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This
should be required reading for
young Americans,
January 29, 2009
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Stan Modjesky -
Amazon.Com |
"No school could ever have
taught me the lessons I learned
about humanity, and inhumanity,
in Vietnam. And, never in my
wildest dreams could I have
imagined that history would
repeat itself in my lifetime.
"I'm no different, or better,
than any other Vietnam Veteran.
I'm sure there are thousands of
veterans just like me whose
memories still lie buried. They
have stories to tell, too. But,
is anybody listening? Does
anybody care? You won't find any
phony tales of glory or heroism
here. The bookshelves are
stacked high with fanciful tales
by old men clinging to their
pride and medals. Mine is just
an account of a time when young
men were snatched away from
their lives against their will,
and sent far away to risk their
survival in a very dirty war,
concocted by very dirty
politicians, and even dirtier
military leaders. My hope is
that younger generations will
want to hear an honest account
of the days when their parents,
or grandparents, were young."
Conventional wisdom has been
that Vietnam was a war fought
purely by infantrymen--the
"grunts," who "humped the
boonies," in the lexicon of the
times. These are the people
whose stories are constantly
told, in excruciatingly bloody
detail. (Yet as some writers,
such as "Jug" Burkett, in his
book "Stolen Valor," observe,
many of these stories are pure
fantasy.)
If anyone deserves to be
regarded as the Everyman of the
Vietnam war, it would be the
soldier so casually derided as a
REMF ("rear-echelon
m**********r.") The people in
support roles--supply, payroll,
motor pool mechanics, cooks and
other non-combat
jobs--outnumbered those in
direct combat by a ratio of
perhaps ten to one.
American forces were in Vietnam
for more than twenty years,
resulting in a huge,
well-developed (yet in many
aspects primitive) support
system. The author, Steve Wilken,
spent his Vietnam tour at Long
Binh, one of the largest and
most permanent installations.
These so-called "REMFs" may
actually have had a rougher time
of it than those who were daily
in the direct line of fire.
Wilken's intensely personal
story reveals that those support
roles were hardly less immune
from random violence than the
grunts, but were stuck in a
position where they were so
dulled by routine, boredom and
incompetent supervision that
when an attack did occur, they
were more vulnerable than those
whose jobs had them on constant
alert.
Some writers claim that the
so-called hippie element among
US soldiers "brought drugs into
the army," but the truth is that
the Vietnamese used drugs to
demoralize and subdue our
troops, and that many soldiers
brought their drug problems home
with them.
For perhaps the first time since
the war, Wilken has crafted a
narrative of what life "in
country" was about for the
average joe, not stuck in a
foxhole like Bill Mauldin's
World War II characters or at a
firebase like the soldiers in
Tim O'Brien's Vietnam stories,
but sweltering at a desk in a
Quonset hut.
Intertwined with this chronicle
are the author's observations
about the injustice and abuse of
the draft; the absolute
pointlessness of the war; how it
was conducted, both in the field
and from Washington; the
officer-versus-enlisted person
caste system; and his rocky
personal relationship with his
father.
Regarding the draft, Wilken
observes:
"Today's youth have no idea of
the meaning of being forced to
carry a draft card in your
wallet. Whatever code was
stamped on that card could mean
the difference between life and
death. You had to produce that
card upon request, just like a
driver's license, when applying
for a job, enrolling in a
school, or even when stopped by
the police. You didn't even have
to be a US citizen to be
drafted. Legal residents with
green cards were fair game for
the draft board. I knew a
Canadian guy in Germany who'd
been drafted, probably the most
bitter, anti-American person
I've ever known. Your draft
status was your rank in society.
I-A (draft eligible) made it
impossible to get anything but
menial jobs, because no employer
wanted to train someone who
would soon be drafted into the
Army."
Until 1970, the Selective
Service system comprised local
draft boards made up of citizens
from each community, and that
system could be intensely
spiteful. Nearly anyone who
served during the Vietnam era
can tell you of at least one
story of someone who had been
drafted in spite of overwhelming
reasons they shouldn't have.
Instead, we've always focused on
the stories of those who somehow
managed to avoid service.
This book is an honest account
of the Vietnam experience;
perhaps the first of many that
will be written or discussed
between veterans and their
younger relatives. It should be
required reading in public
school history courses.
Thanks for
telling the truth ,
April 18, 2010
Leo - Vietnam Vet 1967-1970
Steve,
I was in the army 1967-70.
Joined to avoid the draft.
Never went to Nam but also never
read a book that told it like I
remembered it back then either.
I have read many Vietnam books
all trash about what heroes the
writer was. Yours was the truth
as I heard it from returning
vets. Funny how today many vets
from our era act like they were
war heroes, my brother
included. He did go to Nam and
if I remember right he had to
spend time in hospital to get
the smack out of his system.
Today he acts like he was a war
hero and swallows the right wing
war monger pablum.
Thanks for your bravery in
telling the truth.
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