Hail to Vietnam Veterans

Government response to PTSD:
"Get over it, it doesn't exist, it's all about me."

Vietnam Vet's response: "No we aren't going to just let it be"

Government response: " There is nothing wrong that we can see"

Vietnam Vets response: "Hell no, you won't diss ME.  Our brothers in arms are suffering, you see."

The government's wail to silence the Vietnam Vets, comes to no avail.  Vietnam Veterans persistence we all should hail.

Vietnam Vets: "I feel like there is a demon on my tail"

Government response: "It's all in your head."

Vietnam Vets response: "No it's not, it is ruining my life, enough said."

Vietnam Vets: "You let us down long enough. Why oh why does the government wail?  Oh yeah, follow the money trail.  A payout of disability you might have to pay.  So, 'shut your mouths' you love to say.  No welcome home, no real VA benefits, you act like we're all giving you fits.  You treat us all as a group of misfits.  You called us to arms, we answered that call.  Those who didn't volunteer, you ripped from their homes, leaving mothers in tears.  'Land of the free' HA, In the form of the draft, indentured servitude, Making many fight for Thee.  So be it, but some things we refuse to just 'let it be'  It's serving all our brothers and sisters, can't you see?"

Vietnam Vets: Is this how a nation is grateful.  Being rude to us and hateful?  That is not how it should be, we will never forget.  So our persistence is all about you, you and you, then maybe me."

Hail to Vietnam Veterans who refused to let their brothers in arms down.  Their motto: "We're all in this together."  They wore it like a crown.  The government told them to 'go fight' and they did, with all of their might. They returned home and the government said: "Now get out of our sight." They got home thinking their fight was done, little did they know, back in The World, the fight had just begun.  'All lives matter' today they like to say.  Well Vietnam Vet's lives matter too, they fight the good fight, for you and you. I say to the Vets: "Jolly good for you."

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A Memorial Day Remembrance

 Cpl  William Weathers

Joined the Army at the young age of 14 so he could fight in WW1

Served three years from 1915 - 1918

**************************************************************

Pvt Wilbur P Weathers

Served in WW2

First Infantry Div

Purple Heart,Bronze Star

*********************************************************

Cpl Wilbur L Weathers

Served in the Korean War

25th Infantry Div

Purple Heart

War on drugs, who is the enemy?

This is a picture taken in the 1960's of a protest.  Police were called in to control the riot.  A good share of the time there was no riot, but the police scene from the 1960's hasn't changed much from how protests are handled today.  Are police more aggressive today?  Likely not, but aggressive is aggressive, be it 1960 or 2015.

In 1971, President Nixon declared 'America's number one enemy' was drugs.  He declared a war on drugs.  Unfortunately when there is a war, there is also a perceived enemy.  Has that enemy become the American people?  I think the answer to that question depends on who you ask.  Even after all these years, the war on drugs is no closer to being won.

Police departments are trained military style, just as if we are in a war in the United States of America, whether you have noticed or not.  A big problem with training police to act as a military unit is this:  When soldiers, or any military unit, is sent out on a patrol mission in a real war zone, there is usually someone in command, on the premises, with that group.  Not so much with police in the U.S.  Most of the time, the patrol cops have to call a commander to come to the scene, after the fact.  Cops acting this way, are pretty much rogues, not bad cops, but cops who are acting like a loose cannon, with no commander with them to call the shots, or offer much direction.  Yes, they may be in touch by cell phones or by radio, but in the heat of the moment cops have to act as they see fit.  When Americans see cops as perhaps dangerous loose cannons, they are right.  This is not to say those cops are bad people.  It just says that we all hope their training is sufficient for them to act alone, in an appropriate manner, toward the citizen public.  Many times the outcome is good and bad people are apprehended.  But, in the news, what we hear about most of the time is when the outcome is not so good.  Sensational headlines grab attention.

The picture on the left is from the 1960's also.  On the right is modern day America.  They don't look so much different, do they?  Do police have it fixed in their heads that Blacks commit the majority of the crimes?  I do not know, but sometimes it sure seems like that is what most people, including cops, think.  Otherwise, why is history repeating itself so often?

