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| In Memorium: Tim O'Connor
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Tim was born in Cincinnati in 1936 (wow, can you believe just a few years older than me). Enlisted in the Marine Corps at the age of Sixteen. As a marine he served in Korea and Vietnam and as a drill instructor at Parris Island, becoming an expert advisor on guerrilla warfare. In 1967, with the rank of gunnery sergeant, he requested his own discharge and transferred to the Army Airborne Infantry in order to return to combat in Vietnam. His tour of duty there as an Army platoon sergeant during the 1968 Tet Offensive forms the central subject of his riveting memoir, Blood Brothers.
From the Back of Tim O'Connor's Memoir, Blood Brothers
ALPHA Company Letter Announcing Tim's Death
Dear Alpha Comrades:
It is with great sadness that I inform you of the passing on 9 March 2007 of a great combat Infantryman and Paratrooper, Tim O'Conner, our 2d Platoon Leader through the worst of it in 1968.
His funeral will be 13 March in Apache Junction, Arizona. Our Alpha Comrade, Bob McGowan will represent us.
Rachel and I will send a wreath on Alpha's behalf...
Don Shive
God Bless Tim's wife Jeri and his family.
We will forever remember Tim "Sarge" O'Connor.
Daily Devotion on Grief
Sit-rep remembering Tim O'Connor on the ALPHA Company website
Thanks to the Alpha Company website for use of photograph for this article.
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SCREWIN' UP A TWO CAR FUNERAL PROCESSION
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(AFP/File/Ahmad Al-Rubaye)
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I know what you're thinking. I have given many articles the above title, but it is such a great North Carolina expression and one that aptly applies to our misadventures in Iraq.
It is as if a gaggle of bureaucrats, (meaning the "powers that be") got together before we got involved in Iraq and said, "OK, how can we f---- this up?" Well, they have on every hand.
One example of a "screw up" that is dear to my heart is one profiled in a segment last Sunday night on 60 Minutes. The story focused on how we have treated the Iraqis who joined forces with us immediately after the invasion.
Insurgents, mainly Sunnis, targeted these Iraqis for what they considered a crime- helping the Americans. So, who do these people look to for help when they realize they and their families are in danger? They look to the Americans. They come knocking and guess what: We ain't home. It is shameful.
These brave Iraqis have had very little help in getting aslyum in the United States. A state department official says in the next few months we will accept at least
7,000 refugees but this seems like a drop in the bucket to me.
VIETNAM REVISITED
(AFP/File/Ahmad Al-Rubaye)
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For years, a sizable number of Vietnam veterans (I surely don't speak for all Vietnam veterans) have felt a collective guilt because we ran off and left the people.
The feeling of despair in watching the helicopters on the
American Embassy roof(Fall of Saigon) has stayed with us all our lives.
According to the 60 Minutes Program,there seemed to be opposition, at first, to the airlift; but, then, as Americans who cared saw those poor Vietnamese refugees getting off the plane, the opposition melted.
The "powers that be", at least, stepped up to the plate and resettled over 131,000 Vietnamese in a few months. And, who can forget the baby lift. Over the years, it has made me proud. America gave a shot then of doing what it could. In fact, several of us formed a "nonprofit" to try to give back to the Vietnamese (at least something) to assuage our guilt. Our effort was only the token of building an elementary school in Vietnam, but we wanted to say
"we had not forgotten".
NOW, nada, nothing for the Iraqis?- Nothing for those Iraqis who have risked their lives to help us? We have squandered the good will by doing nothing.
"Nobody is home." Now, the people who were in the decision-making positions like Colin Powell and Condi, are "not home". And, why? Well, they want to blame it on 9-11? There has to come a point when we realize that everything can't be blamed on 9-11; potholes aren't filled, 9-11; traffic is a mess, 9-11; the stock market is up/down, 9-11; houses are selling/not selling, 9-11; stop lights not working, 9-11, Walter Reed, a mess, 9-11; gas prices out of sight, 9-11; toilets overflowing, 9-11; illegal aliens, 9-11; good/bad weather, 9-11; commute, good/bad, 9-11; spying on citizens, 9-11; not accepting Iraqi refugees who helped us, 9-11. Get the picture?
