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Letters

GOOD MATERIAL

Enjoyed the article “Grunts Love Simple Stuff” and the chapter from Fatal Light very much. McDonald’s stories put a smile on my face and brought back many memories from my time in the Corps. And Anderer’s accompanying article was eye opening. I thought I knew everything there was to know about firearms, but I had never stopped to think about how the weapons of the two combatants were such a concise metaphor for the war itself. Great insight. Well done.

And I just ordered a copy of Fatal Light online. How could I not?

Keep up the good material. I look forward to every issue.

Semper Fi.

Scott Corbett
Champaign, Illinois

THE BUSINESS END

I thoroughly enjoyed Xande Anderer’s article, “The M16 vs. the AK47,” in the last issue. We who have been on the business end of this “peasant’s weapon” quickly gained a healthy respect for its accuracy and versatility in the bush. I will never forget the Fourth of July-type celebration with red and green tracers when we came into a hot LZ in III Corps and miraculously got out without losing a chopper.

The amazing thing about this weapon is that since Mikhail Kalashnikov designed it in 1947, it has remained the same. Today, after continual research and modifications of infantry weapons, we are still facing the AK in the hands of every insurgent across the globe. Even on the streets of our own cities, our police are running into it. For close-quarter firefights it remains as lethal as ever.

I still carry a permanent reminder due to my own carelessness when we killed two NVA in a tunnel with a grenade and the fragments jammed the banana clip in the rifle. Later, at a fire support base, I tried to extract the clip using my Gerber knife, and it slipped three inches into my hand, severing all the nerves. It took more than two years to regain full feeling. Later, my son asked me, “Dad, didn’t they give you a Purple Heart for the wound?” I dryly answered, “Son, they don’t give Purple Hearts for stupidity.”

This article is a classic in historical accuracy and brings back a lot of memories about the proudest year I ever spent in my Army career with the 25th Infantry Division. Tropic Lightning, Sir!

Gary D. Bell
By Email

SERIOUSLY DEFICIENT

I want to add to the debate over which was the better weapon, the M16 or AK47. In my book, Con Thien: The Hill of Angels, I devote several pages to the introduction of the Colt M16A1 rifle to the U.S. Marines in March 1967. It was a disaster.

Some Marine units were told that the new rifles were “self-cleaning.” They learned the hard way that they had a fussy weapon that needed constant, meticulous cleaning and that their lives depended on it. Even then, cleaning was not enough. Ball powder was susceptible to moisture, and the cartridge could swell in the chamber overnight, causing the soft brass cartridge to rip when ejected. Also, the magazine spring could weaken if the twenty-round magazine was kept full. Marines soon learned to put no more than sixteen rounds in the magazines.

A congressional inquiry in June 1967 exposed the new M16’s shortcomings. In a subsequent report by a House Armed Services subcommittee, Rep. Richard Ichord (R-Mo.) severely criticized both the Olin Mathieson Chemical Corporation and Colt Industries. But the report left the brunt of its criticism for the Army: “The M16 is still seriously deficient” and “the Army is guilty of ‘unbelievable’ mismanagement.”

The fix would require several modifications, including a chromed chamber and a heavier buffer mechanism. Meanwhile, many Marines and soldiers died because their primary infantry weapon had failed them.

James P. Coan
Sierra Vista, Arizona

STATED REGIONS

I look forward to receiving each issue of The VVA Veteran. I find it very informative and educational. I always read Regional Reports. I’m in Michigan, part of Region 5, and I know my regional director Dennis Cohoon, so it’s easy to spot his report.

I also look at the other regional reports to see what else is happening in our organization and compare and contrast activities in the other regions. I know fellow veterans in many states and am interested to see what’s going on in their regions, but I don’t know which states belong to which region, so it is a pain in the butt when I have to stop and guess or Google it. 

I wish it were easier to recognize which states are in each region. I think it would be helpful to your readers if you could include the member states. Thanks for your consideration and keep up the good work.

Ed Gorczyk
By Email

“An outstanding idea,” agreed Art Director Xande Anderer. Check out this issue’s Regional Reports.

HONORING CONCHS

That was a very nice article by Marc Leepson in the March/April issue about my hometown, Key West, Florida. My brother Rod (LIB 199th) and I both were in Vietnam in ’69 and actually got together when I was in Da Nang.

 I wish readers to know that Key West is honoring its hometown Conchs who served in Vietnam with a permanent monument, complete with names and dates served. Dedication is scheduled for November 11 in Bay View Park. Indeed, Key West is for veterans. Despite its current appearance, Key West has always been a military town. Thanks to Mayor Craig Cates for honoring us.

 Tony Domenech
Gainesville, Florida

HE’S PACKIN’

Just read your excellent article on Key West. I’m packin’ my bags!