Poems of a Forgotten War

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                                                               Brothers in Arms

Brothers in arms in a far away place

Just a little country called Vietnam

Doing our job, day after day, night after night

Humping our butts all day, Humping our butts all night

Ten clicks out, hope we make it back

You cover my back and I'll cover yours

Never looking back, we all got the knack

Twelve go out, only six come back

Sometimes bitter and sometimes sad

No time for crying, no time to feel bad

Ten more clicks, let's do it again

Set up the ambush and wait all night

Quiet as a mouse in the elephant grass

Shadows in the moon are coming for me

Lock and load, I'm ready for the fight

Popping the Claymores and firing at will

waiting, waiting, long into the night

When its all over we come back in

Just a band of brothers in arms

Doing our jobs

Tomorrow, more clicks out, do it all over again

First Brush With Death...A Date With Vietnam

The day I was first shot at and the Vietnamese guy I was
transporting in the vehicle next to me had a bullet hole in his
head, I tried not to panic. I looked at him and very quickly
sprung into survival mode. I didn't relish dying here, on the
side of a remote road, but for the first time, I realized it was a
possibility. I was thinking what my parents back home would
say when they got my death notice. Strange how those ideas
run through your head when in a life or death situation. I didn't die that day, but I would come damned near closer to it several times more than I'd have cared to before leaving The Nam. 

In Nam it almost seemed like The World and family didn't exist anymore, sometimes. Holidays were spent in this foreign country and you forgot what family gatherings were even like. It all seemed so damned far away after a while. But I had my reasons for joining the Army. After I quit school, I made a promise to myself and a date with Vietnam, I intended to keep them both.

It was not like I was totally naive about what the military, war
and even what death was, sort of. Even though I had only seen dead people maybe two or three times in my life, up to this point.  But I thought I knew a lot about death
at the ripe old age of 16. I didn't realize it then, but I would
experience and learn much more, in war, concerning the subject of death.





  

A Date With Vietnam

“Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country "

John F. Kennedy - January 20th 1961




I believed what President Kennedy said in those words, and my parents and family backed me up on it.  It was strange, my relationship with The Nam I mean. Even when under fire, even when I was scared and feared for my life, I didn't question why America was there, why I was there.


Back then, so many of us just believed our parents, we had faith in America and we believed that we were doing the right thing.

I entered the Army with that doing the right thing attitude. So
much so, that I signed up for a second tour because I felt our
military presence was making a difference. By my second tour there, the Army felt more like home than The World did, the place where I decided I found my niche in life, like I finally found a place where I belonged.




A lot of guys back then didn't feel that way though. The ones
who had been drafted absolutely hated it there. The World was all they talked about, it dominated every conversation they had.

They talked incessantly about what they had been doing in The World when they were forced to come to Nam by the draft, their families back there, and most of all, how to get back to The World and resume their former lives. They talked about it because I think they were afraid if they stopped talking, then The World would become lost to them and they'd never make it back.

The World never held a lot of meaning for me, as a kid, so I
didn't long for it, pine for it, like many of the guys did. I had a good childhood, but my teen years had been turbulent, so, for me, leaving The World wasn't such a traumatic event. In fact, leaving The World was a big adventure for me and I was loving it, so far.

War an outlet for a potential bad boy...diary

1965....Turning 16, the struggle to be a grownup

Spring 1965:

Walked home from school today.  I quit, which pissed my dad off and my mom wasn't much happier.  Dad asked me what in hell I thought I was going to do now.  Told him I plan to join the Army, go to Vietnam, help my country win a war.  The look on his face said it all; he looked at me like I was some dumb kid.  I'm not, I want to be treated as an adult.  Don't they get it?  I hate school and I know the only way to see the world is to join the Army.  After a long talk, Dad finally agreed to go with me to see the Army recruiter.  I was hoping he'd come around.

A few weeks ago I talked with a couple old classmates at school.  They came in dressed in their army uniforms and man, what a crowd they drew.  Those uniforms look cool and all the kids hung around them like bees around honey.  I liked that, especially the girls they attracted.  something about a uniform all the girls seem to like.  The admiring looks from the guys seemed pretty cool to me too.  I asked them all sorts of questions about Vietnam, the Army and if they liked it.  They said they did and planned to go back to Vietnam in about 30 days.  

I listened, as a kid, to my dad and my uncle talk about the war.  My uncle is so full of stories, interesting stories and he makes the Army seem very interesting.  I made up my mind, a long time ago, I wanted to join, get out of Indiana and see more of the world.  Hell, the Army will pay for it and I'll learn something too.  Thanks Dad for coming around.

On being a soldier

Having a beer to relax and forget, if only for a moment in war

Whether a person is in a war or not, those of the past and those of the present, emotions about war always run high, either for or against it. Do you want to know, first hand, how those who were in it feel, ask them.  The responses, like the emotions, will vary greatly from, 'I'm trying to forget, I'm not talking about it anymore, or I just cannot explain it."  The last one if very prominent because most military people will tell you: "Unless you were there, you cannot understand it all."  This response is probably the truest of all.  The biggest reason those who served in a war will not talk to civilians about it. They simply cannot understand it. 

