Vietnam

(Written October 17, 2009)

Lately I've been thinking about Vietnam... It's probably because I work with a Vietnam Vet named Edward Garza. You'd never know it by looking at this 5'9" unassuming man. But 40 years ago, the seemingly shy, quietly intense, yet friendly Mr. Garza was an honest to goodness warrior. He weilded an M16, marched through miles of jungle, killed men. He heard the zip of bullets as they whizzed by his head, saw his comrades killed and wounded, was himself nearly blown up. He walked point many times, hopped off many a copter in hot LZ's, and cheated death at least a half dozen times. He is a maintenance man sure. But he's a combat veteran.

I see how his time in that distant land has defined him. He spends every day under the influence of having served his country in "The Second Indo-Chinese War". The Vietnamese call it "The American War". We call it Vietnam. Instead of holding a weapon, he holds a broom. Instead of cleaning up villages of Viet cong, he cleans classrooms and restrooms. And he does his job without a whisp of complaint. But in 1969 he lived through some of the most dangerous combat in the Vietnam theatre. I admire him. He is also kind of amazing to me. How do you ever get over a year long hike through hell, surrounded by death, knowing it's just blind luck that kept you from being like all those young men you personally saw dead or dying or wounded. Sure your training helps. Yeah, you make your own luck. But in the end it's just that. Luck.

He was in the 199th Light Infantry Brigade... known as the "flaming spear". Here's their patch.

Here is a video tribute I found for his unit... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkBTMsVguUY&feature=related Guys like Mr. Garza lived a whole year constantly on edge. Under stress. fighting, killing, marching. For what? After every battle he would sit and think to himself "How many times can I cheat death or serious injury?" After a while, he earned the nickname "9 Lives".

The Vietnam soldier did all this and when they came home, society sort of turned away from them. It was an unpopular war. It wasn't a GOOD war like WWII. But the combat soldier died just the same. In the end, when a young man is bleeding out his life on foreign soil because his country called him to action (these boys were DRAFTED too) it really doesn't matter what the politics behind the war are at that moment. Right there, it has becaome a passion play. One man laying down his life for his friends. The supreme sacrifice. But a young man laying down his innocence is an equal tragedy. These men were just as brave and valiant as any other good soldier. They deserve (and nowadays usually get) respect and honor for their service and sacrifice.

Mr. Garza said that when he came home everyone around him kinda wanted to pretend nothing happened. Or to just ignore it. Through guilt or shame, or indifference, society just tried to ignore the misery of it all. He said for months after he returned he "slept" sitting up in the corner of his room. Over time he reassimilated. As he returned to society he began doing what society did. He tried to ignore it all. Was it all some crazy nightmare after all?

Can you imagine coming from all that devastation... and then laying in a quiet comfy room. Knowing at that moment other soldiers were right then suffering the same misery you once did.

It was 16 years before he bagan to make sense of everything that had happened to him.

Mr. Garza has told me things that help me know that while bravery might not be unique to the American soldier, his willingness to sacrifice his life for others is.

Mr. Garza is very humble and would get offended if I called him a hero. In his mind he did what he had to do. No more no less. Vietnam is less about what HE DID there, than what IT DID to him. "9 Lives" went through the entire year in 'Nam without taking a single bullet... but his scars or mental not physical.

I tip my hat to him. And all those soldiers who served in harm's way. This is for all Vietnam vets... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhwROO2M6lw -Mike