Always thought it would be some place I would like to visit. Now I know for sure.

Bill Albracht
By Email

HIT WITH A VENGEANCE

Reading Larry Harris’s article on dealing with PTSD was like reading my own story with a few minor twists. I came back from Vietnam and still had a year to serve so I was not thrown into a civilian role right away. When I was finally discharged my teaching job was waiting for me, so I slid back into my old life.

I thought I was fine; Vietnam did not bother me. The shakes when I heard a helicopter, fear of fireworks, sitting in a corner at a restaurant, and discomfort when near an Asian person I thought were “normal.” It wasn’t until thirty-five years later, after my kids were grown and out on their own, that the world came crashing down on me. I had to quit teaching. I could not function.  Delayed PTSD hit me with a vengeance.

Luckily, a Viet vet friend got me hooked up with the Vet Center in Bangor, Maine. Through individual and group counseling, I stopped the downward spiral and learned ways of dealing with my PTSD. That was thirteen years ago and I still go to the Vet Center every week. I am rated 100 percent for both PTSD and Agent Orange-related leukemia. Every day I thank the Great Spirit for my friend leading me to the Vet Center.

I, too, now wear my Vietnam veteran hat with pride.

Jim Butler
By Email

RESPECT & VALIDATION

“Call It What You Want: Dealing with PTSD” hit close to home. As an Army Nurse Corps 1st Lt. during the Vietnam War I was exposed to many horrendous sights and sounds. For more than twenty-five years I avoided dealing with my symptoms of PTSD. I finally heard about a women’s group that met near Palo Alto, Calif. Thanks to some counseling and a great nurse psychologist I was able to cope and start some therapy.

Larry Harris addressed many of the frustrations I dealt with trying to get this condition diagnosed through the VA system. He used humor and described in great detail the people we both ran into at the different VA clinics. Now after forty years I, too, have been able to get help and have applied for a disability rating. To me, it is sad that there are so many stories like mine and Larry Harris’s. It feels good to get some respect and validation; too bad it took forty years.

E. Astrid Ortega
By Email

ATTITUDE

I read with interest Larry Harris’s article on PTSD. I believe I have a healthy appreciation for the living hell that way too many veterans continue to endure after serving their country in a combat situation with the death, destruction, heartbreak, and horror that can come with such an assignment.

I am a 30-year, honorable service Vietnam veteran who served seven of those years in the infamous Hanoi Hilton as a POW of the North Vietnamese after being shot down during a combat mission. I walked away from the experience with the attitude that this experience was a part of my life; it was a very painful, degrading, miserable, hurtful, humiliating experience; it will always be a part of my life; and I am the one person who is primarily responsible for how I react to that experience.

Did I always live up to that attitude? No. Did I sometimes need help? Yes. Did I ask for help? Yes. Did I get the help when I asked? Yes. I am truly sorry that Mr. Harris and thousands of others had to endure the debilitating effects of PTSD for so many years, but I am afraid too many, like Mr. Harris, “coped with PTSD as best I could.” Or  in a crowded PTSD screening room when not seen as soon as expected, he approached the problem with an attitude of “I finally asked some lifer-looking jerk about it” (I take no offense) and “Right: Same old Army BS.”

Fortunately, our government is increasingly recognizing the PTSD problem and through the VA is addressing it. I do strongly believe, however, that every counseling session should start with the thoughts of Dr. Charles Swindall: “The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. We cannot change our past, we cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude.”

Even the North Vietnamese recognized the importance of attitude when occasionally at an interrogation session they would ask, “How is your attitude today?” In their less-than-perfect English, it would come out, “How is your asstitute today?” I try each morning, as I look at a grizzled old face in the mirror, to ask myself, “How’s your asstitute today?”

Ray Alcorn
Brevard, North Carolina

EXPLAINING PTSD

The March/April article, “Call It What You Want: Dealing with PTSD,” is very important to me. I’m going to make copies for my children. It will be very meaningful when I sit down and talk with them.

Many parts of this article will go a long way in explaining my past actions when they were growing up.

Charles C. Anderson
By Email

COAST GUARD OVERSIGHT

I always look forward to the arrival of your magazine, and I was especially interested in the January/February 2015 issue that featured SEALORDS. However, I was very disappointed to find the Coast Guard mentioned only once.

As Commander of Coast Guard Division 13, I quite often rode the 82-foot vessels on their missions. To name a few, I commanded Task Unit 115.3.3, consisting of U.S.C.G.C. Point Marone and PCFs 24 and 63, deep into the My Thanh from November 24-30, 1969. During that period alone, we conducted SEALORDS missions 841, 842, 843, 845, 847, and 849. We often engaged the enemy on those missions. I rode other CG vessels on missions 427, 503, and 525 in September 1969. SEALORDS 775 ran into fierce resistance at Dung Island in the mouth of the Mekong.

