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DIG DIRECTOR
Ron Kovic served two tours of duty as a U.S. Marine in the Vietnam War and was awarded the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart. In combat on Jan. 20, 1968, he suffered a spinal cord injury that left him paralyzed from the chest down. He became one of the best-known peace activists among the veterans...
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The Forgotten Wounded of IraqA Dig led by Ron KovicThirty-eight years ago, on Jan. 20, 1968, I was shot and paralyzed from my mid-chest down during my second tour of duty in Vietnam. It is a date that I can never forget, a day that was to change my life forever. Each year as the anniversary of my wounding in the war approached I would become extremely restless, experiencing terrible bouts of insomnia, depression, anxiety attacks and horrifying nightmares. I dreaded that day and what it represented, always fearing that the terrible trauma of my wounding might repeat itself all over again. It was a difficult day for me for decades and it remained that way until the anxieties and nightmares finally began to subside. As I now contemplate another January 20th I cannot help but think of the young men and women who have been wounded in the war in Iraq. They have been coming home now for almost three years, flooding Walter Reed, Bethesda, Brooke Army Medical Center and veterans hospitals all across the country. Paraplegics, amputees, burn victims, the blinded and maimed, shocked and stunned, brain-damaged and psychologically stressed, over 16,000 of them, a whole new generation of severely maimed is returning from Iraq, young men and women who were not even born when I came home wounded to the Bronx veterans hospital in 1968. I, like most other Americans, have occasionally seen them on TV or at the local veterans hospital, but for the most part they remain hidden, like the flag-draped caskets of our dead, returned to Dover Air Force Base in the darkness of night as this administration continues to pursue a policy of censorship, tightly controlling the images coming out of that war and rarely ever allowing the human cost of its policy to be seen. Mosul, Fallouja, Basra, Baghdad, a roadside bomb, an RPG, an ambush, the bullets cracking all around them, the reality that they are in a war, that they have suddenly been hit. No more John Wayne-Audie Murphy movie fantasies. No more false bravado, stirring words of patriotism, romantic notions of war or what it might really mean to be in combat, to sacrifice for one’s country. All that means nothing now. The reality has struck, the awful, shocking and frightening truth of what it really means to be hit by a bullet, an RPG, an improvised explosive device, shrapnel, a booby trap, friendly fire. They are now in a life-and-death situation and they have suddenly come face to face with the foreign policy of their own nation. The initial shock is wearing off; the painful reality is beginning to sink in, clearly something terrible has happened, something awful and inexplicable. All the conditioning, all the discipline, shouting, screaming, bullying and threatening verbal abuse of their boot camp drill instructors have now disappeared in this one instant, in this one damaging blow. All they want to do now is stay alive, keep breathing, somehow get out of this place anyway they can. People are dying all around them, someone has been shot and killed right next to them and behind them but all they can really think of at this moment is staying alive. You don’t think of God, or praying, or even your mother or your father. There is no time for that. Your heart is pounding. Blood is seeping out. You will always go back to that day, that moment you got hit, the day you nearly died yet somehow survived. It will be a day you will never forget—when you were trapped in that open area and could not move, when bullets were cracking all around you, when the first Marine tried to save you and was shot dead at your feet and the second, a black Marine—whom you would never see again and who would be killed later that afternoon—would carry you back under heavy fire. You are now with other wounded all around you heading to a place where there will be help. There are people in pain and great distress, shocked and stunned, frightened beyond anything you can imagine. You are afraid to close your eyes. To close your eyes now means that you may die and never wake up. You toss and turn, your heart pounding, racked with insomnia ... and for many this will go on for months, years after they return home. They are being put on a helicopter, with the wounded all around them. They try to stay calm. Some are amazed that they are still alive. You just have to keep trying to stay awake, make it to the next stage, keep moving toward the rear, toward another aid station, a corpsman, a doctor a nurse someone who can help you, someone who will operate and keep you alive so you can make it home, home to your backyard and your neighbors and your mother and father. To where it all began, to where it was once peaceful and safe. They just try to keep breathing because they have got to get back. They are in the intensive-care ward now, the place where they will be operated on, and where in Vietnam a Catholic priest gave me the Last Rites. Someone is putting a mask over their faces just as they put one over mine in Da Nang in 1968. There is the swirl of darkness and soon they awaken to screams all around them. The dead and dying are everywhere. There are things here you can never forget, images and sounds and smells that you will never see on TV or read about in the newspapers. The black pilot dying next to me as the corpsman and nurse tried furiously to save him, pounding on his chest with their fists as they laughed and joked trying to keep from going insane. The Green Beret who died of spinal meningitis, the tiny Vietnamese nun handing out apples and rosary beads to the wounded, the dead being carted in and out like clockwork,19- and 20-year-olds. There is the long flight home packed with the wounded all around you, every conceivable and horrifying wound you could imagine. Even the unconscious and brain-dead whose minds have been blown apart by bullets and shrapnel make that ride with you, because we are all going home now, back to our country. And this is only the beginning. The frustrations, anger and rage, insomnia, nightmares, anxiety attacks, terrible restlessness and desperate need to keep moving will come later, but for now we are so thankful to have just made it out of that place, so grateful to be alive even with these grievous wounds. I cannot help but wonder what it will be like for the young men and women wounded in Iraq. What will their homecoming be like? I feel close to them. Though many years separate us we are brothers