Month: November 2004

This is going to be a Thankgiving that will be remember for many reasons. I tried to get on to Trey’s site, but he must be working on it, because I could not get on. I did not realize it, but we decided to celebrate Thanksgiving tomorrow and guess what! It would have been Grandma’s (Mom’s) birthday. I do miss her, but still feel she is with me in spirit. It will also be my little secret.
I spent the first three days of my vacation cleaning and getting my house ready for company. Steve and I finally have curtains in the bedrooms. “hallelujah” Took 11 years, but who’s counting…me
Our first round of visitors came in a 9:30pm Tuesday night. Vernon and Sherry stopped at the truck stop on University and we met them. It was great to see Ashley. It had been so long. Her little boy is precious. We wisked Vernon away and brought him to the house. I got him to look at my pictures and see if he could find one that he would like. I had wanted to send them one, but was not sure what he would like or not. We went to bed late and slept very well. We talked to Trey and David and decided that we would meet them at Cracker Barrell for breakfast. It was a very good visit with the boys. Vernon met Mary.
Vernon is planning to write up a story of his mother and father as he remembers them. He asked that we insert a chapter from our experiences. I will have to hog tie Steve and get him to do his part. I plan to start on mine Saturday. With Frank doing the genealogy, I will be so excited to have that and a story.
Michelle Saga
On Sunday (I think), I broke down and called Michelle hoping I would not be catching her on the road. Well, in a sense I didn’t and I did. She was stuck in a small town in Arizona. She had left her friends and started out. About 90 miles outside of a small town, she broke down. Through info I hope to find out later, she had her car towed into the town. They supposedly fixed it. She started out again, and broke down again…approximately the same distance. So back to the little town. That was where she had been for a least one day…after I get statistics I will correct this. Well, that began my worry. When I talked to her, she said they had ordered the part, and it would be in on Monday. I asked her to call me and she didn’t. I waited until Tuesday, and began to get worried. When I called she did not answer. I assumed she was on the road and in an area that she could not get through. When I finally got a message from her, it was Wednesday. She was still stuck in that small town. She mentioned that her friend’s husband did fly a small plane. I thought to myself, wouldn’t that be wonderful if she could find someone to take care of her animals and get a flight to Houston. Well, Wednesday morning things looked fairly dim. I called Terri and asked what she knew. She knew almost as little as i did. There was a possible plan with Bill to go meet her and tow her and her vehicle to Santa Fe, New Mexico where Michelle is going to live next. Finally last night at 8:00pm Terri called me back. It seems that she will fly with her friend to Hobby Airport and Bill will pick her up. Terri is going to try to get a car and maybe they will be able to come this way. I am just Thankful that she will be with them and not stuck in a small town alone with her animals.
We took Vernon back to Baton Rouge last night. It really turned cold and I was glad to get back home to a warm bed. I had a headache all day yesterday. Do not know if it was stress or I was coming down with something. I hope I am not getting sick. I will up date this when I have a chance to finish. The story continues….

I received an email yesterday that made me angry. It was sent by a friend whom I had responded once before with a type of sarcastic remark, but I did not seem to get through to her about what I felt. Well, I have now. Steve said I should have let it go. Probably…but I could not stand to receive any more garbage and she seems to be the major source of it. I will copy it and my reply and let you be the judge.

Her forwarded email…she has problems with writing her own, all I usually get from her is forwarded.

If I were president my Inaugural speech would be as follows:

WOULDN’T IT BE GREAT TO TURN ON THE TV AND HEAR GEORGE W. BUSH GIVE THE FOLLOWING SPEECH’

My Fellow Americans:

As you all know, the defeat of the Iraq regime has been completed. Since congress does not want to spend any more money on this war, our mission in Iraq is complete.

This morning I gave the order for a complete removal of all American forces from Iraq. This action will be complete within 30 days. It is now time to begin the reckoning.

Before me, I have two lists. One list contains the names of countries which have stood by our side during the Iraq conflict. This list is short. The United Kingdom, Spain, Bulgaria, Australia, and Poland are some of the countries listed there.

The other list contains everyone not on the first list. Most of the worlds nations are on that list. My press secretary will be distributing copies of both lists later this evening.

Let me start by saying that effective immediately, foreign aid to those nations on List 2 ceases immediately and indefinitely. The money saved during the first year alone will pretty much pay for the costs of the Iraqi war.

