I have a coworker who is a Vietnam veteran, and we have had some discussions over the years regarding the current state of the world. Often, we will compare the world as it used to be – particularly during the time of the Vietnam conflict – with the present situation as we see it today.
His lending me this particular book on that particular weekend (Memorial Day weekend, that is) was something! With all of the talk of the sacrifices that our young men and women have given in service of their country, many giving the ultimate sacrifice, it was refreshing to hear of this experience not from the well-versed lines of politicians seeking either to keep or obtain a certain desired office in this election year, but to hear the experience more directly from those who were actually there. Let us remember, after all, that many of those who make speeches and policies that went far in getting us into the present wars, or in continuing them now – Bush, Cheney, Obama, and Romney – did not actually fight in any wars themselves. President Obama was too young, but the others were conspicuous in their absence. In fact, the United States has not actually had a veteran of a war in office since Clinton took the oath in January of 1993, when George H. W. Bush left office.
There are some similarities of the present wars in Afghanistan and Iraq to Vietnam, of course. But we should not go too far with this. On some levels, the world back then seems almost quaint by way of comparison with the world as it is now. As shady as the reasons and diagnoses that politicians gave for the Vietnam War may have been – and they certainly raise some eyebrows – they were nonetheless unique to that time. We do not inhabit that world any longer, and the old notions of some Domino Effect and the threat of the spread of Communism seem perhaps preferable to the high tech but invasive world that we have now, including the often invisible but ever persistent threat of terrorism, the effects of which we often see on our television on the nightly news, or increasingly for many of us, streaming on the internet.
Yes, we have wars going on right now. Wars, in the plural, that is. It could be argued that we were fighting wars in the plural back then as well, and that without even going outside of Southeast Asia! It was all intertwined, but nonetheless, Cambodia and Laos were suspected of being involved at different times, and on differing levels. Yet, the wars that we are fighting today –despite officially being labeled under the auspiciously wide umbrella of “war on terrorism”, are nonetheless, undeniably, separate wars.
I am not going to get into the details of the merits, or the lack thereof, of those wars now, or of the Vietnam War back in the 1960’s and 1970’s. Instead, I will stick with this book of poetry, which features perhaps different aspects of the conflict than you may have been exposed to before. It was an eye opener on many levels to me, as well, and allows you to get more of a feel of the war from an insider’s perspective.
These are true, first-hand accounts of the war and, again, the people that wrote them (with one exception) were actually there! These are not pretty and polished political speeches that are just part of a grander scheme for self-promotion. One of these poems was written by a veteran who was killed weeks after writing it. These poems, these words, are the real deal, from the grunts who had to fight the war! Here, the words express the fears, the uncertainty, the fatigue with everything from the invisibility of the enemy, to the excessive heat, the relentless rains that fell, the mosquitoes, the lack of respect for the native people, the suspicion of those same native people, regret for one’s own actions, and often a lingering resentment to those back home still living comfortable lives in comfortable homes, nestled in comfortable neighborhoods, far from the reality of the horrors of the war.
I was going to include some of my personal favorite parts of poems here and there, but ultimately, decided against it. First of all, poems may have some great lines in them, and many of these certainly do, allowing you to enjoy their beauty, or perhaps even their harshness, or simply getting you to think. But these poems are complete works, and deserve to read as such. Also, I did not want to influence any reader, lest they perhaps someday find themselves fortunate enough to be holding a copy of this book someday (it is a little difficult to do, since this is not an easy book to get your hands on, being somewhat rare, from what I can tell). We each have our own favorites of a poetry book, and for our own reasons. Every reason is valid, for that matter, because it speaks to our own experience.
So, if you can and are so inclined, try and find a copy of this book, and read the war experience as it was felt by those who were actually there at the time, and make up your own mind. It is well worth it!
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