and sisters. We have all been to the same place. For us in 1968 it was the Bronx veterans hospital paraplegic ward, overcrowded, understaffed, rats on the ward, a flood of memories and images, I can never forget; urine bags overflowing onto the floor. It seemed more like a slum than a hospital. Paralyzed men lying in their own excrement, pushing call buttons for aides who never came, wondering how our government could spend so much money (billions of dollars) on the most lethal, technologically advanced weaponry to kill and maim human beings but not be able to take care of its own wounded when they came home. Will it be the same for them? Will they have to return to these same unspeakable conditions? Has any of it changed? I have heard that our government has already attempted to cut back millions in much needed funds for veterans hospitals—and this when thousands of wounded soldiers are returning from Iraq. Will they too be left abandoned and forgotten by a president and administration whose patriotic rhetoric does not match the needs of our wounded troops now returning? Do the American people, the president, the politicians, senators and congressmen who sent us to this war have any idea what it really means to lose an arm or a leg, to be paralyzed, to begin to cope with the psychological wounds of that war? Do they have any concept of the long-term effects of these injuries, how the struggles of the wounded are only now just beginning? How many will die young and never live out their lives because of all the stress and myriad of problems that come with sending young men and women into combat? It is so difficult at first. You return home and both physically and emotionally don’t know how you are going to live with this wound, but you just keep trying, just keep waking up to this frightening reality every morning. “My God, what has happened to me?” But you somehow get up, you somehow go on and find a way to move through each day. Even though it is impossible, you go on. Maybe there will be a day years from now, if you are lucky to live that long, when it will get better and you will not feel so overwhelmed. You must have something to hope for, some way to believe it will not always be this way. This is exactly what many of them are going through right now. They are alone in their rooms all over this country, right now. Just as I was alone in my room in Massapequa. I know they’re there—just as I was. This is the part you never see. The part that is never reported in the news. The part that the president and vice president never mention. This is the agonizing part, the lonely part, when you have to awake to the wound each morning and suddenly realize what you’ve lost, what is gone forever. They’re out there and they have mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers, husbands and wives and children. And they’re not saying much right now. Just like me they’re just trying to get through each day. Trying to be brave and not cry. They still are extremely grateful to be alive, but slowly, agonizingly they are beginning to think about what has really happened to them. What will it be like for them when one morning they suddenly find themselves naked sitting before that mirror in their room and must come face to face with their injury? I want to reach out to them. I want them to know that I’ve been there too. I want to just sit with them in their room and tell them that they must not give up. They must try to be patient, try to just get through each day, each morning, each afternoon any way they can. That no matter how impossible and frustrating it may seem, how painful, regardless of the anxiety attacks and nightmares and thoughts of suicide, they must not quit. Somewhere out there there will be a turning point, somewhere through this all they will find a reason to keep on living. In the months and years that are to follow, others will be less fortunate. Young men and women who survived the battlefield, the intensive-care ward, veterans hospitals and initial homecoming will be unable to make the difficult and often agonizing adjustment. Is this what is awaiting all of them? Is this the nightmare no one ever told them about, the part no one now wants to talk about or has the time to deal with? The car accidents, and drinking and drug overdoses, the depression, anger and rage, spousal abuse, bedsores and breakdowns, prison, homelessness, sleeping under the piers and bridges. The ones who never leave the hospital, the ones who can’t hold a job, can’t keep a relationship together, can’t love or feel any emotions anymore, the brutal insomnia that leaves you exhausted and practically unable to function, the frightening anxiety attacks that come upon you when you least expect them, and always the dread that each day may be your last. Marty, Billy, Bobby, Max, Tom, Washington, Pat, Joe? I knew them all. It’s a long list. It’s amazing that you’re still alive when so many others you knew are dead, and at such a young age. Isn’t all this dying supposed to happen when you’re much older? Not now, not while we’re so young. How come the recruiters never mentioned these things? This was never in the slick pamphlets they showed us! This should be a time of innocence, a time of joy and happiness, no cares and youthful dreams—not all these friends dying so young, all this grief and numbness, emptiness and feelings of being so lost. The physical and psychological battles from the war in Iraq will rage on for decades, deeply impacting the lives of citizens in both our countries. As this the 38th anniversary of my wounding in Vietnam approaches, in many ways I feel my injury in that war has been a blessing in disguise. I have been given the opportunity to move through that dark night of the soul to a new shore, to gain an understanding, a knowledge, an entirely different vision. I now believe that I have suffered for a reason and in many ways I have found that reason in my commitment to peace and nonviolence. We who have witnessed the obscenity of war and experienced its horror and terrible consequences have an obligation to rise above our pain and suffering and turn the tragedy of our lives into a triumph. I have come to believe that there is nothing in the lives of human beings more terrifying than war and nothing more important than for those of us who have experienced it to share its awful truth. We must break this cycle of violence and begin to move in a different direction; war is not the answer, violence is not the solution. A more peaceful world is possible. I am the living death
1
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By Ray C Askew, January 20, 2006 at 7:25 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
I sent this forward with your article attached to every one I know, Thank You…
Please Forward…
Report thisIT IS PATRIOTIC TO DISSENT!
