LIVING OUT LOUD FOR GOD last three blogs (go to archives)!

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Saturday, May 29, 2010

Memorial Day- Vietnam memories ... a snapshot of a Generation

Memorial Day
Vietnam Memories
with huge gaps--long war--quick snapshot
(with over 50 research links for help)
Saturday, May 29, 2010


"Wesley ~ 23 months old"  donated by Wesley's dad James Minicozzi


STOP, CHILDREN. WHATS THAT SOUND
EVERYBODY LOOK WHATS GOIN' DOWN




Part 2 Memorial Day – Memories of a distorted social message filled with contradictions and a damaged generation lost and confused. This is no way minimizes the wars and soldiers fighting before then, since then, and today- it is ONLY a reflection of the WAR that I grew up in. The study  was inspired by appreciation. How can I be thankful for sacrifices I have no understanding of? So, I begin with memories. Study more, because that’s just part of who I am, and share it because I believe I missed the value for far too long and offer it up as GIFT to those I failed to appreciate. 





I was in 5th and 6th grade when I can first remember being involved in the war protests on the streets on NYC. Thought I knew it all in those days! Yes 6th grade, I guess 11 or 12 years old. The “hippies were still groovy” and sex, drugs, and rock and roll…PEACE MAN PEACE were the cultural messages I was hearing. My home life was such that any alternative had to be better. (I ran away from home for the first time at age 12) It was a frightening culture to up in, extremely narcissistic. The music of the day was one of the biggest influences on the social opinion of the generation and depicts it better than any words I can come up with. So I am combining memories, photo,s and music (you tube) to share with you-  a snapshot with holes in -just too much to information without turning it into a book!



I do want to add, that before 1989 my understanding of the aftershock to the Veterans of Vietnam was very limited. At that time I was working for a drug and alcohol rehab center and the Veterans Hospital was one of the places that used to call me when they had an admission. The primary counselor I spoke to there had been fighting for PTSD to be included as a accepted medical diagnosis (in DSM II) by the American Medical Community for over 15 years by then. It was through her I saw what a horrible reception our veterans received when they came home. The disrespect and lack of care given by the government and the general public was a new perspective I was unaware of prior to that. I got a truly deep understanding of the impact on the soldiers of Vietnam. A bit late.




I was remembering my own transitions through the career of Eric Clapton and others as well as some photos. What memories!
The draft, protests, the news, the images home and there….and more

THE INTERNET: THE WORLD at our fingertips.


.
Americans Who Support PTSD Veterans
Veterans Affairs (VA) 
Statistics: 
Average of 18 vets 
commit suicide each 
and every day.

The full History of 
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)  
can be found at source link below but this is the nutshell:

“In 1980, the American Psychiatric Association added PTSD to the third edition of its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-III) nosologic classification scheme. Although a controversial diagnosis when first introduced, PTSD has filled an important gap in psychiatric theory and practice. From an historical perspective, the significant change ushered in by the PTSD concept was the stipulation that the etiological agent was outside the individual him or herself (i.e., the traumatic event) rather than an inherent individual weakness (i.e., a traumatic neurosis). The key to understanding the scientific basis and clinical expression of PTSD is the concept of "trauma."
In its initial DSM-III formulation, a traumatic event was conceptualized as a catastrophic stressor that was outside the range of usual human experience. The framers of the original PTSD diagnosis had in mind events such as war, torture, rape, the Nazi Holocaust, the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, natural disasters (such as earthquakes, hurricanes, and volcano eruptions) and human-made disasters (such as factory explosions, airplane crashes, and automobile accidents). They considered traumatic events as clearly different from the very painful stressors that constitute the normal vicissitudes of life such as divorce, failure, rejection, serious illness, financial reverses and the like.”
History of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder : 

1980! 
A long time for those suffering…TOO LONG FOR SOME! 
Below is also a list of helpful links for those that still haven’t found their way home
 (from many locations in hell- not just Vietnam).


jimmy hendrix all along the watchtower
12 DAYS LATER HE DIES OF HEROIN OVERDOSE



Vietnam Era Music

Top Ten Hits from each year of the war

A FUN SITE - AT LEAST PARTS OF IT!



     "If you are able, save for them a place inside of you
 and save one backward glance when you are leaving 
for the places they can no longer go.

Be not ashamed to say you loved them,
 though you may or may not have always. 
Take what they have taught you with their dying
 and keep it with your own.

