Aftermath

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.