs, Afghan riots and people wanting us out. The list is endless.

To me, there is no explanation on the SSG but he simply went crazy. It happens. And, one thing we can't deny: Fort Lewis/McChord appears to have been the focus of several missteps. Trouble before with the "kill" squads, accusations of less than sympathetic military doctors and a less than empathetic VA. It is time to get the f..k out of Afghanistan.

SEPARATION

Every American ought to see this movie. It won the Best Foreign Picture at the Academy Awards. Watching it seemed that it lasted five hours but just two. Mainly the issues were so heavy and the Iranian legal system so different. I guess it was Sharia or Islamic law. Amazing. How to even explain this picture almost defies explanation. It started out with something akin to a divorce proceeding. Wife wanted to leave the country. Husband saying no, will not leave his Alzheimer's father.. A teenage daughter who will not leave the father.  Complicated to the max. The movie starts out in one direction but goes in an entirely different one. Withoit revealing too much and spoiling the movie (although to be perfectly honest, I don't think it is possible to reveal too much because the movie can't be described, only seen), let me say that it is truly worthy of the Oscar. I am going to see the others to compare. Caring and concerned Americans with even a smidgen of a world view would do well to see the movie. The Iranians struggle like us all. The sadness, the human drama: a pregnant woman, desperate to survive takes a cleaning job and as  caretaker for an alzheimers father. No training, ignorance and an adherence  to the basic rules of fundentalist Islam, is both perplexing and revealing. The mysteries of it all combined with not  lies so much as opposed to not telling everything. A trip through the legal system. Wow. Excellent acting. I give up on describing, go see. 

SHORT STORY

"Oscar, this is going to be easy pickins." 
"I don't know, man, I ain't been into no robbin people nor stores." 
"OK, listen, Oscar, you stupid mother fucker, you ain't got nothng to jangle in your pocket, no coins to rub together and no pot to piss in. So, what chance you got. You ain't, mother fucker." Oscar shook his head. 
Bong was just getting warmed up. Bong got his name from carting water pipes and other dope smoking apparatus around. Want a pipe, Bong is your man. 
"You got an old lady who will be on your ass and a little one and teenager and no work. This is bout ten minutes. Nobody gets hurt and we can get some change. I'm telling  you, mother fucker." 
It did look simple. Service station, one attendant. 
"I don't know." Oscar watched this BMW pull into the station. "What the fuck," he smiles. "Look like those crackers got them a rider." Underneath the car something was dragging. Looked like two long steel pipes. This white guy gets out, on his knees struggling. "Hey,"  Oscar calls out, "just back over it." 
"Leave them be," Bong said. "Let their asses get gone." 
Oscar walked over to the car. "Let me see here." He knelt down. "Damn, this is a low slung car." 
"Yeah, I know. The only thing I don't like about it. A little struggle and Oscar stood with the object. "Well, I'll be, an old folks walker." I've seen it all now." He smiled. "A fine 'Beemer' overcome by an old folks walker.  

I am at the airport to retrieve my girlfriend. She has been to Omaha to visit her family. I know traffic is going to be a bitch: Friday night, I'm scared of the dark. It goes back to Vietnam. Everything happened at night. You sat around all day waiting and knowing that "Charles" as we called the Vietcong, was going to get your ass in the middle of the night. But, it is worth it all to see my girlfriend. I am like a teenager around her. I can't wait, my blood pressure is sky hight. I get lost going to the airport, a place I've been a thousand times.  I see her. It is like she has come back from Vietnam. We hug, kiss, crazy like. Finally make it to car, kiss, hug, touch. Finally get on the road. Run over something in the road. It hangs up under the car. Damn, what a time to have this happen! Can't get it out from under the car. Risk my life almost in traffic. Finally make it to a service station. Black guy yells over telling me to back over the two long aluminum pipes stuck under the car. He walks over, kneels down and wrestles the two pipes out from where they are lodged under the car, takes five minutes. "Thanks."
"No problem," he says as he walks away. On the spot I decide something,
I pull out my money clip. I only have hundreds. What the hell, I give him one. His eyes are big as saucers. He is so happy. "Bong I'm going home." 
"Oscar, you stupid fucker, you'll be sorry". 