What is so sad is that it takes the news media to point out the obvious. Lord help us. kt
Webzine Related Articles:
Bush Visits Vietnam
Are Vietnam and Iraq Similar?
Revisionist History-Vietnam
Did 9-11 Really Change Us?
Vietnamese In America
Fall of Siagon
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REUTERS/F Bensch
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Monday, March 12, 2007
The men and women of our Armed Forces and their families are fighting and suffering in this war as well as the others since World War II: Korea, Vietnam, etc. We can never thank these young men and women enough.
What sacrifices have been made by the majority of American public? Most of us have been just mere spectators. Like I keep saying, What about Universal Service? We all should make a sacrifice KT
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Daylight Savings Time. Did you set your clocks ahead one hour Saturday night?
Daylight savings time is observed by most of the United States but is not observed in Hawaii, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and by most of Arizona (with the exception of the Navajo Indian Reservation in Arizona).
Beginning in 2007, daylight savings time will be extended by a month because of policy in the Energy Act of 2005.
Beginning this year, Daylight savings time in most of the U.S. begins
2 a.m. on the Second Sunday in March and ends at 2 a.m. on the First Sunday in November.
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Latest Review of Gun-Totin Chaplain
Just received GTC. It's beautiful and so well put together. Looking forward to reading it. Of course, already read jacket flaps and looked at the photos. Photos sure brought back memories. Especially like the one of the sign "Chaplin." Reminded me of the guys who built a pulpit and pews for my first tent chapel out of scrap material they scrounged around our base camp at LZ Betty - Phan Thiet.
The photo of the Chinook reminded me of the day one was hanging over our tent area blowing sand and as many of us looked at it, it suddenly just dropped to the ground, caught on fire and killed five guys inside while we looked on in horror.
I didn't know you got two purple hearts. You never spoke of it to me unless I have forgotten. And that reminded me that I never got the one I earned - that is, if getting stabbed in the leg with a poisonous pungi stake qualifies. But, I wasn't there to get a purple heart. Excuse was, "paper work got lost." That was also the excuse I was given for not getting the air medal after I had meticulously logged all my hours from being up in the chopper getting out to where the troops were almost every day of the full 395 days I was in country. Plus off shore to a Navy destroyer that had no chaplain. Well, again, I wasn't there for an air medal. So why am I even recalling it? I guess it sorta irked me at the time. gp
Recent Review of Gun-Totin Chaplain
A couple I lent Gun Totin' Chaplain too raved about it and asked permission to lend it to
another neighbor. Sorry, I told them fine but should buy a copy. They are all frustrated and crazy in thought as we are about Iraq and the entire Middle East countries, thinking we can change their
culture. They too are frustrated as to what can we do??????????? we need
a grass roots effort with those of our age groups that went thru the Vietnam
times. Any guidance or leadership??? Give us some of your rebel leadership about the Middle East issue.
I loved and appreciated your book and your style.
lc, Col, retired, USA
Review of Gun-Totin Chaplain
I experienced some of the same feelings, sensations, and thoughts during my
time at the front lines in the ETO during WWII as you expressed in your
book: the camaraderie among the troops, the concern that the front line
officers had for their men and the almost complete turn about in the rear
areas.
My assignment for several months beginning right after D-Day was
to take sound systems to forward lines in the hedgerows of France and
broadcast messages to the German troops for them to surrender. So, I
went from army/brigade headquarter (maybe two/three miles from the front
line) where my unit was stationed to the farthest forward point I could
safely (???) get. Consequently, I saw the dichotomy in existence
almost daily. It seems that experiences don't change much from war to
war.
Your book got me to thinking about things that happened to me 50 years
ago and I am surprised at how much I have dredged up. Names long
forgotten, experiences, etc. S. L.
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(Gary Hershorn/Reuters)
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OSCAR WINNERS... Well, most of my very favorites won. Alan Arkin, the grandpa in Little Miss Sunshine, won for best supporting actor.
