Somewhat belatedly, I wish a Happy 243d Marine Corps Birthday to all my fellow Marines, and a Happy Veterans Day to all veterans, but especially to the brothers from Vietnam.
World War I ended 100 years ago yesterday. In June, 1918, a Marine brigade consisting of battalions from the 5th and 6th regiments, attacked heavily fortified German positions in a former hunting preserve known as Belleau Wood. After several days of heavy fighting, some of it at bayonet-point and hand-to-hand, suffering 1,100 casualties (out of a total force of about 4,500), the brigade seized the wood from the Germans, who dubbed the Marines “Teufelshunden” (Devil Dogs) for their ferocity and tenacity. The French government awarded the brigade the Croix de Guerre and a Fourregere (worn to this day by the 5th and 6th regiments), and renamed the scene of the battle Bois de la Brigade de Marine (the Wood of the Marine Brigade). Over the weekend marking the centennial of the end of the war, President Trump, that most fortunate of fortunate sons, cancelled a commemorative visit to the Marine memorial at Belleau Wood because it was raining. I think the damp weather affected the bone spur that he claims kept him out of Vietnam.
Semper Fi.
Three members of the Trump Administration also apparently took advantage of the “legal”means available to avoid the Vietnam war draft and deployment – Generals James Mattis and John Kelly, and super Chicken Hawk , John Bolton. I guess birds of a feather do flock together.
General Mattis joined the Marine Corps Reserves at age 18 in 1968/69, enrolled in college, and following his 1971 graduation was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant. He was not deployed to Nam. But given his quotes one would think he was a stereotypical “lurp” sometime in his career with quotes like“It’s a hell of a hoot. It’s fun to shoot some people”, or “I come in peace. I didn’t bring artillery. But I’m pleading with you, with tears in my eyes: if you fuck with me, I will kill you all.”
General Kelly because his mother told him his draft number was coming up, enlisted in the Corps in 1970 at age 20 , served two years, and was discharged into the inactive reserve in 1972 in order to enroll in college. He too was not deployed to Nam. So neither vaunted Marine Corps General ever was asked why no Nam deployment. Why not? Are they sacred cows? How Kelly got to be an E-5 in two years( it took me 4years) is a head scratcher, and to be discharged so he could go to college is another mystery.
Bolton is a bigger piece work. He talks real tough now but when it came to walk the walk, he jumped into the Guard , another “legal dodge” of the draft, like the Reserves, College and marriage. While supporting the Vietnam war, he declined to enlist, stating in 1995 that, “I confess I had no desire in a Southeast Asian rice paddy… I considered the war in
Vietnam already lost.” What a warrior! So like Trump, Mattis, and Kelly he took the “legal dodge, and became the armchair warrior he is today. My younger brother never took either legal option, was drafted, deployed to Nam, and came back home with a lung malady he has suffered with to this day.
I am not denigrating either former General’s service post- Vietnam. As an enlisted Marine I too did not serve in Nam because of lucking out and serving as a Marine Security Guard from 1964-66 and not being activated when I was in the inactive ready reserve for two years( 66-68 ). But it is odd that Trump has surrounded himself with men of his approximate age in key positons who “legally” dodged the draft like himself. Was it a deliberate ploy?I doubt it . He isn’t that smart, but he can look them in the eye, and say, we are “dodge” brothers and not a “band of brothers.”
And the bone between his ears! Kudos Phillip!
Nov. 10 will always be a special day for me. Like yourself I graduated from LU (Chi), and joined the Marine Corps PLC program. However by the luck of the draw I was born several years later than you and graduated from LU in 1973. As a result I didn’t have to worry about getting my own (or others’) ass shot off. You were, and remain, an important voice for our generation…
You, sir, are the most fortunate of fortunate sons. You, sir, are still breathing. Many of your brothers in arms are not. Yet you feel it is appropriate to use a sacred day, set aside to specifically memorialize their ultimate sacrifice, to make a very petty, political and selfish point. I was raised by a career Marine Corps officer, who lived every day teaching us God, Country, Honor and Family. Your petty comment, and the story title, which you baited readers with, believing it truly had to do with selfless acts of the bravest of men, only served for you to use your “status” to make a political statement. I believe in free speech and personal opinions, but not like this Shame on you.
Funny and unfortunately maybe true. I believe he knows now that using rain as a reason for not honoring those Heroes was a mistake. I am curious of which underling made that decision and I hope it wasn’t him. In his defense regarding the deferment comment, many of his peers back in the 60s and early 70s avoided that war and I don’t know if they were wrong. I was convinced prior to joining the Army at 17 in 1972 that we were the good guys. Today I can’t say definitively that we were especially after visiting Vietnam as a civilian ten years ago. My take on it in retrospect leads me to not blame anyone for avoiding that war. At the same time I would hope once they make that decision they never put themselves in a position to send others to war. Too often we see what Jesse Ventura calls the Chickenhawks sending men and now women to war. We saw Clinton, Bush Jr, Cheney and several others do just that. I hope Trump keeps us out of war and I see some positives toward this end. I am worried now though that I have sons of fighting age and I have guilt over instilling in them the patriotism and will to do so.
Sean
Chicago