The Forever Wounded

From a USA Today news report on suicide among troops in Afghanistan:

Though findings of two new battlefield surveys are similar in several ways to the last ones taken in 2007, they come at a time of intense scrutiny on Afghanistan as President Barack Obama struggles to craft a new war strategy and planned troop buildup. There is also new focus on the mental health of the force since a shooting rampage at Fort Hood last week in which an Army psychiatrist is charged.

Both surveys showed that soldiers on their third or fourth tours of duty had lower morale and more mental health problems than those with fewer deployments. And an increasing number of troops are having problems with their marriages.
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I began the workup for my first deployment in March 1966. At the time I think almost every sailor I knew (enlisted and officer) was in favor of the war in Vietnam, each, no doubt, for his own reasons. We deployed in October of 1966 and served in the northern Gulf of Tonkin until June of 1967, when Long Beach returned to California.

My second tour began in September of 1967 after a few weeks of Terrier Guided Missile School. Our time was spend in the Tonkin Gulf and one or the other of the Search and Rescue Stations or on the Positive Identification and Radar Advisory Zone (PIRAZ) station. We served until July of 1968, when Reeves also returned to the states. During that tour, I sensed no lessening of enthusiasm for the war.

My third tour began in January of 1969 and lasted until August of the year. I was now the Weapons Officer on the Staff of Commander, Cruiser and Destroyer Forces, Seventh Fleet. We spent our time riding in gun cruisers Newport News and St. Paul, along the gun line. For the first time I began to hear officers talk about whether or not this was a good war for us to be in. There was much frustration owing to the official "Rules of Engagement," which informed us as to what actions we could take in various situations. For the first time I heard big time complaints about "having our hands tied by people in Washington." Others were increasingly aware of the rampant corruption of the South Vietnamese government and the untrustworthiness of increasing numbers of RVN troops. We began to conduct operations without first informing our "allies," since to do so meant that the Viet Cong (and increasingly the North Vietnamese Army - NVA) would know all about our plans.

Owing to injuries and school, I did not deploy for my fourth tour until October of 1971. By now I was the Weapons Officer on USS Parsons DDG-33. We divided our time between the Tonkin Gulf sations, where we would provide gunship cover for the cruiser on duty, Yankee Station, where we ran shotgun for a carrier, and the gunline, mostly in northern I Corps, near the DMZ, providing gunfire support to RVN troops in the field. Most of our time was on the gunline, where we engaged the bad guys on a daily basis. They only shot bakc at us about 3 or 4 times, without ever doing any major damage, only minor and no injuries.

By then the dissatisfaction among the enlisted men was growing into a problem. We had to check the small arms lockers numerous times each day to be on the lookout for disaffected men trying to steal hand grenades to "frag the Officer quarters or the Bridge." Some of the men talked about pressure from the wives to kiss their careers "good bye." My wife had earlier (1970 as I prepared to return to Vietnam - but was in a car accident that killed her and left me hospitalized for over four months) expressed the desire that I desert my post - both out of fear that I would be hurt or killed and out of a growing distaste for the war. Men began to report a desire to "do anything" to avoid going back into the combat zone. One man, a fellow named Teddie Short, did desert and ended up at a press conference in Moscow, USSR.

I can only imagine what it must have been like for infantry people on their third or fourth tour. Once, after a small action, someone said that navy life in the combat zone consisted of weeks of boredom and routine, punctuated by 90 seconds of terror! What the toll must have been upon the ground-pounding troops, who faced enemy action very frequently, can only be imagined. Anyone who has been in any combat is wounded for life, whether or not a shell found their body. There is no escape from those ghosts.

I sincerely hope that President Obama takes lots and lots of time to consider what to do next in Afghanistan. The life-long health of thousands of men and women depend upon his decision. He doesn't need to listen to the right-wing critics and bloviators who always urge rapid use of combat troops and some kind of panacea.

May God bless him as he thinks things through. And may God bless all of you this day. TAD+