Forward By:
Ray C Askew / Now 57 Years Old
Discharged As Sergeant E/5
Military Police Corps
US Army
Viet Nam Era Veteran / 1969
Monterey, California
To My Dear Friends,
Since these conflicts in the Middle East involving my country and fellow soldiers have arisen, I have been torn apart emotionally by memories of my service in the Hospital Wards of The Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio Texas, where the most severe cases of battle casualties are “warehoused”. I write this and forward the article below in an attempt to:
1) Heal myself emotionally,
2) Being a patriot, clear my conscience of my prior silence in opposing this war, and
3) Inform you of yet another true, horrible, and important “COST” of this administrations actions for your consideration. The Greatest COST Of All.
My own battle with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder returns to the forefront as I sit here with tears in my eyes and write this to you.
I personally worked in these wards mentioned in this article 30 years ago as a twenty year old “Buck” Sergeant . The sights and sounds portrayed in this article are true and believe me, only the tip of a very gruesome iceberg. If you think that “well things must have changed in the VA System in thirty years” you’re right they have gotten worse.
Mr. Ron Kovic (See Featured Movie: “Born On The Fourth Of July”) describes in only some relaxed detail, the true horror of mans inhumanity to his fellow man, for if the full descriptive truth be told, you would be reeling with visualizations of things that no human being should have to see, much less participate in, or be the subject of and endure, but due to the reality of war, participation IS a necessity and SOMEONE (maybe your son or daughter) HAS TO DO IT!
I too will try not to disturb you further with the physically sickening, absolute horror of the things I have seen in a military hospital during wartime, but I urge you to, in your minds eye, just try to multiply the horrors portrayed below by whatever numerical value you can muster and suffice to say, without having been there and seen these things, you will fall far short of the mark.
As this administration of greed driven, draft dodging cowards send and SPEND more and more of our 19 and 20 year old men in this action, the numbers of wounded are going to increase in a system that is inadequately prepared for and already over capacity because we are still caring for those souls, from WW II and Korea and Viet Nam and Panama And Grenada in our understaffed Veterans Administration Hospitals, who will never, ever, see the light of day again. Meanwhile this administration rapes veterans rights and healthcare and can’t even provide adequate body armor for our troops and their vehicles, so that the country can “budget"and afford this war? Well I guess you’ve got to save some money some where.
When you think of the figures of “wounded” coming through your television at night, if you get them, you may tend to think “well at least they weren’t killed”. Believe me in many of these cases death would be more humane, honorable and even preferable, to and if, these brave men even had the physical capacity to make a choice and communicate their wishes. (As far as I’ve seen they often forget to publish the numbers of wounded from a particular action any more, only the numbers killed in order to sanitize their figures.)
I am sick to death of these war mongering, saber rattling individuals and their supporters who will rally for this war, believe “King Georges” propaganda and lies, and send our children to fight a war for profit in the name of the common good, under the auspices of bringing peace and democracy to a people who do not want or even understand it! In the meantime our country and our young people suffer and we lose the respect of the rest of the world, who once looked upon us as a genuinely fair, caring and humanitarian country. To those of you to which this might apply, I can only say, “if you have ever personally been a soldier then hopefully you would think twice before sending or supporting this administrations choice to send yours or someone else’s son or daughter to face the onslaught.”
If you would like to label me for my views go ahead and do so, at this point I no longer care and can no longer maintain a silence, my conscience will no longer allow silence, let YOUR conscience guide you… I’m Gonna Get A Lot Louder!
