May 24, 2013:
Back in 1988, twenty years after I had left Vietnam, I went to Washington, D.C. on a pilgrimage to "The Wall," the Vietnam Memorial. Before I left Seattle, I was asked by my brother-in-law to get a 'rubbing' of his cousin's name off of that black granite wall. I remember, to this day, how important it was for my brother-in-law's family to have at least that rubbing of his name off of that special memorial.
May 22, 2013:
Most of you have seen them covering the ceremonies at Arlington National Cemetery, or doing the Honor Guard duties at the Tomb of the Unknowns. They are the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment
May 20, 2013:
Here are some very important statistics that most Americans do not know. As of now, there are 313 million people in America. As of January 31, 2013 1,429,995 people were on active duty in the military, with an additional 850,880 people in the seven reserve components. It is an all-volunteer military at this time. Women make up about 14% of that total.
May 13, 2013:
Seal Team Six is best known for its very successful mission to get Osama Bin Laden. But it did something equally impressive a little over a year ago in a very different effort. In this case it was to simply to save an American who had been kidnapped by Somali bandits. I saw this story on CBS 60 Minutes last night and felt that is was a story I would like to recount here.
May 10, 2013:
"I still miss my team." David, an Army Recon Vietnam veteran had been wounded and was receiving treatment at a hospital in Vietnam when his team went out on patrol and never came back.
May 8, 2013:
Today, May 8, 2013 is the 68th anniversary of V.E. Day. The long and terrible war was over in Europe. That continent was devastated by the aggressive attempt of Nazi and fascist forces to conquer it under their dark cultures of death. The forces of freedom had won out and the celebrations were immense and fervent.
May 6, 2013:
CBS 60 Minutes presented a very powerful piece last night, May 5, 2013, on traumatic brain injuries (TBI's) as real, and this is important, physical wounds. TBI is not the same as PTSD. It is something completely separate from PTSD, but can be an extremely debilitating factor if both are being experienced by the same person.
May 5, 2013:
It has been 45 years since I left Vietnam. Much has happened during that time, of course. I married, had two daughters and now, two, soon to be three, grandchildren. I got an education and had a career in teaching at both the high school and university levels. And now, I am very pleasantly retired.
May 4, 2013:
This story is being repeated more and more these days. The Joint POW/MIA Command organizes 90-100 missions each year all over the world trying to recover the remains of service members listed as missing from WWII, Korea, Vietnam, and the Cold War. Every month they positively identify six to eight of the MIA's and take them off the list.
May 3, 2013:
The private sector has been making commitments to hire veterans for some time now. For example, Walmart, UPS, and others have been doing this for some time. The White House has recently announced a "significant new effort to reduce unemployment and improve job prospects among veterans." They say that they are "enlisting the support" of U.S. companies to hire 435,000 veterans and military spouses over the next five years. I am pleased to see a coordinated effort by both the public and private sectors in this effort. All such efforts are to be welcomed, and might I add, encouraged. It is after all, the right thing to do.
May 2, 2013:
This is a powerful video of a wife speaking about her Vietnam veteran husband's struggles to recover from the debilitating effects of PTSD. Her love and understanding, as well as that of fellow veterans brought him to recognize his need for help.
May 1, 2013:
This is a video of an outdoor concert for the Vietnam Veterans of San Diego. The musicians range in age from the Vietnam era to the present, and they know how to jam and have some fun.
Apr 30, 2013:
A lot has transpired in the two weeks that have passed since the bombings at the Boston Marathon on Monday, April 14, 2013. The cowardly, destructive intent of terrorism made it through the fire walls of our national security and tried, once again, to cause fear and panic among us. Once again, it has failed. The people of Boston showed the world that Americans do not scare easily. That freedom will not be cowed by the cowardly forces of terror.
Apr 29, 2013:
This young U.S. Navy veteran has a very important message for all veterans. "Don't wait if you are having problems." If you are recognizing that you are having problems, or are hearing that from others, don't wait to go see the local VA. You have earned those benefits. They are there for you. Don't hesitate to use them.
Apr 25, 2013:
This Army medic veteran says it better than most. He gives as clear an insight into the difficulties of transitioning from war experiences back into civilian life as anyone I've seen in these videos before. He knows the problems, because he has not only experienced them, but he had faced them head-on, looked at them for what they are, and has found the most useful tools to be put to use in handling them in the healthiest, most effective of ways.