The American people are no longer going to pour money into third world countries and watch those government leaders grow fat on corruption.

Need help with a famine’ Wrestling with an epidemic’ Call France.

In the future, together with Congress, I will work to redirect this money toward solving the vexing social problems we still have at home.

On that note, a word to terrorist organizations: Screw with us and we will hunt you down and eliminate you and all your friends from the face of the earth. Thirsting for a gutsy country to terrorize’ Try France, or maybe China.

To Israel and the Palestinian Authority: Yo, boys. Work out a peace deal NOW. Just note that Camp David is closed. Maybe all of you can go to Russia for negotiations. They have some great palaces there. Big tables, too. I am ordering the immediate severing of diplomatic relations with France, Germany, and Russia. Thanks for all your help, comrades. We are retiring from NATO as well. Bon chance, mes amis.

I have instructed the Mayor of New York City to begin towing the many UN diplomatic vehicles located in Manhattan with more than two unpaid parking tickets to sites where those vehicles will be stripped, shredded and crushed. I don’t care about whatever treaty pertains to this. You creeps have tens of thousands of unpaid tickets. Pay those tickets tomorrow or watch your precious Benzes, Beamers, and limos be turned over to some of the finest chop shops in the world. I love New York.

A special note to our neighbors: Canada is on List 2. Since we are likely to be seeing a lot more of each other, you folks might want to try not pissing us off for a change. Mexico is also on List 2. President Fox and his entire corrupt government really need an attitude adjustment. I will have a couple extra tank and infantry divisions sitting around. Guess where I am going to put em’ Yep, border security. So start doing something with your oil. Oh, by the way, the United States is abrogating the NAFTA treaty — starting now.

We are tired of the one-way highway.

It is time for America to focus on its own welfare and its own citizens. Some will accuse us of isolationism. I answer them be saying, “darn tootin.”

Nearly a century of trying to help folks live a decent life around the world has only earned us the undying enmity of just about everyone on the planet. It is time to eliminate hunger in America. It is time to eliminate homelessness in America. It is time to eliminate World Cup Soccer from America.

To the nations on List 1, a final thought. Thanks guys. We owe you and we won’t forget. To the nations on List 2, a final
thought. Drop dead.

God bless America.

Thank you and good night.

If you can read this, thank a teacher. If you are reading it in English, thank a soldier.

My response: This is a typical republican response.
My response to her is as follows:

Sherrell,
I love you very much, but the election of Bush in my eyes is an affront to
christianity. Jesus taught us to love thy neighbor as ourselves. He never
once preached war. Granted he did die for our sins, but his death seems to have been for naught when educated people continue to think that the first way to keep you safe is to bomb and kill people in other countries. It
distresses me to think because a woman chooses to have an abortion it is
more dangerous than to send the children we raised and protected all their lives to a country to be killed, degraded and possibly tortured. Please do not send me any more letters in reference to him.
It is hard for me to understand how the people in my generation can approve of the war in Iraq. But who am I to judge those that do. But my feelings have been formed by my religious beliefs. War should be the last resort. People should be allowed to choose how they live as long as they do not threaten our life. But we take those individuals to task, not an entire group of individuals just because they have the same religion.
I have friends that are homosexual. It is not my place to change them.
I have friends that were killed in Vietnam, or came back ill and died from
something received over there, or even worse came back unable to lead a
productive life. Did we truly solve the problem. No. Is Korea solved’ No.
Are we solving the problem in Iraq’ NO All I pray for now is that, God will
intervene and help us out of the turmoil.
I thank the soldiers that make a committment and stand by it. It takes
integrity to do so, even when you do not believe in the cause. (And I knew
quite a few of them in Vietnam and some in this war.) As a mother, I pray
every night that they will all come back safely and soon.
No, I am not happy that Bush was elected. I am in fact extremely depressed.
I dread the things that he will do in the next four years. Hopefully, he
will not have the power that I feel he has now to do any more damage than what he has done already.
I want to hear from you, but if you can not accept my beliefs, then I am
deeply sorry. I love you and respect your right to believe differently, but
I know I can not change you and will not try.
Love, Claudia

I also had a letter from one of my classmates that I had saw at the reunion. This is a very good letter to let people know from the source what it is like….