I KNOW, FIRSTHAND, THE FOLLOWING ARTICLE TO BE TRUE!
If you are attacked FIGHT, but don’t go down and try to kick your neighbors ass cause someone says he’s got a shotgun and your afraid he’s gonna use it. You’ll get arrested even in this country!
IMPEACH BUSH!!! http://www.impeachbush.org
THEN GET THE HELL OUT OF IRAQ!!!
Ray Askew January 20th 2006
By Marvin, January 20, 2006 at 7:05 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
This article should be sent to every congressman and congresswoman to the White House. It is great!
Report thisZachary Gardner COMMENTS omits the fact that Sadam would not have been in power if not for the USA. We put him there!
By guillaume, January 20, 2006 at 6:51 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Dear Ron,
thank you for posting this gutwrenching essay. As you know most of us have no clue of the real cost of sending young men to war. I am one of these ignorant people—although I do guess it is not pretty and therefore does not wish any of it onto anyone.
Today is January 20th and I sincerely hope the day was not too bad for you.
Most sincerely,
Report thisguillaume
By James Reeves, January 20, 2006 at 5:17 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Thank you, Ron, for reminding us about the old lie: Dulce et Decorum est Pro Patria Mori. As the general public becomes increasingly desensitized to the horrors of this immoral war and as the death toll is relegated to the back pages, voices like yours must be heard. Keep fighting the good fight. Take care, buddy.
Report thisBy Janis Piety, January 20, 2006 at 5:08 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Dear Ron,
Report thisThank you for speaking out, as the mother of a soldier I really appreciate it. My daughter returned recently from her second tour in Iraq, she enlisted at the age of 29 to get her student loans paid off after getting a masters degree. Little did she know she would be going to war and be away from her son for almost four years. She is a different person, much stronger, but with a sadness to her that I cannot understand because I have not seen and done what she had to do. She says “Mom, I feel weird”, but cannot explain what she means. When she took her phsycological test before being redeployed, she was told things would go smoother if she answered no to all the questions..too bad one of the questions was not are you ok mentally, then she could have said no and been telling the truth. I did not like us going to Viet Nam, but back then I felt it was disrespectful to our military to protest. I do not feel that way now, I did and do protest,not the troops, but this insane war. Ron, you are so right war is not the answer. What in the world can we do to stop the lies and insanity? God Bless You.
By Frank Holt, January 20, 2006 at 11:59 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Thank you Ron for cutting through the layers of BS and speaking the truth. You’ve helped me and countless others to get through this thing called Vietnam and now there’s another generation out there in need. Luckily you’re still here.
Report thisBy m. mancusi, January 20, 2006 at 11:37 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
The things that will destroy America are prosperity-at-any-price, peace-at-any-price, safety-first instead of duty-first, the love of soft living, and the get-rich-quick theory of life.
Theodore Roosevelt, letter (January 10, 1917)
You write:
“I cannot help but wonder what it will be like for the young men and women wounded in Iraq. What will their homecoming be like?”
Our volunteer Army is an Army of heroes and will be treated as such. That is our duty, we are in control of their welcome. Why you are unclear of that is troubling.
Report thisBy Hilary Bee, January 20, 2006 at 11:24 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Dear Ron, Deepest appreciation for you and for your article this morning, which had me sobbing at my computer. As a child I read the war poets of the 1st and 2nd world wars and thought that no-one would ever be able to think war was a solution or send their country to war after reading them. Wrong! How can carnage, hatred, ripped flesh and ripped lives ever be a solution to anything worthwhile? I send you my love and gratitude for all that you have done and endured. Most of all I join you in hope that together we will birth a world which is built on honor, respect and love. Blessings, Hilary
Report thisBy Tom Haggerty, January 20, 2006 at 11:00 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
It is a well written oped, however, I was hoping Mr. Kovac would answer some of his own questions.
Report thisAre our troops being abandoned and forgotten by a president and administration? Has any of it changed? Has he been to the hospitals and the VA?
What are his current firsthand observations of the treament and conditions (3) years into the war? If not in this article, has he gone on to write about conslusions in another?
By Beverly Rice, January 20, 2006 at 10:56 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
I am very touched by your words. I cannot imagine the hurt you and everyone who has served in the armed forces must feel. My husband was in Desert Storm for 2 tours of duty, at a time when I did not know him, it is just his past as he says. He holds alot in from that time. He came home wounded also but recovered physically but emotionally there are walls there. He knew what he had to do but that is part of the honor and to be spat upon is just cruel. My heart goes out to anyone who has loved ones in the service who are over in Iraq and to all those in the service, past and present. To know anyone that has served is an honor and priveledge.
