Posted on 11/12/2002 5:50:54 AM PST by SAMWolf
They carried P-38 can openers and heat tabs, watches and dog tags, insect repellent, gum, cigarettes, Zippo lighters, salt tablets, compress bandages, ponchos, Kool-Aid, two or three canteens of water, iodine tablets, sterno, LRRP- rations, and C-rations stuffed in socks.
They carried standard fatigues, jungle boots, bush hats, flak jackets and steel pots.
They carried the M-16 assault rifle. They carried trip flares and Claymore mines, M-60 machine guns, the M-70 grenade launcher, M-14's, CAR-15's, Stoners, Swedish K's, 66mm Laws, shotguns,45 caliber pistols, silencers, the sound of bullets, rockets, and choppers, and sometimes the sound of silence.
They carried C-4 plastic explosives, an assortment of hand grenades, PRC-25 radios, knives and machetes. Some carried napalm, CBU's and large bombs; some risked their lives to rescue others. Some escaped the fear, but dealt with the death and damage. Some made very hard decisions, and some just tried to survive. They carried malaria, dysentery, ringworms and leaches.
They carried the land itself as it hardened on their boots.
They carried stationery, pencils, and pictures of their loved ones - real and imagined. They carried love for people in the real world and love for one another.
And sometimes they disguised that love: "Don't Mean Nothin'!"
They carried Memories for the most part, they carried themselves with poise and a kind of dignity. Now and then, there were times when panic set in, and people squealed or wanted to, but couldn't; when they twitched and made moaning sounds and covered their heads and said "Dear God" and hugged the earth and fired their weapons blindly and cringed and begged for the noise to stop and went wild and made stupid promises to themselves and God and their parents, hoping not to die.
They carried the Traditions of the United States military, and memories and images of those who served before them.
They carried Grief, Terror, Longing and their Reputations.
They carried the soldier's greatest fear: The Embarrassment of Dishonor.
They crawled into tunnels, walked point, and advanced under fire, so as not to die of embarrassment.
They were afraid of dying, but too afraid to show it.
They carried the emotional baggage of men and women who might die at any moment.
They carried the weight of the world.
THEY CARRIED EACH OTHER
Make sure you don't try to take it on an airplane with you or it might get confiscated. A friend of mine had his Vietnam-era P-38 confiscated several months ago at an airport. I kid you not.
Make sure you don't try to take it on an airplane with you or it might get confiscated. A friend of mine had his Vietnam-era P-38 confiscated several months ago at an airport. I kid you not.
A guard took mine when I reported to the courthouse for jury duty!
(She gave it back to me when I left the building, though.)
Well you can't be too careful! He could have slit the aircraft in two with it. < /sarcasm>
I think it's unfortunate that in the dozens of American movies about Vietnam, the South Vietnamese are portrayed at best as nothing more than cardboard cutouts, as mere scenery. Worse than "forgottten," their story is completely nonexistant.
There were of course many instances of South Vietnamese dishonoring their own soil and nation, but those are hardly the only stories.
From 1965 to 1975 - and much more so thereafter - the South Vietnamese lived in a veritable horrorshow, a nightmare. I'm amazed that in 27 years no filmmaker has seen fit to tell that story. Maybe Tony Bui will do it someday.
They carried memories...
Being one who researches lots..and is into all things visual...my impression concerning Vietnam..is that those who participated might find rest for their souls ...in this lifetime.
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