Month: October 2005

Cross posted from The Mystery of the Haunted Vampire

Have you ever had good news that you wanted to share, but you worry about jinxing it if you talked about it?

Do you throw a pinch of salt over your shoulder if you spill it?

If so you’re not alone. Lots of people are superstitious.

But I do know that I won’t go through the pain I experienced in 1972 and 1973, when those boys came home broken and damaged.  I will not allow anyone the chance to call them baby killers, murderers and the like, not again.  Yes they chose to serve, yes they were forced to go into a war that is illegal and immoral.  I am sure there will be those who enjoy killing as in all wars, whether American soldiers or any other soldiers in the world.  But to place the derisive term killer on every soldier, marine, airmen or sailor is wrong in my humble estimation.

Brenda was there, as were some others who post on this site,  working on those broken men and boys, so was I and it profoundly changed me as a human being.  Yes Brinn I am over the top and this is the reason why I have gone over the top.  Until such time as you have seen a man physically mutilated from a war that was not of his choice to participate in and to watch him slowly die before your eyes, none of you will know the horrors these men have faced and will continue to face when they return.  

I certainly cannot say it better than this Article!

Sgt. 1st Class James MacKenzie plays “Taps” for Army Ranger Capt. Russell B. Rippetoe on April 10, 2003. Rippetoe, 27, was the first soldier from the Iraq conflict to be laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery.
(Photo: Charles Dharapak / AP)

I’m not feeling all that much like writing.  We all go through patches, I suppose.  So, if you clicked here thinking you were going to get some long, perhaps entertaining, perhaps boring, recitation — some slice of my life — sorry to disappoint you.

But I have to write this.  We — the American community — do need to take action to try to stop our President and his bullshit war.  And I need to co-opt your bandwidth for five minutes.

I know there are some Michigan posters on here.  I am reaching out to them.  My local anti-war group will be holding a Peace Vigil to honor the fallen soldiers in Iraq when their number grows to 2000.  The vigil will also beg our fellow citizens for the sanity of peace.  If you are anywhere near mid-Michigan, please consider joining us at this vigil.

A dozen years ago a couple of friends and I were just sitting around on a rainy evening and we got a phone call. Never guess who it was….