"I'll be the first to admit that in Nam, probably in any war, events that would seem strange or bizarre back in The World, were just viewed as normal. Events you just cannot explain to anyone who hasn't lived through the chaos of war because they'd never understand. You had to be a witness to those events to get the full grasp of their meaning." (quote from my book: A Date With Vietnam.

The thing is; no one wants to fight a war, no one wants to kill people, (sometimes in a slaughter), no one is used to, brought up to, or even really trained well to, just get used to what they see in a war.  Yes, some are more adept at it than others, but no one, no matter their circumstances, is prepared to see their buddies and best friends killed in front of them either. 

But should we all 'forget' any wars simply because they are 'distasteful'?  Well show me a 'tasteful' war and I will say: "Sure, let's forget all the rest of them."  But I know there never has been nor ever will be a 'tasteful' war.  Each year we commemorate the Revolutionary War, the one fought for America's independence.  I'm sure those who fought that one would never have wanted us to forget that lives were lost and lives were changed forever and people died for it.  In ALL wars, people die and they die in large masses.  As the war machines have improved, more and more people die in huge masses, on both sides.  I would never tell the loved ones of someone killed in a war: "Well, just forget it."  That would be crass and highly rude. 

We tend to forget there is no 'faceless enemy' no matter what war you think of.  We forget that even the perceived enemy comes from a family and has loved ones too.  Even the enemy's life is changed forever.  We are friends with Japan, yet America used a weapon of such mass destruction on that country so terrible that it not only changed lives, it literally changed landscapes, forever.  

Each generation goes to war hoping their children never will have to.  We forget the pettiness of governments to ever be able to get along, so each generation must do the bidding of those in power, to fight a war in a country for whatever stupid reason, and for land that the military person will never control.  They fight it for someone else. Yes, governments want us to believe it is for 'our freedom' but is it really?  Doubtful. 

I say: "Do not ever forget those who fought the wars."  Protest, if need be, for veterans to not be homeless, to not get bad care from a VA hospital or outpatient service.  You know a veteran?  Be kind to them, show kindness, and remember: When fighting for their rights, you fight for your own as well.  You do not have to ask them to describe war, it's difficult even for the veteran to understand it all, but just be kind and make governments stop treating them, and us all, like we do not exist.  A veteran should not be homeless from ailments caused by a war they showed up to fight, for an ungrateful government that would like to toss them out like yesterday' trash.  Veterans showed up when called, the government needs to do the same, to step up to the plate for them.  Hell. America cannot even step up to the plate for fire fighters, police people, or emergency workers who helped in 9/11.  This attitude Must Stop!


My latest book tries to explain why and how anyone would fight a war.  I cannot do all veterans justice because it is complicated, indeed.  But I do my best.  I hope I succeeded in some small way.

Available right now on: Kindle

A Date with Vietnam

"A Date With Vietnam"
by Steve Weathers 288 pages

My latest book is to be released this Veterans Day November 11th and will be available on Amazon.com and also will be available on Kindle. 


It was strange, my relationship with the Nam I mean. Even when under fire, even when I was scared and feared for my life, I didn't question why America was there, why I was there. Back then, so many of us just believed our parents, we had faith in America and we believed we were doing the right thing. 
I entered the Army with that doing the right thing attitude. So much so, that I signed up for a second tour because I felt our military presence was making a difference.

This is not a book about being conservative or liberal in thinking. It is simply my story, my experience in a time when young people seemed to have wisdom beyond their years and wise, older people, seemed to take leave of their senses. That's how screwed up society and the Vietnam War was.
 Death occupied our minds constantly, no matter where you were stationed in the Nam.

Now accepting orders for  pre -released signed copies, contact me by email

Another Memorial Day finds us

Memorial Day finds us, another year older

Memorial Day finds us no less bolder

"A war to end all wars" once said

Why, since then, are so many more dead?

Do you want to really end wars?

Are you messing with our heads?

It's been: A war on British for freedom

A war on Indians for more land

A war in the South to end slavery

A World, both I and II to end aggression

Soldiers keep marching in succession

A war to end communism

Now a war to end terror

Somehow since 'to end all wars' there's occurred an error

This Memorial Day, the war skies are no fairer

People in America have no decent jobs

Around the world, people form protest mobs

Another soldier dies, another mother sobs

We talk about love

We know more about hate

Some young soldier, for prom, just wants a date

We love our kids, so we say

Yet we pack them off to war to die

Same old lies, just another day

To die for what?

For Coke and Pepsi to get a foothold?

It's no reason to die, if I might be so bold

Sending kids to their deaths

We knew we always could

Do we ever ask if we should?

Wars are a rich person's game

Different day, the lies remain the same

Stop that war, we think someone should

But would you stop a war if you could?