Apr 24, 2013:
Eddie Agosto joined the Marines at age 19 to escape the mean streets of Brooklyn. In 1980, President Carter sent a small force into Iran to try to liberate the American Embassy hostages that were being held by revolutionary Iranian element. It ended in a disastrous crash in the desert during a sandstorm. Eddie was on that mission. He was in another helicopter. He and his comrades had to rescue the injured and hastily bag the ruined bodies of the deceased and get out of there before their failed mission was discovered by Iranian revolutionary forces. What he saw and experienced, and what he had to do for his comrades, sent him on a downward spiral into the darkness of PTSD on his return home.
Apr 17, 2013:
This young lady has a lot to say to us about separation from the military and re-entry into civilian life. But she has even more to say about recognizing PTSD and being present to those who are going through it.
Apr 16, 2013:
A few days ago, the Medal of Honor was awarded to a man who stood by his fellow troops through the toughest moments of battles in the Korean war. He was an Army Chaplain who was captured along with others of his unit and died in a Chinese POW camp.
Apr 15, 2013:
This young Marine veteran is a very articulate spokesman for the experience of coming home and leaving the brotherhood of the Corps, and reenter the new environment of civilian life.
Apr 12, 2013:
One-hundred-forty-eight years ago, a union private by the name of Levi Schlegel, who had been serving with the 198th Pennsylvania Regiment, Company G, passed through Fredricksburg, Virginia, on his way home after the cessation of the Civil War.
Apr 7, 2013:
This article is based on and heavily quoted from an article written by Charles W. Sasser for the June 2013 edition of Vietnam Magazine. I had known about this battle when I was in Vietnam. It was legend among the Marines. The article brought the memory back and I found it very moving. So, I thought I would share some of the main elements of it with readers of this blog.
Apr 4, 2013:
In April of 2003 Marines with Lima Company 3rd Battalion, 7th Marines were among the 'first boots on the ground' at the start of the Iraq war. Marines from the Twentynine Palms Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center, played an integral role in the U.S. invasion and the taking of Baghdad.
Apr 2, 2013:
This program at the Vale Ski Resort has been going on for ten years now. The number of veterans who are being served in the program has grown dramatically over those years. The volunteer efforts of this program have grown in both importance and value over these past ten years. These volunteers have been helping severely wounded veterans learn that they can still enjoy such things, just differently. it also gives them a freedom that they thought they would never enjoy again. They help these wounded warriors begin to think about the future in ways they thought were gone to them forever.
Mar 25, 2013:
This was sent to me by a friend who is a former Navy fighter pilot. He served in Vietnam about the same time I was there. This is a virtual tour of the Vietnam Memorial and is as in depth as anything I have seen.
Mar 25, 2013:
This veteran had to fight hard to get his life back together. He had to fight through alcohol issues, substance abuse, and the very clear symptoms of PTSD. He was taught to not share his problems. He learned to keep things in and it effected his ability to work, and his relationships.
Mar 25, 2013:
I happened to catch an NBC evening new report tonight and I could not help put sit down and write an article in response to it. According to the report, we currently have over 900,000 post 9/11 war veterans who have applied for disability benefits with the Veterans Administration and are having to wait for those services that they deserve and need for, on average, over 270 days, or almost a full year. In major cities, like New York City, that waiting time skyrockets to over two years.
Mar 25, 2013:
The Air force Academy held a funeral service for its first African-American graduate last Saturday. He was a man of consequence throughout his entire life, as a military man and as a civilian businessman.
Mar 25, 2013:
The video you will see here is a trailer for a new film that will be released soon. It is about a subject that I am intimately familiar with as well. The film is Called, "Bravo! Common Men, Uncommon Valor." It centers on the experiences of the Marines of Bravo Co., 1/26 who were at Khe Sanh for the Tet Offensive of 1968.
May 17, 2012:
First Lady Michelle Obama has called on America's nurses to offer world-class care our returning veterans who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injuries, and post-combat depression. This is wonderful news.