Report thisThank you for the eye opening article, Ron.
By judi, January 20, 2006 at 10:25 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Thank God for people like you. There are no words to describe the beauty in what you have been able to express in such a small space.
Peace to you.
Report thisBy Pete Daniels, January 20, 2006 at 8:01 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Thanks for shedding light on these damaged veterans. More must be done, they must not be hidden and forgotten. Pity also those vets with no visible wounds, I fear that they will become the most damaged group of vets ever to return to the US and they will never recover and be able to live amongst others not of their kind.
Report thisBy Teri, January 20, 2006 at 8:00 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Thank you sir for your article. I read it with much interest and sorrow. I’m from the Vietnam generation and had relatives (one had three tours in Vietnam) over there. I APPRECIATE SO MUCH what you’ve done for our Country. I don’t pity you, but have much compassion for your situation.
I say all this so that you’ll know that I mean no disrespect to you or your situation in life when I say that I don’t appreciate you using AUDIE MURPHY’s name along with John Wayne’s. Audie Murphy was a soldier in WWII, fought and was wounded (no he didn’t come home a paraplegic), none the less he fought with bravery and WHEN HE DID COME HOME, he worked tirelessly for the veterans and their rights. He suffered from PTSS for the rest of his life which ended way too soon.
You may not have intended to slam Audie Murphy, and I’ll give you benefit of the benefit of the doubt. Again, I’d like to emphasize that I DO APPRECIATE your feelings and what you’ve done for me and the Country. I will be praying for you and your family! I also will be praying that the Iraq war end VERY SOON!
Report thisBy Tom Lorenz, January 20, 2006 at 7:43 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Ron, I am sitting here in my office in tears having just read your posting. Thank you for writing such a profoundly moving piece. I hope it touches many others just as much as it did me.
Report thisBy Scottie D. Williams, January 20, 2006 at 7:05 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
God bless you Ron,
Report thisAnd thank you for having the “balls” to tell it like it is. The rest of my days will have you in my prayers.
In the early 60’s, my Dad and I (both Navy Veterans) put my bright eyed 17 year old younger brother on a airplane in Lubbock, Texas, his destination….Da Nang. My Dad and I both would have traded places with him if we could have. 13 months later we picked up a drunk, wild eyed 19 year old man from the airport. He was one of the “lucky one’s”. He came back alive without any physical wounds. For the next 35 plus years, he was in and out of jails and prisons. Like most of us, he was taught to stand on his own two feet. He learned his lesson well, and never would seek help. He’s dead now and at peace, I buried him in September of 97, beside our Mom and Dad, at the ripe old age of 50. I still miss him.
I salute you Ron, and every man, woman or loved one that has been and is affected by this senseless damn war.
God bless and God speed….....
Scottie D. Williams…....
By Jennifer Van Bergen, January 20, 2006 at 6:11 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Ron,
Report thisThank you for writing this at this time. There is no way to bring home what war is without literally bringing home what soldiers experience. If we could all feel what you and other wounded vets have felt, war would not happen. By writing this, you’ve brought the experience to others. I will pass it on.
By John Kildahl, January 20, 2006 at 6:09 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Thank you, Thank you.
Report thisBy Zachary Gardner, January 20, 2006 at 5:26 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
While the pain and suffering caused by war are undeniable, and the sacrifices made by Ron Kovic and countless others are sad, war is often the price for peace. No WMDs have been found, but mass graves have been. We have heard many stories of the brutal and arbitrary treatment of Iraqi citizens by the former regime. Did we cite the wrong cause in going to war? Yes. Is this war just? I believe so, but I also believe we were hasty.
We as a nation are in a unique position. We have the might and resources to act as big brother to other nations and peoples, to provide humanitarian support and thwart the bullies of the world. That is a great responsibilty, not to be taken lightly. Our leadership exercise great care when forming policies. This conflict is ugly and will get uglier before it is over, however leaving now will only leave the Iraqi people vulnerable to the next tyrant. We must do the right thing and finish what we’ve started.
The casualties overseas are ever-present in my mind. As an Airmen, it is my task to provide our troops with the info and resources necessary to stay out of harm’s way. It disturbs me to hear the death of fellow servicemen described as “wasteful.” The deaths of servicemen are never “needless” or “wasteful” unless the conflict is terminated prematurely. In any case, the sacrifices of serviceman should ALWAYS be regarded as honorable.
Report thisBy pia savage, January 20, 2006 at 4:27 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
I am speechless. Your words leave me breathless, sad and proud that there are people such as you.
38 years is such a long time, and yet it is nothing
Instead of learning from history we seem to repeat it
Each time with less understanding and with more bravado.