Nam was a meat grinder. I quit Pharmacy School at UT after my 4th year (of 6) to be a Marine grunt. Altho I was against the war, I felt obligated as an American to earn my right to protest. Besides, I felt bulletproof. I had the confidence to survive. Better me than someone who couldn’t handle himself. If I saved even one kid’s life, that justifys it for me.
To go from a war protester to a marine SGT running 3-man assassination teams was not exactly what I had in mind when I volunteered. But I gave it my best shot, literally. I did that for 11 months and 27 days. Six days after leaving Nam, I was discharged into a lion’s den. No shrink, no
decompression. Just pot and alcohol to get me through. Looking back, I think surviving Nam was the worst part of the war. I was diagnosed with PTSD seven yrs ago and am now in therapy. The sad part is that I killed better people than the folks I live among. I’ve lost all respect for the average American, and there’s no therapy for that. I came to despise the pampered flag wavers who contributed no more to this country than a vote to send poor kids to war. And it’s happening again.

I returned to protest the war, but from first-hand experience. Of the 3.5
million who served in the SE Asia theater, only about 15% of us saw combat on a regular basis. I earned my right to bitch.

When I returned, I wanted to talk about my experiences, but no one cared to listen. My girlfriend at the time was like you. She preferred to know nothing. So for 15 yrs, I never spoke of my experiences except with those who knew.

My Scout Sniper Platoon was a secretive bastard unit that was pretty much treated like a crazy aunt in the basement. We were misfits who did stuff few people wanted to do. If you get the chance, see the movie SNIPER with Tom Beringer. It’s about Scout Snipers, but after VN and with a lot of hollywood. Still, you’ll see what I’m talking about. Even other Marines shied away from us. But now, we’re infamous. Because we did so well in VN, America now maintains a permanent sniper force. Prior to Nam, all American sniper units were disbanned between wars. Because snipers aim at what they kill, they were viewed as premeditated murderers. Duh!

I now give talks to school kids from Jr High to college. I’m also Austin
Chapter President of the Tx Assn of Vietnam Veterans, as well as State
President. Pictures of me appear in several sniper books, and I operate a
veteran related business so that I won’t have to deal with regular people.
Life ain’t great, but I’m working with it.

Unfortunately for those who hung onto my friendship, my anger will never go away. I’ve learned to manage it for the most part, but I’ll never be BEST ALL AROUND again. I lost a lot of time and some wonderful ladies who never understood. There is no healing for combat stress, Claudia, only a bandaide to cover a sucking chest wound.

And for the rush and the power to deal life and death…..I’d do it all over
again. How’s that for a sick puppy’

Don

This is what I heard from many soldiers, but most did not say they would go back. He is more than likely not the only one that feels that way. They just do not fit back into our society. I hope for his sake that he will find peace. But I am afraid this will not happen.

The world continues to go around. No matter what you think, things will continue even in a state of depression. 🙁 But life does truly go on.
David asked me how things were going in school. It was the end of a day that was not the best, but not the worst.
Once again we will be testing on Monday. This is just progress monitoring, but it causes a problem with the groups. Once again, we are facing changes. The strangest thing is that we will be monitored on the 17 thru 19, so I do hope that the new change will not cause problems.
I find that I need to find a way to assist specific children so that they can catch up with the others. Two of mine are having difficulty and need extra assistance. I just can not figure out how to find them more time.
I had a good visit with both my boys today. That always lift my spirits. It was great to see Mary.
I talked to Michelle later and found out that everything is the same and they are coming on Friday after Thanksgiving!!! Hurray!!!

Well, I did take a trip back into the past. The minute I saw one person I was happy. I had debated and debated about staying more than one night. It took seeing some people and realizing, I would like to see more. The first night was at a very small restaurant, but there were people there that made me glad I had come.
The second night was at Lamar University. This was very interesting. I was able to see some that I had really wanted to see. It is strange how talking to people from your childhood can make you feel young even when they are as old as you are.
I was also very proud of Steve, he let me flirt and did not even get mad. Boy, did I flirt. He only commented about one, but I was hugging and flirting with quite a few.
It is strange that even though I did not date in high school and was probably more aloof than I should be because of not wanting to encourage anyone. I found out that I had been popular with some of the guys. Boy was that a shock. Oh, don’t get me wrong. I was friendly. I would talk with lots of people and felt comfortable talking with almost anyone. But I was on the shy side.
Needless to say, my entire trip back to the past was excellent. I do hope that I can stay in touch with those I care about.