May 16, 2012:
On May 16, 2012 President Obama presented a posthumous Medal of Honor to Army Specialist Leslie H. Sabo. Accepting the award, his wife Rose Mary said "A piece of metal won't bring back my husband, but my heart beams with pride."
May 16, 2012:
Who are the real 1%? The ones who really matter? Every American needs to support the true elite, the men and women who have fought for our freedom over the last ten years.
May 15, 2012:
"Troops to Teachers" is a program sponsored by the Department of Defense aimed at assisting eligible military personnel in achieving their goals of becoming teachers in the public schools, from grades K-12. It's a great program for our veterans, utilizing the skills, the discipline and the desire to serve that they already have.
May 11, 2012:
Many homeless are veterans who have fallen through the cracks. Most are Vietnam era veterans, but many are veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. They are men and, for the first time in our history, too many of these homeless veterans are women. It's a shame that we haven't found a way to care for them.
May 10, 2012:
A stirring poem by Dan Doyle.
May 9, 2012:
"Stand down." This is the order every soldier, sailor, Marine, and airman waits to hear after a long hard battle. But it isn't always easy for veterans to stand down when they've finished their military service. Veterans Village was founded to provide homeless vets with rehabilitation centers, housing units, sober living centers, and apartments to help them re-enter civilian life.
May 8, 2012:
Sgt. Nicholas Dickhut died last Monday from wounds received in an enemy attack in Afghanistan.
May 8, 2012:
Today, May 8th, 2012, is the 77th anniversary of the allied victory over fascism in Europe. Let's remember those who fought and died to end the horror of that war. Let us also thank those who survived, who shaped the America we know today. They were the Greatest Generation, and we owe them more than we can repay.
May 4, 2012:
Unscrupulous "advisers" are convincing veterans to transfer assets from their bank accounts, or retirement investments, into an "irrevocable trust" in order to "appear impoverished" and qualify for that VA, in-home assistance benefit. But such a move could tie up assets for a decade or more.
May 4, 2012:
The U.S Marines' Darkhorse Battalion was "literally in a race for their lives. They were trying to adjust their tactics to outwit Taliban fighters, who had killed more coalition troops here than in any other area of Afghanistan." In one month, the battalion lost 15 Marines, and 50 were wounded.
May 3, 2012:
Our returning troops need us now more than ever. We will have to continue to fund veterans programs at the highest levels possible in order to avoid the problems that Vietnam era veterans encountered after their war.
May 1, 2012:
We often make the mistake of using a particular expression to categorize an entire group of people. It’s called stereotyping, or prejudice. It’s something we are all capable of and often do.
May 1, 2012:
The U.S. Marine Corps has begun reducing troop numbers in Okinawa, Japan. History has shown that onetime enemies can become lasting friends.
May 1, 2012:
Online for-profit diploma mills are targeting veterans who want to use their GI Bill funds to earn a college degree. Thanks to the Obama administration, measures have been taken to safeguard veterans and their families against these predatory schools.
May 1, 2012:
Many returning service members who have come home with varying levels of PTSD as a result of multiple tours of duty are finding it difficult to get the medical and psychological care that they need at our Veterans Administration Hospitals. This must change.
Apr 25, 2012:
Most people probably haven’t a clue about the fact that the National Guard and Reserves make up almost one half of our national military forces. National Guard and Reserve troops are our modern Minutemen, our Citizen Soldiers.
Apr 23, 2012:
The history of the Civil War and its importance in the shaping of this country remains for most of us a distant, if sometimes interesting event that happened a long time ago.
Apr 19, 2012:
I heard about this organization through a conversation with an active duty soldier while on a recent trip. It struck me that this concept bore all of the marks of an American sense of what is right.
Apr 16, 2012:
It has taken me a long time to come to some peace about my Vietnam experience; forty-four years to be exact. Surprisingly, it was a matter of serendipity that began the transition for me.
Apr 2, 2012:
On March 22, 2012, a twenty-nine-year old soldier from Providence, Rhode Island, Spc. Dennis Weichel, Jr., died in Afghanistan. But it was the way that he died that makes us proud of him, and of the person he was.
