HE IS NOT AS OBVIOUS AS HE ONCE WAS
TIME HAS BEEN UNKIND TO MANY OF THE MEN WHO ANSWERED THE CALL TO DUTY ON A FARAWAY FIELD OF UNCERTAINTY. THERE ARE THOSE WHO HAVE GONE BACK AND BILLED IT TO MASTERCARD AND VISA; THERE ARE THOSE WHO HAVE NEVER LEFT. AND THERE ARE THOSE WHO HAVE NEVER LEFT. WHERE THEY ARE, GOD ONLY KNOWS. ALTHOUGH TIME IS REMOVING SO MANY MEMORIES, THERE ARE STILL SOME MOTHERS OF SONS WHO NEVER RETURNED WHO HOLD ON TO A RARE HOPE THAT THEY'LL HEAR A KNOCK ON THE DOOR SOMEDAY.
BECOMING ALMOST AS SCARCE AS THE WORLD WAR TWO VET, THE MOTHERS OF THE VIETNAM VETS ARE PASSING AWAY IN VOLUME NUMBERS;THOSE MOTHERS WERE BORN, ALMOST EXCLUSIVELY BETWEEN 1915 AND 1927, THEIR SONS WERE BORN USUALLY NO LATER THAN 1954. OF COURSE, THERE WAS A GENERATION OF MEN AND WOMEN WHO WERE CAREER PERSONNEL, SOME WHO WERE VETERANS OF BOTH WORLD WAR TWO AND THE KOREAN WAR, WHO WENT ON TO FIGHT IN VIETNAM. THERE ARE A FEW WHO CAN ADD IRAN TO THEIR LIST OF COMBAT DUTY.
IT IS AMAZING, IF ONE THINKS ABOUT IT, JUST HOW FEW PERIODS OF TIME THERE WERE IN AMERICA'S HISTORY WHEN WE WERE NOT INVOLVED IN SOME TYPE OF WAR SOMEWHERE IN THE WORLD. IS AMERICA A NATION FOREVER SEEKING COMBAT SOMEWHERE? IT MIGHT APPEAR TO BE TO THOSE UNFAMILIAR WITH AMERICAN HISTORY, BUT THERE HAVE BEEN SO MANY VIOLATIONS OF PEACE AND AGRESSION THROUGHOUT THE WORLD THAT AMERICA HAS NOT REALLY HAD A CHOICE.
THIS COMMENT IS TURNING INTO AN ESSAY ON AMERICA AT WAR, NOT WHAT WAS ORIGINALLY INTENDED. GOING BACK TO THE VIETNAM VET SITTING IN THE HOTEL LOBBY. MAY GOD BLESS HIM WITH THE SERENITY HE HAS BEEN SEEKING. A MOMENT OF THANKS FOR THEIR SERVICE IS IN ORDER. FOR THOSE WHO DO NOT REMEMBER, THE MAJORITY OF THE MEN WHO SERVED IN VIETNAM WERE NOT VOLUNTEERS--THEY HAD NO CHOICE ABOUT GOING. THERE WAS THE DRAFT. GOD FORBID THE DRAFT FROM RETURNING.IF WE NEED MEN AND WOMEN TO FILL POSITIONS IN AN ARMED FORCES OF THE FUTURE, LET THEM BE AS THEY ARE NOW, VOLUNTEERS.
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