infidel cowboy

I have an uncle that lied about his age to join the Marines when he was 17 and was sent off to Vietnam. My biological father was drafted and sent to Vietnam.

My uncle came back and was taunted with "babykiller" and various other epithets, which contrary to what some worthless chickenshit claims, is not an urban legend phenomena. During one of his flashbacks episodes, I was able to piece together that someone in an APC my uncle was in (maybe him) had to shoot a child that was approaching the vehicle with a basket. It was a common tactic to have children do that and then lob a grenade from the basket. Imagine what it does to one's mind to have to shoot a child and then return home to taunts of babykiller.

As for my biological father, he coped with the experience the way many did. He becamed hooked on various drugs available to soldiers there. He came back unfit to be anyone's father or husband. I can't imagine the impact it has on him today knowing that this cost him a relationship with his son and daughter. Actually, I can. My mother saw him at my grandmother's funeral a few years ago and he is of course saddened and apologetic. He doesn't need to be.

These are just two people I know of and a little about the impacts of that war on them. I have spoken to my father maybe 2-3 times in my lifetime that I can remeber, so I don't have much insight into his thinking. My uncle is a different story. He rarely talks about the war, but when he says anything it is about how he would do anything for the people he fought with. That they are like brothers to him.

I can imagine what his reaction would be if one of them got themselves shipped home after four months of service. Actually, he probably would have been happy for that guy. Unless he found out later that that guy was accusing him of war crimes and atrocities. I don't pretend to understand the bonds that are formed on the battlefield having never been there, but I can't imagine that this is JUST a political hatchet job. It IS a hatchet job, no doubt, given that Kerry's entire campaign seems to be based on his Vietnam service. But this is more, this is clearly and deeply personal.

Update: at David Scott Anderson's site, he talks about McCain's reaction.

My response to him is:

I understand how you feel about McCain, but there is a double standard here. Bush was attacked incessantly over whether or not he went AWOL by Kerry supporters. These swift boat vets were accused of atrocities by Kerry. I don't understand where McCain thinks it is OK to pretend to speak for all veterans, let alone the ones who had had first hand knowledge of Kerry's activities. Why it is OK for Kerry to use his service as the centerpiece of his campaign, but not for these guys who also served and have knowledge of Kerry's service to provide a rebuttal?

As for these guys being partisan hacks - they have defended Kerry in the past when he was accused of atrocities. Is it not possible that they feel are doing this out of a sense of betrayal? How likely is it that out of 229 swiftboat vets, all but Kerry and a few others decided to become Republican partisan hacks? Why did they wait all these years? As I say in the post on my site, this appears to be personal with them - not partisan.

Update: more on the partisan hack thing - where was the backalsh against the group of 20 or so families claiming to speak for all 9/11 victims? The name of the group escapes me at the moment, but they were partisan hacks funded by a Teresa Heinz Kerry foundation. The hypocrisy is astonishing in its audacity.