And in that time when men decide
 and feel safe to call the war insane,
 take one moment to embrace
 those gentle heroes you left behind.

Major Michael Davis O'Donnell
1 January 1970
Dak To, Vietnam
Listed as KIA February 7, 1978










Vietnam Battle field Timeline starting from 1954 : http://www.pbs.org/battlefieldvietnam/timeline/index.html

Guerrilla Tactics: The Vietcong were masters at moving
 through and blending into the local terrain (PBS)

“Guerrillas war is a kind of war 
waged by the few but 
dependent on the support of many”
 B. H. Liddell Hart quotes (British military historian and strategist, 1895-1970





(MAY  1970) A confusing social message: President Nixon is telling the American public that he is trying to end the war and bring our boys home and then ANNOUNCES he is EXPANDING WAR EFFORTS TO CAMBODIA….. it sparks protests everywhere…but most memorable to me, and newsworthy was, Kent State University where the United States National Guards Murders four protesting students.


My Lai Massacre: An atrocity, one of many, 
Consider before you judge what it felt
like to the soldiers under orders. 

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic-art/248353/109002/Vietnamese-citizens-photographed-during-the-My-Lai-Massacre-March-16 

(March 16, 1968) Mass killing of as many as 500 unarmed villagers by U.S. soldiers in the hamlet of My Lai during the Vietnam War. A company of U.S. soldiers on a search-and-destroy mission against the hamlet found no armed Viet Cong there but nonetheless killed all the elderly men, women, and children they could find; few villagers survived. The incident was initially covered up by high-ranking army officers, but it was later made public by former soldiers. In the ensuing courts-martial, platoon leader Lt. William Calley was accused of directing the killings and was convicted of premeditated murder and sentenced to life in prison; but Pres. Richard Nixon intervened on his behalf, and he was paroled after three years. The massacre and other atrocities revealed during the trial divided the U.S. public and contributed to growing disillusionment with the war.
For more information on My Lai Massacre, visit Britannica.com.

Yes…some of our boys make it home
 but in what condition?

One quarter of the homeless people in America are military veterans. That’s one in every four. Is that ragged man huddled on the steam grate in a brutal winter wind a Vietnam vet? Did that younger man panhandling for pocket change on the street corner fight in Kandahar or Fallujah?
Americans who supports Veterans with PTSD
http://www.capveterans.com/americans_who_support_ptsd_veterans/index.html


I love u....and I remember!


Fall of Siagon 1975 ELO Sorrow About to Fall



Source materials:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam_War
Time Archive The Vietnam War: http://www.time.com/time/archive/collections/0,21428,c_vietnam_war,00.shtml
History of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder :  http://cybersarges.tripod.com/ptsdhistory.html
Vietnam Era Music :Top Ten Hits from each year of the war: http://www.ichiban1.org/html/music.htm
Vietnam Battle field Timeline starting from 1954 : http://www.pbs.org/battlefieldvietnam/timeline/index.html
The Wall: http://thewall-usa.com/gallery.asp
For more information on My Lai Massacre, visit Britannica.com
Vietnam- story in pictures: http://www.vietnampix.com/intro.htm
POW’S & MIA
EDUCATIONAL
LITERARY
MEMORIAL LINKS:

HELPFUL LINKS:
Web Addresses
Description
http://www.nara.gov/regional/mpr.html
National Personnel Records Center, Military Personnel Records Web Site
http://www.nara.gov/regional/mprsf180.html
Download form SF 180 to request a copy of DD Form 214
http://www.va.gov/index.htm
Veterans Administration & Benefits
http://www.vba.va.gov/bln/21/Benefits/index.htm
Compensation & Pension Benefits
http://vabenefits.vba.va.gov/vonapp/
Veterans online application web site (VONAPP)
http://www.va.gov/FORMS/default.asp
VA Forms
http://www.vva.org/benefits/vvaguide.htm
Agent Orange, VA Claims and Appeals, Post-traumatic Stress Disorder, VVA's Guide To Veterans Preference
http://www.vva.org/benefits/vvgvaclaims.htm
VVA's Guide on VA CLAIMS and APPEALS
http://www.ssa.gov
Social Security Online
http://www.ssa.gov/disability/
Social Security Disability Information
http://www.senate.gov/
U.S. Senate
http://www.house.gov/Welcome.html
U.S. House of Representatives
Posted by Karin Sylvester at 8:22 PM 2 comments
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