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| Ambush position on Song Rai - March 1970 |
I'm putting this on my blog not because it was posted by my son, but because it's a striking and elegant piece of prose.
It resonates with me, and I reckon many Vietnam veterans.
I think what horrifies me most about war is how it never
actually ends.
Long after the guns fall silent, the effects linger on for
decades - in the minds of those who were psychologically scared by the conflict
- In the bodies of those wounded.
In the hearts of those who grieve.
In the
lands rendered sterile through discarded chemicals and ordinance. In the
thousands who still fall victim to weapons left behind long after armies have
stood down - to poison, and explosives, and cancer.
To the families of those
directly affected, who themselves deal with the second-hand consequences of
being raised by wounded people.
To the nations and media who lie their
histories into mythologies, to the populations who forget just enough that it
seems like the consequences are worth it.
