you're in the army now

Hmmm….I am thinking of a very young Tom being entering the army at age 19….and imagining you as a young boy….and feeling kinda sad & even teary thinking about you going off to the war.  And all the other young boys who have no idea what to expect.  I'm glad you say fuck the war.  so stupid.  And yet I suppose some people might gain something by it.  I don't know what….but maybe…..   Thank you for sharing this.

Wow!  Reading your blog tonight, Tom, and then reading Centria's comment…  10,000 or so thoughts careening thru    carooooooom!   carooooooooom!     Peace in the mind and then peace in the world, right?   OK, so I'll just let them caroooooooooom around.  And I'll pick up the last one, limp little old thing, the final thought of the thought cascade is my usual one about how the Power Elites learned something from Vietnam— that they could get away with forcing a war on us in some 'poor-devils place' if they didn't involve the children of the middle classes unless said children [bravely and patriotically]   ….volunteered.    And my cousin Mark did just that, you know?  And he really, really went to serve.  Have I told you this already?  Well, it's a heart-shard for sure.  He went to Fallujah as a surgeon, you see.  And he was sewing everyone up.  But, Maze, he didn't make it home.  He sewed people up for several months, and then he didn't make it home.  What do we do with that?  What do we do with all of it?    When you were 19, I was 13, and every day I wore a black sweatshirt that said, “I am a prisoner of love,' and it had a guy on it with a ball and chain.  Often, life is so BIG that I just can't think about it anymore.  I'm glad you made it home, Maze.  Forty years later, I can tease you endlessly.  It's one of my favorite  pass-times.  In my office, there is a picture of Mark in a silver frame on the right side of my computer, and kind of behind it.  He consults with me when things get difficult.  I talk to both of you quite often.  Thanks for being there.

Wow, Martha….thank you for sharing that.  When I was 11 or 12 years old I wrote “I wish the war in Vietnam would end” on a tiny piece of paper and hid it in the farthest dustiest recesses of my dad's drug store.  I wish that had come true before your cousin Mark never came home….

I really can't imagine what it must have been like for you. I think about my own boys having to go to war. It makes me sick to think about it. 

I think we should draft more people so like thinkers can infiltrate the process.

Maze, my exhusband said the same thing. He was a Vietnam era vet before LBJ, and just missed going to Vietnam himself.

While you were there he was here, antiwar protesting.
We had baby sons, but no war when he'd say that. I am not sure if I agree. The concept that the warrior serves the people is not authentically in place. Serving “our country” is too abstract. Our country does stupid things to warrant a service to death.

My agreement is irrelevant. As veterans, both you and my ex are both more qualified to voice an opinion about who should be in the army than I am cause I have never worn the uniform.

There's something so very poignant about that photo….I was never in the military, but I was here, reading your story and Martha's, and thinking of all the other stories.

Don't really remember any stories of warrior's pride for Vietnam…or Iraq for that matter.  My heart aches for all those who have served what they thought/hoped was the greater good and came home (or not) with the emptiness of those hangers…

My friend Bob who was in the airforce for many years keeps telling me “soldiers are trained to kill people.”  Canadians hide behind Canadian soldiers as “peacekeepers” but it is still kill or be killed.  No matter how we dress it up, how many ways we can dream up to give it a noble patriotic spin, wave the flag, fold the flag ceremoniously, not show the coffins of the dead, not show the horribly wounded - it is still humans killing other humans - mostly in far away places that most  North Americans couln't find on a world map.   We dress it up as heroic, John Wayne, Audie Murphy crap.  In reality is young young from 2 horse towns being sent to “protect  American interests” - control the lands that have the oil in order the control the oil.  Google American Embassy Iraq and see the giant complex being built and then ask yourself, is the US really going to leave?  Let's all stop fooling ourselves.  The Christian God Crowd is going to get rid of the Infidels in the Middle East, don't fool yourself - this is a Christian Economic Crusade. 
Ok - now I am going to make come muffins. 

Don't feel like talking about war today, i would like if war was something of our past but unfortunatelyu is allways our present, and politicians stilll feel so proud of it, of those so called war for peace like were once called war on behalf God…………So, let's change the subject, because is in your story I'm interested in Tom, please, post a pic of that cute soldier you was, let us see that army boy.

Wow, Maze, this blog is really powerful. The first response that comes to mind is FUCK THE WAR! FUCK ALL WARS!  I grieve for those poor devils who enlist without knowing what to expect, and never make it back, and I grieve for the loved ones they leave behind. I grieve for the people of all war-ravaged nations. I wish the leaders of this country and of other countries prajna, wisdom, to recognize their deluded thinking and their greed and to act on this new understanding. 

 But, I was going along with it because I thought I was doing it all for us and our silly ass freedom which lately we seem to have given up on.Or maybe it's just me.

Then there are those few of us who stayed in for those reasons.  Yeah, perhaps we are just stupid, perhaps ignorant - perhaps both.

I'm just glad you lived throught it and are able to be with us here 42 years later, you sure do make a difference to us all!

:)

Hi Tom, I have just checked that photograph. Of course you had to be handsome too as a young one, what else, haha.
I remember being about 7 and hearing dad and grandparents to talk about our civil war, not very loud because the dictator was still alive, and I was not allowed to talk my own language at school. The monster franco, best friends with Hitler, died when I was 13. Americans helped a little, Orwell was here but too late, he wrote Homage to Catalonia.I used to scare parents saying I wanted to be a boy and to join the americans in Vietnam because they were fighting for peace and I wanted peace, poor thing. I was in love with the beatles songs and the world love in english i saw for first  in my modern cousins clothes…….and here we are, with the same world full of wars…..what is wrong with us the humans? why give our power to politicians after we know them so much?
I find incredible and beautiful I'm talking to one of those boys I admired so much, in spite of being so bad used for their governtment.
XOX

I feel sad when thinking about war, it's the thing that will make me cry a lil when I watch the news. And angry too when pondering about all you young people having to experience that.  I am so happy you made it through with them marbles collected & is here today.. <3

Glad that you survived the war and that you 'got educated' with the experience and that you're there to make me laugh!  My brother just retired at 44 from the US Air Force about 2 years back.  He kept getting a letter asking him to consider going back.  He's not so vocal about his feelings about the war (he was in Iraq for some months) but I was visiting when one of thos letters came and he shared it with me. He said I've had enough of it and I have to go on with my life.  I guess he has grown wiser and that must be the greatest lesson of the experience. He just got married (third time) two weeks ago and his daughter from his first marriage will soon be joining him, his older brother and stepmom in Antelope.