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Date Posted: Sun, May 27 2018, 1:51:35 PDT
Author: Ken de Russy (Foxhole Atheist)
Author Host/IP: NoHost / 172.92.227.113
Subject: Gratitude to All Who Served

We were all raised immersed in post WW2 patriotic hysteria, brainwashed to believe that we should be ready, as our parent's generation were, to fight evil and protect the American Way. I was not then equipped - not nearly grown up enough - even as well as many of my contemporaries were, to see through the propaganda. Although deluded by the unrealistic portrayal of war as shown in the war movies that my older brother and I watched incessantly I still had no real inclination to attempt to prove my mettle (I was pretty sure I had none) by doing any serious fighting. I did have a vague but mostly undefined sense then that I would be doing something noble by serving. I most likely would never have enlisted had it not been a certainty I would be drafted. I chose the Air Force in large part because it looked like I would not be exposed to any serious action. Less than a year from when I enlisted I was hating my duty (Fresno!!!) and began to think the horror of the shit work I was doing might actually be all that I would experience. I worried I would not see the war at all so I volunteered to go to Nam.

After being there for a few months I had seen little excitement. I worried that I might see no action so I volunteered to serve at a particularly dangerous place in the Central Highlands. I realized after I got there that I may have slightly overshot my mark. It turned out that there was a concentration of some 20,000 enemy forces about 35 miles away.

The action in this video https://tinyurl.com/y7e5nden began right after I arrived at Camp Coryell at Ban Me Thuot. For the duration of the 3 months I was there the siege of Duc Lap and Bu Prang threatened, at least in my mind, to overwhelm us even though we were about 40 miles away. Reports of 20,000 NVA engaged in the siege made each of the frequent attacks on Camp Coryell feel even more ominous. Each time we got hit I couldn't be sure that it wasn't the first trickle of what would quickly turn into an overwhelming avalanche of screaming commies all yelling "Yankee you DIE!!" just like in some of the war movies I watched as a kid. The main helicopter unit in support of Kate, Bu Prang, and Duc Lap came from the 155 Assault Helicopter Company in the middle of which was the tiny USAF Air Traffic Control unit I was assigned to defend. There was constant helicopter activity on all sides of my tower post.

The audio I recorded from my tower https://tinyurl.com/yafxd6o3 gives a pretty real sense of the chaotic cacophony of sounds, if not the sights of what some nights were like. Here are photos of Tuy Hoa and Ban Me Thuot. https://tinyurl.com/zmafagc

The fighter bomber support included aircraft likely from my home base Tuy Hoa on the beach about 90 miles away.

My service was unremarkable. I was a well below average troop but I did what they told me to do. Compared to the serious combat huge numbers of others experienced there, my service was like a vacation. But I do tend to obsessively think about it many times each and every day. I use the memory of that year in Nam as a positive motivator. I have become over the years increasingly aware of how my survival was the result of stronger and more mature men who kept me alive. I initially felt gratitude toward those who I served closely with and then gradually expanded that feeling of gratitude to apply to those who served in other parts of the country and even to those who served before and after I was there. Over time that led me to realize more clearly that there have always been those who have been willing to serve and by doing so we are given this marvelous life. I am keenly aware, especially at night, that there are some men and women who are at every moment, hunkered down in some defensive position, staring intently out into the darkness terrorized by the fear that they may fail to see the enemy crawling toward them. Being targeted by a determined enemy gunner brings life into a uniquely perfect focus. This is a feeling I know too well. It is because others are willing to do that that we live such good lives. Everyone who serves knows that this kind of terror may await them.

I have a special affection for my veteran friends. We swore a sacred oath to defend our Constitution and to bear true faith and allegiance to the same. I believe making such a solemn pledge sets us apart from all those who have not. I am reminded of the Christian bumper sticker "I am not perfect, just forgiven." We veterans are not necessarily special but we did pledge our lives to the defense of our freedom. The full sense of what my oath means grows in my mind every day and becomes clearer and clearer. With each veteran I meet I have good reason to be hopeful that they retain a fealty to that oath and the great values embodied in our Constitution. Regardless of how great the span of time has been since the uttering of that oath I believe I can count on all veterans to keep that oath. That is both inspiring and reassuring to me. I am thankful for all who have served. Thank you for your service. Thank you for that feeling of comfort and security I feel. Veterans past and present made it possible.

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