Apr 1, 2012:
On a recent weekend, I attended my brother-in-law's wedding in Fort Walton Beach, FL. The ceremonies took place on Hulburt Air Force Base near there. Most impressive to me was the genuine welcome we experienced, and the hospitality of both the base chapel and of the hotel personnel. Everyone on base looked you in the eye and offered a greeting of one kind or another.
Mar 26, 2012:
An awful thing happened in Kandahar Province, Afghanistan, and now we must muddle our way through the horror of it to try to find answers, and the possibility of some kind of reconciliation for all the parties involved.
Mar 9, 2012:
I want to focus on a book I just finished entitled Band of Sisters, by Kirsten Holmstedt. It brings the reader into the real lives and experiences of some dozen or so women who fought with a variety of military units during the Iraq War.
Feb 28, 2012:
Life is a constant struggle with paradox. One of the greatest of these paradoxes is the ever present threat of war. The paradox of war is that while we are engaged in it, those who fight the wars are expected to remain moral.
Feb 22, 2012:
I was at my local Starbucks with my granddaughter. As I sat there with her, I partially overheard a conversation between a couple of gentlemen about veterans issues. When one left, I initiated a brief conversation with the other. And I'm glad I did.
Feb 3, 2012:
It was written to a Mrs. Bixby, living in Boston, Massachusetts on November 21, 1864 to acknowledge the deaths of her five sons while serving in the Union Army during the Civil War. Let it speak to you in our time and to those who have lost members of their families in the wars fought in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Jan 30, 2012:
We will have to watch what happens over the coming weeks in the debate about military budget cuts. It is hoped that when the final decisions in this matter are fully and honestly debated that our active military, our military retirees and their families will not find themselves rejected by those they so willingly served at war and at home.
Jan 26, 2012:
When the firefighters arrived they found the frightened mother and her children suspended in the seriously mangled car that was unbelievably hanging precariously from the bridge. Well, along comes a unit of U.S. Navy Seabees...
Jan 24, 2012:
On this winter morning, I am thinking about our servicemen and women in Afghanistan, many of whom are enduring the winter fierceness of the Afghan mountains where the Al Qaida and Taliban fighters hide, plan, and initiate their strikes against the NATO forces.
Jan 17, 2012:
The title of this article has two levels of meaning. The first, of course, is that sense that all who fight the enemy on the front lines are brothers-in-arms, caring for each other and watching each other's back. The other is the reason for this article.
Jan 6, 2012:
This is not the usual military story. This is about a one-of-kind soldier, an officer, who wears the fatigues of a combat warrior, who enters the danger zone with his troops – unarmed: the military chaplain.
Jan 4, 2012:
A new year has come, as it must in the passage of time. Our troops have left Iraq after a nine-year involvement. Many are still in harm's way in Afghanistan...
Dec 30, 2011:
The number of women serving in the armed forces in the last decade has increased dramatically. There are some 1.9 million women veterans today, many of whom, like no other time in our history, are also counted as combat veterans
Dec 22, 2011:
Today, Dec. 22, 2011 is the day that the sun begins its journey north again, bringing more length and light to our days. It is also the time to celebrate the festival of lights, Hanukkah, and Christmas...
Dec 21, 2011:
There are so many good things being done on behalf of our soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines these days. One of these good things is a program called Operation Gratitude.
Dec 19, 2011:
Sometimes strange, unaccountable things happen, and because of them, the course of history is changed. This is the story of a natural disaster that helped stop a potential tragedy.
Dec 16, 2011:
The news out of Dover Air Force Base this month has really caught me up short. According to a variety of news sources, it has recently come out that some of the cremated remains of some 274 of our fallen heroes were unceremoniously disposed of in a landfill in Delaware.
Dec 8, 2011:
It is the 70th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, the infamous surprise attack on the Pacific Fleet then anchored at the huge Naval base outside of Honolulu, Hawaii.
Dec 6, 2011:
I stopped at my local Starbucks for coffee and the morning paper, but I was not be able to enjoy the solitude of that morning cup of Joe and the leisure of reading the news of the day...
Dec 2, 2011:
What makes a young man or woman today want to serve in the military? That question has probably been asked in every generation since the founding of the city-state, if not earlier.
Nov 29, 2011:
With the national unemployment rate hanging around 9% and the economy acting like a drugged three-toed sloth, barely moving at all, the immediate prospects for employment are challenging for everybody, but particularly for our returning veterans.
