yeah i felt a lot better about uncle ho than about the wannabe muhhahhadeen yet our posturing about like this is is what it is, man, a tempest in z't pot, man. Dig?
about the getting out biz
This whole matter has been a source of both guilt and pride, i essentially refused duty, being very wiley in manufacturing a step by step process in getting out
certainly not linear by any means
a crooked and swerving course to get out
I declared conscientious objection in Jan, 72, got grounded and sent to next base of assignment. I was training to fly KC-135 tankers out in California and from there was to fly in a tanker squadron up in New Hampshire, air refueling a squadron of F-111B nuke bombers, all for detente, except that we also would go back to southeast Asia on temp duty, TDY, for 6 months at a wop to lounge around at either U-Tapao in Thailand or on Okinawa, flying refueling patterns for all sort of armament aircraft dropping and strafing in Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia. I not only wanted out of that scenario, but also wanted out of the macho rightwing American military fascist culture. Shit I'll havta write a snippet about it/\
I had submitted the co dc request in Feb, 72, and waited and waited, mercy,
i had recused my self from alternate assignments, was on call only, and rarely, stayed off base mostly, was into the VVAW activities, then depression set in, i got away from my local freinds group, isolated, fearful, having migraines, acutely aware of what id done, mercy
contact with family absolutely shattered.
contact with former skin slithered
tho i didnt fathom the hard road i was to travel as things unravelled,
too cool,
i had to counsel with the commander and the chaplain, i saw their dubious rationalles, mercy,
i wanted to fly,
shit,
grounded,
i told them i was tired of waiting,
dc'd the co app
tho had written letters signed by newhampshirian senator
mercy,
he turned against th war
voted to end it
i had this letter from him still
somewhere in file 13
mercy
had been hanging out with a felow airman,
akid who refused duty on that base,
had gone awol one time
etc, he was antiwar
i'd meet him at a snackbar on base for lunch
i had taken off my wings and ribbons, just a plain uniform
with silver bars and nametag
and this dude had his airman's uniform,
it was against regs for occifurrs and airmansto fraternise
so it was rebellious
whatever
he got a bad dc
weall took him to th airport to board th plane fer california
adios
that's gonna go into th snippet
I cancelled my co discharge in June, 72,
unnerved and irresolute
emasculated
i went to th base chapel, snuck in th back door,
read from psalms
knew i was gonna go ahead and get out
went to th sarge
he told me about th anti-war-occifurrs clause,
resign and get either a general or honorable discharge
an administrative dc
shit, thhats when i writ that note
about wars of social revolution and liberation,
man
some call it grace
it wouldn't happen today
not at all
the Americano militarios are merciless in opposing any anti-war actions as this, but also thhe support networks have gotten much stronger.
When I declared co, I knew no one
had tried before to get contacts
no local quack quackers knew,
i went to sausalito
found this book
handbook for co's in th militario
called th ccco
went t see them in san fransisco
got a contact in nh where they gave me a name
lydia willits
so i met her in Feb 72
quacking quaker lady
what a sweetheart
mercy i loved her
she passed in 1980 of lung cancer
she smoked parliaments
i knew the local vvaw fellowship
so had connects
sure
but i faltered
i became anti-social
alone
the last days in the air farce
i had driven up north
into a mountainous alpine like country
stayed at a motel alongside the road, old wood cabins,
by a drop off on th mountainside,
lovely forest
june warmth
cool rushing streams
i got called back to get out
signed the papers and that was that
had orders not to come back
mercy
went to the antiwar club
seacoast peoples military and draft counseling center
took off the uniform left it all right thhere
on the clothes rack they had just for that purpose
free at last
mercy
http://www.vvaw.org/veteran/article/?id=593
We keep hearing from the Republicans how noble this war in Iraq is, and how necessary it is for public safety. If it's so noble, why is there no Bush family member serving there—or two, or twenty? How come other people's sons and daughters are supposed to make Iraq safe for democracy? The Bush family are never even asked why their kids and relatives aren't in harm's way.
Hell, Baby Bush even has twins; he could sacrifice one for the cause. If she were killed, they would still have one who looked exactly like the other, so they wouldn't miss her so much. And if she were blown up, they'd have a model for the plastic surgeons to consult while remaking her face. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
And hell, Brother Jeb in Florida has a whole passel of kids. Shit! They are taking forty- and fifty-year-olds and drug addicts, so his drug-user daughter could join the Marines; might even make a man out of her. Really, there have got to be thirty or forty in the Bush family alone available for combat.
Along comes Hillary Clinton, hitting Bush from the right on Iran. Well, goddamn it, she's got a daughter too. Don't be a hypocrite, Hillary. Give up your child in time for the next election.
On a similar note, remember Abu Ghraib? A nineteen-year-old woman—yes, a teenager—dog leash in hand, got blamed for torture. She came back to the good old USA pregnant, and is now in military prison.
Compare her fate with that of a chief warrant officer, an older male (probably a lifer). He tortured to death an Iraqi prisoner of war. He got a letter of reprimand and no jail time, and he's back at work as an interrogator.
Believe what they do, not what they say.
Well, Bush is now down to a 27% approval rating, and the press and Congress act like he's not a lame duck. The problem is that he's in charge, with his finger on the nukes. And he's thinking Iran must be next, because God talks to him. Nixon, at this point in his presidency, was talking to paintings of Lincoln and praying to God, not talking to God. These are dangerous times, as Seymour Hersh points out in the New Yorker.