People have been telling me since Iraq how dare I bring Viet Nam into it; and I was just a girl from Long Island who probably threw stones and eggs on returning soldiers
So I don’t feel qualified to speak about Viet Nam, but unfortunately you so easily can.
Thank you
Report thisBy Robert Boldt, January 20, 2006 at 4:22 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
In that distant year, when George W. Bush goes to those Pearly Gates, he so firmly believes in, he is destined for a big shock. Instead of a clear, cloud-lined path to Saint Peters welcoming arms, there will be a virtual sea of hundreds of thousands of maimed men, women and children. Present also will be those unlucky Americans who spent their last minutes of life bleeding into the Iraqi sand. In front of this hoard will be the vanguard of thousands more suffering combatants who did not die there. Their wheelchairs and IV stands will form an insurmountable barrier.
He will be forced to tearfully turn around and descend to that other place.
Report thisBy Mary, January 20, 2006 at 3:57 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Thank You.
Report thisBy Anonymous, January 20, 2006 at 2:09 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
The USA has become exactly what we fought against in WW2. GOD HELP US!
Report thisBy Robert M. Gowe, January 19, 2006 at 11:25 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Very insightful, and disturbing. It is truly amazing how the conseqences of unjustified and unnecessary war are simply glossed over by the Administration. But then, maybe it’s not so amazing since they make sure none of it affects them personally.
Bush is right about one thing - the “war on terror” will be endless - as long as we continue to enhance the recruiting efforts of the groups that see the world differently from him.
The Administration’s behavior is not just negligent, it is criminal.
Report thisBy Jen Gilson, January 19, 2006 at 10:34 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Thank you, Ron. Thank you for your life and your service to our country. I’ve always wanted to tell you that if I ever had the chance.
Back in the 80’s, when no one was talking about Vietnam-yet-I had a teacher who opened our eyes with films and books about ‘Nam. One of them was your book. I was embarrassed to be an American with what I learned. Since that time, I have thanked and visited service men and women, especially those guys and gals who served in ‘Nam. I owe a great debt to those who serve, and have served, so I can be free. I can never thank those folks enough, and they will never know the depth of my humble gratitude.
Thank you for your gift of the written word. Because of you, the reality-the TRUTH-cannot be forgotten. God Bless you, Ron Kovic.
Sincerely,
Jen Gilson
Report thisBy b e paxton, January 19, 2006 at 9:46 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
thank you for every word you have written and spoke its been a hard one i know it has for i hope bush cant sleep
Report this72-73
By Pat McElroy, January 19, 2006 at 9:26 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
I was moved by your artical. I served in 69,9th INF.Iwas against going into Iraq. I coud not believe how the hype that if you questioned the war you were unpatreotic. this past year I have live my nightmare over and over. My son a ranger came home after finishing his one year tour in Samara Iraq. At 3:00 in the morning they marched across a parade field. One of there commrads was on the field waiting for them. He joined there formation and when they were released the other soulders lined up to see him. He had lost both legs. It was very emotional for all. Many of them could not hold back the tears. Including my son. I thought to myself, they realy know what war is now.
Report thisBy gloria fabiaschi, January 19, 2006 at 8:00 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
your poem is absolutely beautiful. it expresses the pain of returning service people from wars that should never have happened in the first place. these so-called wars vietnam, iraq etc. are only ochestrated to fill a bunch of fat guys pocketbooks. we all knew who they were back in 68, and we all know who they are now. it is like living in the 60’s all over again. sad part is this regime was not even voted for it was bought. thank God i did not vote i knew it was a waste of time with these lunatics running this beautiful country. God help us all
Report thisBy Dennis Spain, January 19, 2006 at 7:27 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Dear Ron…a brave and necessary reminder of the insanity of war.
I don’t imagine you will be interviewed on the Bill O’Reilly or Rush Limbaugh show, or allowed to speak at one of the think tanks which host Henry Kissinger as a featured speaker from time to time.
These fat fucks are the worst kind of state idolaters, sitting in positions of influence, courting war from a safe distance in the name of a mistaken patriotism.
I salute your courage and your ability to hold it together when you see Dubya on the screen struggling to put together coherent sentences that will have the effect of sending other young men to their death or maiming.
Please know there are fellow Americans out there, true patriots, who don’t buy into their garbage, but who prefer to hear the unvarnished truth from men like you who have been there and who continue to chronicle the State’s cynical use of a nation’s young manhood.