The military: Go to war, my Son, or Daughter, you should

They will pay you badly, morn your death, sadly

On Memorial Day, we honor with our lips

Yet another war plan, corporations pull from their hips

I long so to hear from those who "should go"

"This new war?  No thanks.  This time I will skip"

Memorial Day finds us another year older

When it comes to war, still no less bolder

I hope you find something better to do than become a soldier

Soldier, one day you will grow older

             

                              The soldier then

When young we know no boundaries

We come to war from factories, offices and foundries

Hormones and patriotic feelings abound

That's a mix of energy to be used in leaps and bounds

The youth factor is what the military count on

"Step up here, we will help you release that energy, Son."

We feel patriotic, we think, we will win a war, what fun

Not one recruiting brochure tells you; When you're done, you're done.

That's the important part they always leave out, Son

We survive, we come out alive

We then grow older, we grow much bolder

The veteran now

We finally see war without all the fog

Plenty of memories in our brains we have logged

Don't resent those who don't understand

I highly doubt if anyone fully can

What we've seen as soldiers can only confound it

Even we who were there cannot fully wrap our minds around it

Those who've not seen aren't being mean

When you actually stand on the turf, it isn't so green

Given the small facts we were given back then

I'm sure, as young men, we would all do it again

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Soldier you are not forgotten

                                                  photo: Steve Weathers



Soldier, you are not forgotten

I once served in an entire war, all but forgotten

Forgotten, forgotten, your government treats you rotten

But always remember, by other veterans, you aren't forgotten

I know how those dreams make you feel

I know how those memories, night sweats, make you reel

Bad sights, into your dreams they steal

Don't feel bad, don't feel sad, you really haven't been had

Don't give up or give in

You haven't committed the greatest sin

We joined, for whatever reason

We joined in good faith, we served for a season

Don't think it is all in vain

Even if it's hard to see past the pain

How could you know?  How could I know?

We signed up in good faith, why did we go?

We thought it was the right thing to do at the time

Friends, relatives, thought we lost our minds

Don't give up, don't close your door

We all; veterans, support you, from shore to shore

Feeling bad, feeling sad?

Contact me, together we can once again feel glad

For what it's worth, the pain is great, I know it hurts

You can't redo your past

Decide to go on, do it fast

The pain sometimes feels it will last and last

Together, Soldiers, this hurt we can get past

Reach out, to other vets, those you know, some you don't

Don't suffer alone, don't close your door

We as veterans, know, it was a hell of a war

Some say: "You knew the score."

But have they ever been to a war?

Reach out, veterans young and old

We are here to help, we all exist from shore to shore

Together we can stop a war

Let our new war cry be: "A war?  Oh never more!"

They need to listen to us who have gone before

The poor make war on the poor

Just exactly who makes war?

Generals, Congress, Rich men, of course

Just exactly who fights the actual war?

It ends up becoming the poor against the poor

Is this a poem of 'let's hate the rich?'

No, but you don't have to be anyone's bitch

Harsh words you might say

Well away from killing, plundering and hate you must stay

What have the poor of another country done to you?

Try to see their point of view

Would we like to be preyed upon right here?

For some soldiers to ruin what we might hold dear?

As young soldiers we think war is a grand duty

But all we do is add to someone's rich booty

War and death isn't what you do as a lark

War isn't exactly a walk in the park

But as young people we never listen to the older one

We just think, it's different, so we pick up that gun

Maybe we don't get every gory detail

Explaining war in words is where all words seem to fail

How do you put into words what war is about?

How does a soldier adequately explain what war is about?

I wish you would listen, young man, young woman

Because war is not the noble cause for freedom like you heard

But war's horrors cannot be placed into any word

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A Boy a War and a Dream

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All wars will once be forgotten

Even though that fact seems rotten

War, like tides, ebb and flow

They are hot when they are hot, and not when they are not

We rush to them with anxious feet

We roll out the bugles, the drum strikes a beat

They come, they go, they eventually run cold, as you know

I was a boy, like so many these days

Anxious to grow up, to become a man, a soldier was my way

A young soldier in search of myself

We can hate wars, as we well should, but this boy grew up

I grew to know all people are real, they hate,they love, and eventually heal

As new soldiers are finding out

War cries start with a shout

But they too will come to know, wars on a land they come and they go

On a land is one thing, the bombed acreage and sites heal

But to many a soldier, wars, well your youth, your sanity they can also steal

I cannot tell you about horrors of any war

Most don't believe me, they have to sail to that shore

You cannot prepare for any battles or fights

But I assure you, wars are all a terrible sight

So wars start with a cry and a shout

They start with a bugle charge and a drum roll

But believe me when I tell you, on you, young soldier, the rest of your life a war takes its toll