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Have you ever watched a war newsreel? What did you think while you were watching it? Do you think about the right and wrong of war while the news flickers over the screen? Have you ever seen the newsreel that depicts the D-Day landing on June 6, 1944 and watched the men running up the beach? Or how about the one of the men marching up the road one group walking on one side of the road while another group walks on the other side? How about the one of the men riding on tanks and vehicles through a town they've just liberated? Hey! How about the one where the soldiers are marching through the ice and snow covered mountains of Korea? Ever see pictures of soldiers wandering through the rice paddies of Vietnam? Have you watched the one where the dead soldier was being dragged behind a vehicle in Somalia? How about the black-eyed soldiers captured during Operation Desert Shield? Have you seen the night-scope pictures of soldiers in Afghanistan yet? What did you think of while watching these bits of film? Do you think of what THEY are thinking? What THEY are feeling? I'm a combat veteran of Vietnam and I can tell you what I think of when I see them. When those men are running up the beach I think of how brave, and how lonely they are at that moment in their lives, just before their deaths. Even in a large group, when your facing gunfire and death you are alone. Those men walking along the road, one group on each side, they are also walking alone, with their own thoughts - how bad their feet hurt, the straps on their packs are cutting into their shoulders, how much they miss their loved ones, and how much they hope their chow line is just up the road. Oh! To liberate a town, what all the fighting is about, is the greatest feeling. Smelling the flowers that are thrown at you, to smell the perfume of the ladies in the crowd. What a heady feeling - until you reach the other side of the town and head out into the country again - and possible death. The ice and snow covered mountains of Korea were a special aggravation. Not only did they have to climb up and down the mountains they had to try and keep themselves warm. They'd work up a sweat and then start cooling off, freezing and cooking, cold feet, cold food, cold everywhere, here again loneliness. Is my wife being faithful? Are my kids ok? Go To Page: 1 2
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