"It don't matter. It don't mean nothin."

 
"Nunez swallowed his beer, let out a stream of profanity before landing on a sentence that he repeats a lot these days. “It’s worthless, and it’s never going to end.”"  Washpost

---------------------------------

The title of this post is something that survivors of the Vietnam War remember well.  The immortal riflemen of that war were often heard to mutter this as they passed in their weary ranks.  It expressed well the nihilism of the "blooded" combat soldier.

PFC Nunez is a lot like a soldier of those long gone days, weeks, months, years, etc.  He joined the US Army to know what war was.  Now he knows.  He has "seen the elephant."  He can go home now, if he can manage the trip.

War scars more than the body.  Doors are opened that can never be closed.  Paths are walked that can never be forgotten.  How trite such statements are, but... 

It is remarkable that discharged combat veterans cause so little trouble in civilian society among people for whom they have little remaining sense of kinship.  Whatever damage they do is usually limited to destructive things they do to themselves.

Armies are necessary because humans are not angels and cannot be trusted to behave well.  War is, and will be.

Policy?  Obama's policy?  Bush's policy?  PFC Nunez has learned well the irrelevance of policy to those who must live with the results of any leader's war policy.  For people like Nunez, policy, any policy is a sick joke no matter how well intentioned it may be.  pl

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/national-security/obamas-afghanistan-plan-gets-mixed-reviews-from-grunts-at-fort-campbell/2011/06/25/AGZyaWmH_story.html?hpid=z1

 

Comments

[11B40]

And now it's PFC Nunez's turn to be the "walking, talking miracle".

http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/johnnycash/driveon.html

[Nancy K]

Col Lang, if a president, any president asked our troops what they wanted, what would they say? "It's worthless and it's never going to end" is a mantra but if these soldiers could suddenly have a say in what they were putting their lives on the line for, what do you think they would say? Would they want to leave or continue or just not be lied to.

[ked]

cogent, Col.
in the Deep South, a popular observation over the past 20 yrs has been "ain't nothin' but a thang..." & "it don't mean shit". I guess existentialism is experienced more than understood. for some reason, my own reaction was recall of this VN War era tune...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nE_gIPevPG4

[VietnamVet]

Colonel,

Thanks.

For this reason the troops are coming home. Corporate Propaganda about Warriors does not work for anyone who’s been or knows Grunts.

This morning news radio started talk about ending Postal Service. Shortly letters will be mailed to Social Security recipients that their checks will stop if Congress does not raise the debt limit. The Housing Market outside of DC is dead. The USA cannot afford trillion dollar wars that never end.

The Elites will try to keep the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars going with Contractors. But, without American troops stationed in country, the thousands left behind will be either overrun or Congress will cut off their funding.

[Patrick Lang]

NancyK

They don't ask to be released from the Inferno. The worse it gets the more dangerous they are to the enemy or anyone else who acts like an ass. pl

[flite]

For me it is a scab that never seems to heal, even after four decades.

Today once again, you have picked away at that old sore scab.

But truly, it is not your fault. Indeed, it don't matter. It don't mean nothing. It ain't no thang.

[Patrick Lang]

flite

Did you fight there? If you did, it was probably the central event of your life. You should not expect your wound to heal. pl

[flite]

pl, I did. Although I had it relatively easy compared to many who fought there.

For many years I was able to mostly compartmentalize it. Now as I age, it all keeps on coming back, little by little. And as you correctly imply, it always will I suppose.

[Patrick Lang]

flite

We are like the Fisher King. pl

[flite]

Yes, Col. Perhaps we are.

[Paul Escobar]

Flite,

You have a great website.

The chronological organization gives the site the feel of an actual book. The stories are long enough to be meaningful, & concise enough to accommodate people from my ADD afflicted Twitter generation.

Thanks for sharing!

[ked]

& so on it goes...
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2011/06/27/francis-roy-canada-soldier-kandahar_n_885738.html

[YT]

世の中を　憂しとやさしと　おもへども　飛び立ちかねつ　鳥にしあらねば

I feel the life is / sorrowful and unbearable / though / I can't flee away / since I am not a bird.

Yamanoue no Okura (山上 憶良)

[Cloned Poster]

Well done flite on mastering the interwebs and providing a great historical account.

I wonder if you ever post on

http://www.pprune.org/rumours-news-13/

[flite]

Paul E.,

Thank you for your kind words.

[Mj]

Flite

Nice site.

What you are describing may well be late onset PTSD

http://www.ptsd.va.gov/public/pages/ptsd-older-vets.asp

As my dad aged it got worse to the point that that crummy "Pearl Harbor" movie deeply disturbed him bringing back memories of his years in the Pacific. While there may well have been folks who had it worse I wouldn't underestimate the cumulative impact of 197 combat missions.

[flite]

Mj,
Thank you for that. And perhaps there is some truth in what you say. All who have as they say, "seen the elephant" will forever be affected in some way.

My memory of a few specific missions will always linger, I suppose. But the only time I was ever really affected in decades hence was four years ago at a local community 4th of July celebration with lots of fireworks.

The fireworks suddenly and unexpectedly, really got to me... they looked like SAMs and AAA. Bad memories. I turned away. But the loud reports (which I could not even hear back then in Vietnam) even rattled me further. I had to leave while apologizing to my wife who stayed, and I went home somewhat shaken. Fortunately for the past three years, those same fireworks no longer bother me. I'm OK. I'm lucky. Many are not. Nevertheless I will always, forever, remember....

[Mj]

flite

A couple of summers ago my wife and I were wandering around a wildlife management area on Eisto Island. We came out of a tree line and onto a path on a dike and I said whoa, this looks like a place time in the Mekong Delta that is burned in my brain. Later I searched some youtube videos and found one of an AF airstrike on a tree line in the Delta and showed it to her. "Oh my" was about all she mustered.

[Thomas]

flite,

During your Christmas CAP, was it a conscious tactical decsion for the attacking flights to come in with their lights on?

By the way your taunting runs over the AAA school probably earned a medal and promotion for the man who brought in those 85mm guns.

Nice site.

[Thomas]

Sir,

Speaking of Christmas, when talking with the adversarial survivors of Song Be, did you meet the man who started your Christmas light show? If so, was he Roman Catholic too?

[Patrick Lang]

Thomas

No. We captured men from those battalions in Fenruary and March 1969 but so far as I know not those men. The Vietnamese generally like Christmas.

What is "flite's" site? pl

[Medicine Man]

http://flitetime.net

The link is in his signature, Col.

[DanM]

Col.,
You've probably got a bunch of answers already, but you just have to click on flites name, which takes you here: http://flitetime.net/

[optimax]

flite's site.

http://flitetime.net/