He should have won for the forthright advice he gave in the movie, if nothing else.(see article below) I was a little disappointed, however, his acceptance speech wasn't a little more "off the cuff." He read everything off a card.
After Arkin's speech, I must confess I could not watch anymore. The award show seemed to drag and I had an immediate urge for a drink or just to go to sleep. Ellen DeGeneres, I am sure, is a great person; but, to me, her comedy did not work as host of the awards. From the commentary, I have read, many liked her as host. I repeat: "What do I know?" ...
Beautiful Helen Mirren won the best actress award for the Queen which was well deserved. Forest Whitaker won best actor for the Last King of Scotland... And a big "shout out" To Al Gore for winning best documentary for An Inconvenient Truth(about global warming. )
Sooo... Most of my favorites won(or those I cared about) expect for Adriana Barraza, who played the nanny in Babel. Let's see what happens next year. I know everyone is waiting with anticipation for another three to four hour telecast. KT
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WEBZINE TAKE ON THE OSCARS
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Airborne Press weighs in on the
Oscars.(Oscar telecast is tonight, Sunday, on ABC television.)
We deplore celebrity worship in our culture, but love movies and want to have our say. Now, we confess we have not seen all the films nominated, but what the hay, nobody is perfect.
We think best picture( hands down) should be Little Miss Sunshine. Everything about Little Miss Sunshine is right on.
If Alan Arkin doesn't win the best supporting actor Oscar, for no reason other than his clever use of cussing I"m going to be "ticked off". What teenage boy hasn't at least thought about grandpa's (Alan Arkin) advice to his weirdo, perhaps depressed, grandson: "Listen to me, I got no reason to lie to you, don't make the same mistakes I made when I was young. F---- a lotta women kid, not just one woman, a lotta women" Got to love that comment. Laugh out loud funny...
I liked Babel, nominated for best picture,
and saw the similarity to Crash. Babel was better, but not as dark, I didn't think, and had international tones where Crash dealt with our local prejudices. Babel dealt with the connectiveness of people; the chain reaction caused by one event happening in the world.
Rinko Kikuchi(Chieko), nominated for best supporting actress, plays the Japanese death mute girl; she, in my opinion has virtually gone unnoticed. In an effort to receive attention, Kikuchi's character, Chieko, resorted to exposing herself in public. Kikuchi's portrayal of a disturbed teenage is magnificant.
Babel's Amelia(Adriana Barraza) should win an Oscar for best supporting actress. Barraza plays a nanny who illegally crosses into Mexico with two American children. She was great and an example of what many from South of the Border are doing for Americans. In her case, she got caught up in this amazing drama, made some decisions which were kind of forced on her, and was caught up in a cascading series of events which eventually almost destroyed her and the children she loved.
If Babel were a true story, we can only hope that Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett would seek her(the nanny) out and gave her absolution for doing the best she could. In this movie, Barraza was fantastic and like our former Prez, Bill Clinton, we felt her pain...
I liked
DreamGirls and Jennifer Hudson, nominated for best supporting actress, but sometimes the old time musical and drama leaves me a little cold. Someone asks a question and the answer is sung. I saw DreamGirls with my eleven year old granddaughter and she liked it enough to give it a 7 out of 10. So what do I know? Zip, Nada.
I will have to say that Eddie Murphy was good and, his character was tragic, in a sense, because he let someone else define his value...
Helen Mirren should win a best actress Oscar for The Queen. As I previously stated( if anyone read it), after watching this movie, I have never been happier to be an American.
To think that in the 21st Century that we still have a monarchy makes me finally understand anew the American Revolution...
I don't care much about Best Director whether it is Inarritu, Babel; Scorsese, Departed(haven't seen); or Eastwood, Flags of Fathers; or the other two nominees...
(Flags of Our Fathers was OK but I am looking forward to seeing Letters From Iwo Jima)...
I wouldn't be unhappy to see Forest Whitaker take the best actor Oscar for The Last King Of Scotland, but I loved him best in the The Crying Game.