Nov 10, 2011:
President Woodrow Wilson first proclaimed an Armistice Day to be celebrated on November 11, 1919. He declared, "To us in America, the reflections of Armistice Day will be filled with solemn pride in the heroism of those who died in the country's service and the gratitude for the victory...
Nov 7, 2011:
Since 2003, American troops have fought, suffered, died, and built infrastructure in Iraq, in an effort to help create something the Iraqi people have never experienced: political freedom. It is up to the Iraqi people to do the rest now.
Oct 31, 2011:
On Saturday October 22, 2011 Sgt. First Class Kristoffer Domeij, 29, was killed by an IED, along with two others, First Lieutenant Ashley White, 24 and Ranger Private First Class Christopher A. Horns, 20, who was on his first combat deployment.
Oct 24, 2011:
On November 11, 1921, an unidentified soldier was laid to rest in the Memorial Amphitheater in Arlington National Cemetery, and The Tomb of the Unknowns was created. The ceremonies you may have been privileged to witness at that site have been going on there twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, and 365 days a year ever since 1937.
Oct 19, 2011:
These are hard times for everybody. The economy is tenuous, the unemployment rates, the numbers of people on food stamps have grown to unprecedented highs, and there is political gridlock in Washington, D. C.
Oct 13, 2011:
On September 15th, 2011 Sergeant Michael Prince gave his all for each and every one of us. He was serving with his Oklahoma National Guard Unit in Afghanistan when he was felled by a rocket-propelled grenade.
Oct 4, 2011:
On Friday, Oct. 30, 2011, Admiral Mike Mullen retired as the seventeenth Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He served both Presidents Bush and Obama, and under two Secretaries of Defense, Robert Gates and Leon Panetta.
Sep 28, 2011:
Sep 20, 2011:
National POW/MIA Recognition Day was last Friday, the 16th of September. Of course I've known about the POW/MIA issue and have seen its flag flying beneath the Stars and Stripes on many occasions, but I did not know the history of the movement, or of its flag...
Sep 15, 2011:
In two years we will celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg, which was fought in the fields and hills outside of a small southern Pennsylvania town. One event began on the heights of a knoll called Little Round Top.
Sep 9, 2011:
On September 11, 2011 the new 9/11 Memorial will be publicly dedicated. That place is now, and will from here on be sacred ground.
Sep 7, 2011:
I went to a funeral last spring for a woman of great humility, culture, and generosity. During the funeral mass I learned some things about this wonderful woman that I had never known before. Among these I found out that she was a WWII veteran, a unique veteran, in more ways than one.
Sep 5, 2011:
Aug 9, 2011:
Sadness is deep in us today, but we are not bowed. We are not broken. We hurt, and we sorrow, but we are proud of those who made the ultimate sacrifice for all of us. And we hope from the deepest well of our hearts that the day will come when this kind of sacrifice will no longer be needed.
Aug 8, 2011:
I am so glad to see that the returning veterans of this generation are being welcomed home so openly, so positively, and so sincerely. It is going to be just as tough for them to re-enter civil society as it was for my generation of warriors, but they are coming home to the respect and care that they deserve.
Aug 4, 2011:
We are about to say goodbye to a venerable military icon. The Walter Reed Army Medical Center has been in service and on duty for over a century, but will soon be closing its doors due to its age and deteriorating conditions.
Jul 29, 2011:
The way this project is structured at every stage is, to my mind, a model for how to both care for those who have temporarily gotten lost on the road of life, and how to empower them to make themselves into the persons they were meant to be. This program is about freedom.
Jul 18, 2011:
The annual Stand Down event to give veterans a three-day weekend chance to get cleaned up, have a few good meals, get basic medical and dental health care, and maybe get into rehab programs, or find work. A Stand Down occurred this weekend, from July 15th through 17th.
Jul 15, 2011:
On June 30, 2011 Secretary of Defense Robert Gates retired from one of the most storied careers of public service in modern times. Secretary Robert Gates is a leader of exceptional character, who held the men and women who serve this nation with their lives close to his heart.
Jul 13, 2011:
Eugene Krueger is an unusual veteran of two wars, the Vietnam war and the War on Terror in Afghanistan. His admirable four decades of service have more than earned the thanks of a grateful nation.
