Taking Chance

"I didn’t know Chance Phelps before he died,” Strobl wrote, according to the news release. “But today, I miss him.”
The final line from an excellent movie. I just watched it this morning. Found it on HBO by accident. Started watching it and could not stop. If you have ever lost a relative, friend, classmate or fellow soldier, it will tear you apart. But it is worth the mental trauma.
Based on real-life events, Lt. Col. Michael Strobl (Kevin Bacon), a volunteer military escort officer, accompanies the body of 19-year-old Marine Chance Phelps back to his hometown of Dubois, Wyoming. Karma created the detail. Strobl thought that Chance was from HIS hometown in Colorado, but that was just where he enlisted. The technical details are interesting. The film shows the handling of the deceased remains from the time he fell until his final internment. The actions of those who Strobl met along the way and when he arrived in Dubois are what make the movie. Americans showing honor to a 19-year-old kid that they never met. Treating him like the hero that he was.
I spent a lot of time thinking of The Nose and Niv and Greenie and Tuna and all the others that I knew and with whom I served that also did not make it back. This blog entry is purely cathartic. In retrospect, I guess they all are, but this one more so. I needed to get this out of my mind. Maybe the blogging will help.
During the Vietnam era, soldiers were not held in such high esteem. Those who had to use civilian airports were called "baby killers" and had blood thrown on them. Even in military towns, it was not a good idea to wear any part of your uniform off base. We were unpopular because the war was unpopular. We were serving because it was our duty. We didn't want to be there. This was prior to the "all-volunteer" service.
I think the treatment of the Vietman-era soldiers is a direct cause of the patriotism shown today's Iraq/Afghanistan veterans. We know what it was like to be lepers; we don't want today's soldiers to suffer the same stigma. We're proud of them and we want them to know it. This one-minute commercial (with no dialogue) says it all.
I can't find the genesis of the saying so I'm entering it without credit: "Old men start wars. Young men fight them. Wise men avoid them." Having served, I am very much anti-war. Hell, I was anti-war before I got drafted and the entire time I served. But, I did serve. Not like the chicken shit Cassius Clay (His Momma named him Cassius Clay! If it be's good enough for his Momma; it be's good enough for me.!) who used some bullshit religious objection stay out of the service and still earn his living. And, now the gutless piece of shit is some kind of American hero! Bullshit on chicken shit!!
Sorry. I digressed. I am totally against all war, unless it involves someone invading our shores. That is NOT to say that I don't support our troops. I do. They are giving up everything to fight in a useless, no-win war. A year after we leave Iraq (if that long) the country will be back to it's civil war state with each of the three sects fighting against each other. We would have accomplished squadoosh! Good men and women would have died. Unnecessarily.