Remember, movies often reflect life, but the difference in life and the movies is that in movies anything can happen. Real life is not so easy. Amen. kt
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| RESOLUTION AGAINST TROOP SURGE IS SYMBOLIC
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(AFP/File/Liu Jin)
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Congress is doing some important things like passing
the nonbinding resolution opposing the Prez on the surge.
The Prez responded to the resolution's passing by saying, "I mean, it's not as if the world stops when the Congress does their duty. I already know what the debate is."
After the nonbinding concurrent, what if, maybe, shoulda, coulda, woulda, Resolution,
Congress went on to pay tribute to the Miss America pageant; Sigma Alpha Epsilon, a fraternity that my old college will be happy about; the Boy Scout Jamborees; and then the National Horticultural Therapy Week, whatever that is.
There is still more. Congress passed along a resolution that supported naming a Missouri courthouse after Rush Limbaugh's grandfather; another resolution advanced the idea that Harriet Tubman receive a pension for her work as a nurse during the Civil War; still another resolution had to do with who actually composed the lyrics to Yankee Doodle Dandy.
The political theater, however, was best summed up by an editorial in the St. Louis Post Dispatch:
"In Washington, Congress continues to talk. In Baghdad, U. S. soldiers continue to die.
(concurrent resolution:
A resolution adopted by both houses of a bicameral legislature that does not have the force of law and does not require the signature of the chief executive.)(feb 21, 2007)
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| POLITICIZATION OF THE MILITARY
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(AP/Marko Drobnjakovic)
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Of all the really sorry things that have come out of the Iraq fiasco, politicization of the military is one of the worst. There has always been a certain amount, but I don't think we've ever seen the level it has reached today.
Books like Fiasco, forcefully pointed out how the Administration (former Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld especially) chose leaders who would say what they wanted-mainly emphasizing the rosy picture of Iraq.
In fact, in a recent unusual stance for a member of Congress, John McCain voted against General Casey, former top General in Iraq, as the Chief of Staff of the Army because he said Casey had to bear responsibility for the rosy pictures he painted of the war and the worsening situation during his command.
The media plays into the politicization of the military so we can't totally blame top military officials. Headlines sell newspapers. Casey is quoted as saying something like "the troops will be home by Christmas" which relates little to the truth or reality.
We can't deny that those like Casey painted a picture that was vastly different from what we saw.
It is hard to know what all of this means other than bemoaning this mixing of politics and war strategy. For instance, I hear nothing but good commentary on the new commander in Iraq, David Petraeus, and I think it is relatively true. He has earned his stripes in many ways; but, let's face it, he is not a miracle worker; and, in my estimation, it really may be too late for Iraq or at least what we would hope to accomplish.(
Just yesterday, two car bombs exploded in Iraq killing 63 people while top officials were saying the insurgents were on the run.)
(AFP/Ali Yussef)
| How can someone like Petraeus become politicized? The President in complaining about the recent wimpy nonbinding resolution against the troop surge said something like, "This may be the first time in history that the Congress has said to its field commander, we don't support you and don't think the strategy you have chosen will work."
First of all, we don't know if Petraeus chose the so called "surge" strategy. It doesn't seem to make sense with all the rhetoric I've been reading about him. He is a strong advocate of counterinsurgency (Counterinsurgency usually involves special OP types assimilating into the population-habits, dress, not looking like a conventional soldier infiltrating and going after terrorist groups.)
So, why would a General who is a Special Forces type and believing in the Bible of counterinsurgency agree to use conventional soldiers even in greater numbers in a city when he knows that it goes against the counterinsurgency model? The answer is because the President, his commander in Chief, has gone on record as saying that "surge" is the new General's strategy. See what I mean: politicization of the military.
So, how can politicization be avoided? Let's get the Generals off television, let civilians speak for them. Parading these Generals constantly before the public compromises their integrity.
Am I a voice crying in the wilderness? Yes. The discouraging thing to me as an armchair cowboy strategist is that it seems I am only one in America who gets it. KT
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New Book: VietVet Memoir 
Commentary
