STOP WAR AMERICA is an alternative image
bob is a leftwing marine
his imagery is part of the opposition
energy, vitality, spirit suffuses through the underground stream
the alchemy of spirit bob's been running with big dawgs!
i wonder is this a lamentation or a celebration or both?
the visionary eye makes everything perfectly clear
but seez from the underground stream
feeling the flow
in process......a book review
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Robert McLane, a former activist with Vietnam Veterans against the War, has written a memoir, STOP WAR AMERICA in the style of real time gonzo journalism, dedicated to the memory of Hunter S.Thompson and it is in fact an absorbing journey into the heart of a young man whose patriotism was in touch with essential truth and human value. In other words, he was both a US.Marine and an anti-war protestor, and a survivor, a hearty vagabond whose path took him through the rigors of boot camp and the scorched earth of Vietnam, along the way finding the counter culture and somehow melding the two into a fusion of bravado and compassion.
I knew the guy as a down and out vet, rebuilding my own shattered psyche, doing therapy at a VetCenter, staying awhile in Shreveport, a place where time stood still, save for one of the few places of enlightment there, the weekly evening meditation group at the local UnitarianChurch. He popped in and plopped down, always smiling. It's what gets me the most about this guy, a joy of life. Yet Bob had all the pathos of a man who had seen the atrocity of war without redemption, like me, and who was dealing with the aftermath of that, how to make an enduring meaning out of it all, how to keep living in a strange new world.
We journey back into the Vietnam War, the antiwar veterans' movement, and through this narrative, find a picture of history that is at once difficult yet personifies a path with heart. When Bob finally gets on the freedom bird, we feel his relief. His effort at dialogue and detail throughout is exemplary.
On coming home he writes, "I hitched a ride on a military plane going to Oklahoma. An Air Force general was kind enough to let me have a seat on his personal jet. First I watched his valet bring his luggage on board, including the two sets of golf clubs. Finally the man himself walked aboard and sat down on the solitary bed that was waiting for him. He looked at me with the eye of some jaundicedCaesar while an Air Force staff seargeant loosened his shoestrings and took off his shoes and put them under the bed.He then pulled the curtains to give the general privacy....I remembered the night at the Rockpile when Rail and I tried to make a floor out of boards from some ammo crates while the rain poured down through the leaky ponchos we had snapped together in a vain effort to stay dry."
As it turned out, Vietnam and the Marines had prepared Bob for what was to follow, only there was no war, just hard travelling with interludes of friendship and protest, trials and celebrations.We get to encounter a number of other interesting people from those days, some famous, some infamous, some marginal at best. He is an interesting person. He has heart, more than any other quality and he combines that with a healer's calm and a genuine respect of self and others, except when he's playing Coyote, the trickster. Some might call it an attitude; judge for yourself.
When the Marines stop following dumb orders and demand honorable missions with ethical purpose, Bob's book will have realised its mission as well. Bob has the independent bravado, an alchemy of spirit, still a Marine, a friend of Mexico, and hope for America.
Dig it, man.