Dennis Spain
Report thisBy Steve Castro-Miller, January 19, 2006 at 6:28 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Dear Mr. Kovic,
I honor your service, even if our country might not have been squared about what you were serving for. Although I was a boy then, I offer my apologies for your treatment - I wish you were telling untruths, but I don’t think you are. And as the father of a future Marine, you are a great reminder, no matter one’s political persuasion, that there is a great cost to service.
Had I worn the uniform and earned the honor, I would salute you. As it is, I thank you for your service and your voice.
Respectfully.
Report thisBy Peter S. Lopez, January 19, 2006 at 6:18 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Gracias Senor Kovic ~ I appreciate your sharing your story as sharing is caring.
I work with a Christian recovery group called CASA {home in Spanish) at the Salvation Army Homeless Shelter in downtown Sacramento and consider myself an upholder of humane rights for all.
I admit I was against the Vietnam War. Joined the USAF afterwards and got an Honorable Discharge, though I was not activated “for the convenience of the government” when I was connected with a white radical group back in the radical late 60’s which was lightweight to me. Hell, most of my friends were radicals to one degree or another.
It was the 60’s!
Nowadays, here in Sacramento, some Iraqi veterans are already coming back here to the USA wounded in different ways, ways unseen and unspoken; many neglected, many abandoned left to take care of themselves in these tragic times homeless and forsaken.
I hope and pray that society has become more compassionate towards returning veterans of war, compared to the treatment of returning Vietnam Vets.
Let us hope that thinking people have learned to distinguish between young veterans who went off to fight an unjust war and the original wrong decisions of government policy.
Not one Vietnam Veteran I know has come back fully intact. Not one. Some scars are on the soul.
So now we have Iraqi Veterans. It seems that many joined because they were unemployed and wanted to get a sense of job security and hope for a decent future.
Any participation of a soldier in an unjust war will have lifelong negative repercussions. One should think hard before deciding to go to war for whatever reasons.
Once again, thank you for your heartfelt words on a subject that can never be fully captured with words.
Blessings of Good Spirits to You and All Your Loved Ones ~ Peter
Report thisBy Linda Matson, January 19, 2006 at 5:42 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
God bless you, Ron Kovic.
I’ve often wondered what became of you and where you were. You were my hometown hero - I’m from Massapequa, too. So your story brought the war so much closer to me, personally. Once in the 70’s, at a peace rally in NY City, I saw you in person, but I was too intimidated to say anything. In fact, a boy I knew from Massapequa named Greg - with red hair, I remember - was with you and we spoke, but I felt I didn’t know what to say to you. What could I say? Thank you? Would that have been the right thing to say, or would it have been ridiculous? I wasn’t sure. But now that I read what you have to say, I’m so happy to know you have found a peace of sorts and understand what happened to you. Not many are that fortunate. So many times I’ve said that we were fighting that same war again - that we never learned from our past - and as this war continues, I remain saddened. I’m thankful that my 2 sons haven’t been sent to Iraq or anywhere near there. I selfishly don’t ever want them to have to go and I pray for peace and for all the sons of mothers who cry and pray for them.
God bless you, Ron Kovic. Don’t ever stop what you’re doing!
Report thisBy Paul Schmid, January 19, 2006 at 5:39 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Mr. Kovic:
Your letter about your injuries in Vietnam struck me in a very personal way. On December 28 1966 my brother was killed in Vietnam. He was to leave Vietnam on January 15 for home. I was in eight grade at the time. The day the Marine officers came to our house and told us about Ron was the worst day in my life.
However as I grew up I got to know a lot of people who came home from Vietnam I started to realize that at least my brother was at PEACE. Many of the people I got to know were naver at PEACE,and STILL aren’t(40 years later).
I know a few people that have been and are in Iraq,I truley hope that they someday can be at PEACE!
SOMEDAY I HOPE OUR GOVERNMENT WILL REALIZE THAT WE CAN NOT FORCE OUR BELIEFS ON THE WORLD!!
Mr Kovic and anyone who reads this, I hope that some day the US Government will realize that what you,and a lot of us are saying—WAR AND VIOLENCE IS NOT THE ANSWER.
GOD BLESS OUR PEOPLE WHO ARE IN HARMS WAY
Report thisBy Hugh Meagher, January 19, 2006 at 5:30 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Ron,
Great piece of writing. I worked for 30 years as a teacher and administrator. Back in the mid 80’s I taught a War Studies course where we used All Quiet, Johnnie Got His Gun, Your book (Born on the 4th), and others as the required reading. It appears that all our hopes nad dreams have done nothing to stop the Bush/Cheneys from their grim and criminal work. But, truth shall win in the end.