Jul 12, 2011:
One Tuesday evening I happened to watch the PBS program Frontline. One of the issues covered was a story about the proliferating for-profit, online colleges and universities and their relationship to our returning veterans. It was a very disturbing piece.
Jun 28, 2011:
As I write this blog article this morning, some 250 women and men wearing blue are running together in the Seattle "Rock 'n' Roll" Marathon. These brave Americans run, not just to prove themselves, but to honor and remember their fallen heroes, and to support one another through another day.
Jun 17, 2011:
On July 12, 2011, Sgt. 1st Class Leroy Arthur Petry will be awarded the Medal of Honor by President Barak Obama at the White house. He is one of nine who have been awarded the Medal of Honor for their actions in the Iraq-Afghanistan campaigns.
Jun 8, 2011:
It took me four days to get up the nerve to approach that wall. As I finally drew near and saw "The Wall" for the first time, tears, tears that I had held back for two decades, came suddenly and uncontrollably.
Jun 6, 2011:
On May fourth, two families, the nation, the State of Washington, the Yakama Tribe of White Swan, WA, and the Gila River Tribe of Blackwater, AZ, buried yet another son and veteran killed in Afghanistan.
May 26, 2011:
This Memorial Day, let us honor all of the sacrifices made in service to the Constitution of the United States with a renewed vigor.
May 23, 2011:
Today, we have a distinguished guest at Notes from a Veteran to share her thoughts: Senator Patty Murray, the first woman to chair the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee and a national advocate for the rights of veterans.
May 4, 2011:
On September 11, 2001, the world changed for all of us. Since that day we have been at war with the mindless, irrational terrorism initiated by Osama bin Laden.
Apr 29, 2011:
Governor Chris Gregoire of Washington State signed a bill that allows private businesses to give hiring preference to veterans. With the current unemployment rate for Gulf-War era veterans standing at 10.9 percent (the average is 8.8 percent), this is good news for veterans in Washington...
Apr 25, 2011:
This is a project that finds its foundations in the love that veterans, who have seen the worst of war, have for one another.... It is clear what it has meant and continues to mean to the families that get these portraits, but for Mike, it has welcomed him home to himself.
Apr 15, 2011:
The opposite of love is not hate, but indifference. We can no longer afford to be indifferent to the suffering of those who are poor, homeless, and lost among us. So many of them are veterans...
Apr 8, 2011:
The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have been going on for a 8 and 10 years now. With the media's attention concentrated on more sensational current events, we can lose sight of the fact that our young veterans are still serving, getting wounded, and, sadly, dying in those countries.
Mar 26, 2011:
Letters from home were a life-line to what was real for us. They connected us to sanity when we were so often caught in the midst of insanity.
Mar 17, 2011:
There are two kinds of heroes: those who go and offer their lives, and those who stay behind, faithful, hopeful and strong. We know and honor the heroism of our warriors, but we too often forget about those who stay at home, who sacrifice with their fear, their longing, and their loneliness.
Mar 8, 2011:
Let's face it. We all want to be seen as courageous, but courage is a virtue. It must be practiced over and over again until it becomes a habit, something you no longer have to think about, you just do. Even then...
Mar 4, 2011:
We who have fought, who have known the incomprehensible sacrifice of war, will remember Captain Freeman's actions and devotion to duty as long as we take breath. The nation must not forget either.
Mar 2, 2011:
Frank Buckles was a Missouri, Oklahoma farm boy looking for adventure in 1917. Or, as he said himself in an NPR interview three years ago, "Adventure was looking for me." The Great War was going on and he'd followed its progress, itching to go to the war that the whole world was involved in. He wanted, in his youthful idealism, to be a part of that world.
Feb 28, 2011:
The idea of going home was never too far from the thoughts of those fighting in war zones. The desire to get home was understandable, but there was a fear that was associated with our coming home too.
Feb 22, 2011:
Please join us in this effort to make a small but meaningful difference in the lives of homeless veterans. In helping others we help ourselves.
Feb 22, 2011:
Dan Doyle is a husband, father, grandfather, Vietnam veteran, and soon-to-be-retired professor of Humanities at Seattle University in Seattle, WA.