Oscar makes his way toward home. The $100 is going to buy some groceries and give his teenager her lunch money. He stops at the bar. When he pays for his beer with the hundred, the bar keep  puts his marker over the hundred twice to see if it is real. "you are a lucky mother fucker."
"yeah, I am." 
Oscar yells as he comes in the door. His little one runs to him. Where is your Mom? He heard the TV. His wife is white as a sheet. "What'e Up?"
"Your friend Bong robbed a store and was killed by the police. " 

THE HELP

I thought the Academy Awards missed the mark on Best Picture. "The Help" should have won hands down. Since I don't know the ins and outs, I can only say no comparison with "The Artist," which I thought was boring. To me, "The Help" celebrated courage with which every older American can identify, especially Southerners. I think I have done this before but ADD that I am, can't really remember. However, here goes, "on behalf of every Southerner, I apologize and asked forgiveness for our prejudicial treatment toward African Americans. We were ignorant. It was a cultural thing during the time of "The Help" but that is no excuse. 

We didn't have the same experiences as"The Help"e but were just as prejudice and it was wrong. My brother ran a country grocery store and had a lot of black customers. Much of the business was what was called then, "on credit." I can never remember my brother ever refusing credit to anyone. I would actually go with him to deliver groceries to black families, which he didn't have to do. My brother had a "good" heart and was especially attendant to widows or those having it "hard" as he would call it, usually involved female, several children and absent father. I didn't understand it all, as I was about 14.  I would often smile because he could be so funny. He would say, "look at this, these people have a TV." (there would be a TV antenna on their usual ramshackle house, owned by their landlord. I would usually laugh and say or think, "Oh Corb., poor people shouldn't have a TV, right?" Most of the the time, we would laugh. Blacks who traded with my brother were a subculture, different from "The Help" in a sense but like "The Help" as to class (which we definitely had).  When my brother left his grocery store (too complicated to go into: involved IRS, sugar to bootleggers, etc. but, the black community owed him thousands and thousands of dollars that he forgave. I don't know if he ever came around on whether poor people should have a TV. 

NO TORTURE

Two marines and a Vietnamese scout come rushing in to the  medical bunker
unexpected  with the obviously wounded Vietnamese solder.  He has a  hole in his
trachea[windpipe] from shrapnel. A major  spray of blood comes gushing  out with each exhale and I see  he is obviously in severe
shortness of breath, in danger of asphyxiating from  blood. accumulating in his lungs with each inhale.  Also his eyes are in an
absolute terror and panic as  he looks at me. I had never seen this before. He managed to keep flailing his arms, trying to keep the corps men on and myself away.

One of the Marines tells me as they leave that the solder believes he is there to be tortured
since that is what he was was going to happen if captured.

The only ones who understand a word of Vietnamese in the bunker  are the scout and the wounded prisoner.
I repeatedly tell the scout to tell the prisoner I want to help him, to save his life. Each time the scout talks to
him, the wounded soldier goes again into another wildly failing episode as if fighting us for his life.

I am meanwhile  hurriedly preparing a surgical tray with expanders, scalpels, etc to stop the bleeding and secure an
airway by doing the tracheotomy before he suffocates from his own blood. By necessity, this has to be done in full view of the soldier.

In the context of Vietnam, I knew there was a 50-50  chance the scout was still telling him I really was going
to torture him if he did not give information about his combat unit and their plans.

To this day, I do not  do not know and will never know what was being said. If
he thought to the end that I was there to torture him or to help him.

All  of this was happening  in 3-4  chaotic minutes.

Finally did the only thing which seemed  save his life in the midst of chaos of blood spraying, prisoner terror, etc,
Pushed the scout aside, had 6 corpsman hold the wounded guy down and gave him just enough of a dose of IV sedative
 I dared to which would sedate him but not fatally   suppress his already reduced breathing ability.

Good part of the picture. It worked. Tracheal tube put in under sedation. Stable when helicopter picked him out .Every reason to believe he survived.

Not so good part of the story. Was uncomfortable to be seen as part of a possible system of medical  torturing. I knew it was not true
of any American doctors in Viet Nam.  Had real suspicions  whether it was also not true of the South Vietnamese or Korean 'allies'. But the wounded soldier lumped
myself and them  as part of the same adversary.

A day in Viet Nam. Dr. Paul L., Then Captain, USMC