God bless you,
Report thisHugh Meagher
By Juan Castro, January 19, 2006 at 5:08 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Dear Ron
Report thisThank you for your service to our country. It hurts to me to read what you have been through. I can never know or feel your pain. But you saved me again 1st for fighting for our country in nam 2nd for saveing me from inlisting. My intentions were to sign up for the military but after i read the untold story I can not see myself doing that. More people need to here your story and the stories of those wounded in all wars that were treated unjustly by the government. I will pass the message on and hope that you continue to reach out to those that are in the dark. We all need to reach out and change this injustice to our brothers and sisters here and abroad. God Bless All
By Johnny Otilano, January 19, 2006 at 4:41 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Hello there Mr. Kovic,
Really inspiring poem. I salute you for your courage and bravery. You are so right “War is not the answer” and there are so many ways of solving world problems.
Report thisBy Rita Lombard, January 19, 2006 at 3:12 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
I am going to give a copy of this to members of my family ...especially those who voted for these politicians who have never seen the horrible effects on returnees. My husband suffered from stress (he was a POW for 3 years). The nightmares were horrible and only in our third year of marriage—when he threw pregnant me out of bed during one of those nightmares did the shock relieve him of those nightmares. I intend to send a copy to all of our retired military friends ... many of whom voted this regime in. No one who has not served should be able to call themselves Commander.
Report thisBy Ariel Dinter, January 19, 2006 at 2:04 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Let me just say how moved and touched I am in these bittersweet moments. What a triumph of the written word Kovic has given us. What a journey into the unimaginable, what beauty in truth.
And all the extras included! The full reports! The photos! The articles! Finally a website not afraid to give the whole of a story. In a nation of sound bites, where a overly exited yell can cost you a political career, where mans wifes emotions are more important than his views of privacy, and where theater dictates war, the truth is becoming a fleeting memory. Tidbits of discouraging numbers and intelligent discourse have been gettoized in the media, traded amongst those who can find it as banned books under Mao. You have shown me that fire still rages in the media, that there are few that will not succumb to the lead blanket of indifference cast over this nation.
Kovics piece is a perfect melding of soulful poetics and apt resources. Please keep up the good fight, Im sure that slowly we can all help to make all of us more informed, more powerful, and more emotionally wealthy.
Report thisBy Charles Karafotias, January 19, 2006 at 1:45 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
This narrative is heartbreaking beyond description. Vietnam came about because of Eisenhower’s erroneous belief in the Domino Theory. Ols China hands warned him that it just did not hold water, but he pushed on.
Report thisIraq is the same old story. A blockheaded “President” who refused to lay his guts on the line also refused to listen to old Middle East hands. He conducted a war based on a mountain of lies. Unfortunately, the carnage will continue until the people rise up and demand a stop to this madness. Meantime, let us not forgetthat a lot of good people, innocents are being killed and maimed on the other side, too.
By Mark J. Ankrom, January 19, 2006 at 12:59 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Having seen the Physical pain and known the mental strain you have reached a cord within my soul long ago buried from the same war. I believe every young person going into the service of our country should read this before enlisting. I also believe all the politicians that send our young people to war should have to go with them. There would be no wars to fight. God bless you and keep you in his grace.
Report thisBy Don Hynes, January 19, 2006 at 12:51 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Ron,
You’ve been an inspiration to me and many others for decades. While you fought in Vietnam I was fighting on this side of the hill. We were all wounded, but few took the hit like you and too many other Vietnam Vets.
I worked for years with Vietnam vets groups
http://www.donhynes.com/2003_05_01_archivevp.html
and I don’t remember getting any help from the ardent pseudo patriots who promote these bloody wars. I remember lots of shiny bricks and mortar at new VA hospitals and no staff to help with the stream of broke down soldiers. Not just the guys on the streets and under the bridges, still wearing their camo, but the guys holding down the good old 9-5, kids in school and all that, waking up to the nightmares and still trying to hold together the code of silence that needed to be broken.
You broke it Ron and God bless you for it. You gave real meaning to Semper Fi and when I read this article I just wanted to say you’re not alone brother. We’ve lost a lot of ground to this new crowd of boy men who send other fellas to do their dirty work, and slime good men like Max Cleland, but there’s more than a few of us our age who’ve been to the wall and will not forget.
“No more casualties” used to be the motto of our
Vets groups. It hasn’t held but then the fight isn’t over.
Report thisDon Hynes
Portland OR
http://www.donhynes.com/vantagepoint.html
By Michael Toner, Vietnam Vet, January 19, 2006 at 12:46 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Dear Ron:
Report thisMagnificent piece of writing. Thank you so much for your insights, and inspiration. Your articulation of the pain and rage and urge to peace in war veterans is greatly appreciated. If only Bush, Chaney & Co. had the humility to listen to your most valuable advice….
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