This is a smattering of the involvement of the Coast Guard 82-footers in the SEALORDS missions. The captains of these vessels also took it upon themselves to delve into tighter areas using their armed 17-foot skimmers.

Duane P. Gatto
Cumming, Georgia

LUCKY SURVIVOR

Great to see an article on the River Patrol Forces; most people don’t know we existed. There was some confusion on Operation Breezy Cove and Sea Float. Breezy Cove was about a 20-mile helicopter ride west of Sea Float. I arrived there in October 1969 and joined River Division 572. The base was six AMMI Barges, plus a fuel barge; ten MK1 PBRs; and a few mobile riverine boats, including a monitor with a 105mm. There was no perimeter, just some sensors monitored by a “duffle bag” unit. When a sensor was activated, gunners mates from 572 would fire 81mm mortars.

The October 20, 1970, attack on Breezy Cove completely destroyed the base. The hootches on shore for the Seawolves were still standing. As I remember, Sea Float was hit a month or so earlier. I spent eighteen months on the Song Ong Doc as a GHG on PBR44, and as an advisor with RPG62. A very isolated and dangerous place. I’m lucky to have survived.

Ken Rosenberger
Rock Island, Washington

SWIFT BOAT

Mark Evitts, in his letter in last month’s issue, opines that “It didn’t matter that all of the accusations against Kerry were de-bunked in detail later.” Sorry, not true.

Kerry put himself in for three Purple Hearts. The first one—from a sliver in his forearm, removed with a tweezer—was declined by his commanding officer. After two were approved (requiring not a single hour of hospitalization) and his former CO rotated out, he reapplied for the first, which was then granted. After three Purple Hearts, he was eligible for an early release, which he took. Oliver North also received three Purple Hearts and declined the offer to return home ahead of his normal DEROS.  

When Kerry was asked during a press conference during his presidential campaign if he would release all his military records, he agreed. That was his chance to debunk all the claims. However, the next day he reneged on that offer and never did release his records. 

Bill Haug
Grand Forks, North Dakota

Death in a Cohort “Reports of My Death Have Been Exaggerated” —Mark Twain On a fairly regular basis I receive angry letters that Vietnam veterans are dying too early. Invariably the writers cite “Taps” as obvious evidence. I tallied up the ages of those listed in the last issue of The VVA Veteran (and discounted the AVVA member who died at 26 years old). I came up with an average life expectancy of 68.5 years. Good God, I winced, most of my friends should be dead. To make matters even more dire, I calculated that nearly three-quarters of those men died between 64 and 74. I compared that death rate historically by going back ten years to the March/April 2005 issue. Comparison was a bit complicated because the age at death sometimes wasn’t given. Also, I suspect that some obits were for men who weren’t Vietnam veterans, so I excluded two gentlemen from my count: One was born in 1922, the other in 1918. I discovered that in 2005 the life expectancy of VVA members was 60.75 years, with most members dying between 60 and 65 years old. I went into the archives to 1995 and discovered that the life expectancy of VVA members in that year was just 47 years. That figure, however, is based on just three men. In fact, in 1995, “Taps” did not regularly appear in The VVA Veteran. I had to go to the August/September issue before I found my three-man sample. VVA members are getting older and dying in greater numbers. But just because some members have died doesn’t mean that all members will die at any age. The members of VVA form a specific age cohort: Most were born between 1938 and 1955. So almost everyone who dies is from that same generation. An age-specific cohort cannot be compared with the general population. It’s comparing apples and oranges. Maybe one could profitably compare non-veterans born between 1938 and 1955, but even then one wonders what’s to be learned. We can only track who has died; not who will die. Thirty years from now statisticians may be able to determine whether Vietnam veterans lived more or fewer years on average than their fellow Americans did. Some predict that all Vietnam veterans will be dead by January 2016. That being the case, most readers should start sewing their shrouds. But that’s not the way with the men and women who make up Vietnam Veterans of America. Rather, here in life’s fourth quarter, they remain true to VVA’s motto: In Service to America. They are proud, hard working, and committed. They make substantial contributions to their communities, their states, and their nation. And they are mindful of the special obligations that they have to America’s younger veterans. Every issue of The Veteran rings with the refrain: Never again will one generation of veterans abandon another. So it’s time to celebrate those accomplishments and lives well lived. Discard those shrouds, or use them to wrap care packages for the troops, or just donate them to the Household Goods program. Crack open bottles of champagne and toast yourselves. You survived the crucible of war, and you prospered in the often-difficult aftermath of peace. It’s pointless to worry about the number of years; better to concentrate on the quality of those years. —Michael Keating, Editor