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Tuesday, March 13, 2001

"… As a first rule of thumb, therefore, you can tell a true war story by its absolute and uncompromising allegiance to obscenity and evil"

– Tim O’Brien author of "The Things They Carried"

Tim O’Brien is most recognized for his writings about Vietnam. He is also a native Austinite. I read his book when our baby-sitter went off to college at Macalister and told us the book was required reading for incoming freshman.

What I remember from the book was the time the "hero" spends "hanging out" on the border waters between Minnesota and Canada. This, after receiving his draft notice in a town much like Worthington, facing a decision – should he flee or should he face the draft.

The same dilemma faced many of us during that time.

I know myself that I had made application to the Peace Corps. At least in the Peace Corps I would be helping others, as opposed to killing them.

I was accepted for Peace Corps training but graciously declined.

As a teacher I felt my chances of being drafted were slim and I was not about to volunteer to go to war.

I was drafted anyway. And I did get to Vietnam where I served as an operations clerk with a 105 artillery support group. This followed eight months of training at Schofield Barracks in Hawaii.

I didn’t directly see as much of the evil O’Brien speaks of, as so many did.

My eight months in country, I lived on Artillery Hill, which was the highest point of elevation comprising brigade headquarters a short mortar distance from Duc Pho. There were 60 bunkers surrounding brigade headquarters.

We had bunkers to man, something I was able to avoid my first four months there. Then I joined the rotation.

Sometimes we ended up pulling guard duty every other night. At first it was with two others every third night. We would go to the bunkers at 6 p.m. and stay there until 6 a.m. the next morning. With three people in the bunker, we each had one three-hour shift. With two, we had three two-hour shifts each, alternating. This was wearing, but on the other hand it could have been perceived as living in luxury compared to those out in the bush.

One learned to look forward to the full moon when serving guard duty and being more on edge when there was no moon. We would request flares be fired that would turn the dark to light for a few seconds – then total darkness again and quiet fear.

Occasionally the Viet Cong would breach the perimeter and toss satchel charges in the bunkers taking out whoever happened to be there that night.

Back then in the ’60s, a number of young men signed up for the National Guard as an option. That made sense. Some protested the war. That too, made sense. A few gave up their citizenship and went to Canada, and for them, that, too, made sense. The only thing that didn’t make sense, at least to me, was the war itself.

Our former president was against the war. This may have been the most courageous stand to take, yet, as president he was able to fill the role of commander-in-chief.

Now we have a new commander-in-chief, he didn’t protest the war. He joined the Air National Guard, and if I’ve read right – he escaped some of that duty.

Now when he talks to troops, you’ll notice he speaks to National Guard units. I wish he would also speak to some regular Army bases too. I presume he lacks the stature.

In his short command, our national defense forces have not exactly been a light in shinning armor so to speak. Within days of his inauguration, a helicopter crashed and killed a number of soldiers on a training exercise near Schofield Barracks on Oahu. Next the submarine that surfaced without taking necessary precautions striking the Japanese boat taking nine lives to the bottom of the sea, some of them students.

Only later we find out that this was not even a scheduled training session but an exercise to let civilians experience a joy ride. Action on that should be immediate; leaving me to wonder – who’s in charge?

Next, the Air National Guard plane and crew that crashed and burned.

These are not the fault of our current commander-in-chief however, they’ve occurred on his watch and fall outside the realm of his self-proclaimed "compassionate conservatism" where hard life exists – where you are expected to lead.

Then there is the humiliating spy vs. spy matter.

This would be a good time to be writing for Mad Magazine- our source of comfort in junior high.

Incidentally, Tim O’Brien, who was born in Austin, used to live on Fourth Street NW (old Kenwood) – not far from Richard Eberhart’s birthplace. See, there is more to Austin than just SPAM.