Sense from Seattle

Common sense thoughts on life and current affairs by a Seattle area sexagenarian, drawing on personal experience, years of learning as a counselor to thousands of families and an innate passion for informed knowledge, to uniquely express sensible, thoughtful, honest and independent views.

Tuesday, August 16, 2005

The Ultimate Sacrifice


Over 1,800 American military personnel have died in Iraq. They have made what has been called “the ultimate sacrifice”.

When I started law school in 1962, American involvement in Vietnam was somewhat minimal. By the time I was finishing law school in 1965, our involvement in Vietnam was so extensive that the draft was being used to force unwilling young American men into military service.

Despite 20/400 eyesight, color defective vision, a slight heart murmur and flat feet, at 5-11 and 145 pounds, my country considered me prime meat and classified me as 1-A, notifying me to report for induction after finishing law school. During this same era, NFL quarterback Joe Namath, was classified 4-F, exempt from the draft because of a bad knee, which did not keep him from leading the NY Jets to victory in Super Bowl III in 1969.

I have always remembered my constitutional law professor, Arval Morris, now an emeritus member of the faculty, saying that under the war powers in the constitution, a person in military service could legitimately be ordered to “take the shot”, meaning he could be ordered to charge the cannon of the enemy and throw his body across the muzzle to interfere with the cannonball being fired, thereby allowing his fellow troops a better opportunity to advance on the enemy. Refusing such an order in the heat of battle meant his commander could shoot him dead on the spot.

I was opposed to the war in Vietnam and definitely did not want to take the shot. Using my newly acquired legal skills, I appealed my induction notice long enough to give me time to enter the Air Force Reserve, “recruited” by Reiko’s dad, who had already enlisted as a reservist. Our reserve unit was called into active service in 1968, but we never went to Vietnam, though Reiko’s dad was sent to Korea for a time. Today, without a draft, the military is calling up reserve and national guard units and sending them to combat zones to take the shot, making the ultimate sacrifice.

The Pentagon supposedly was so interested in protecting the privacy of the families of military personnel killed in Iraq that it did not even want pictures of their flag draped coffins to be shown. The real reason for the ban, of course, was to deny Americans the right to empathize with those who made the ultimate sacrifice and with their families. The rule has been rescinded now, not because of a change of heart by the Pentagon, but because of a lawsuit under the Freedom of Information Act, as indicated in this interesting NPR commentary on the subject [the first part of the audio talks of the Iraq constitution but then it moves into discussion of the coffin rule].

One mother whose son made the ultimate sacrifice last year in Iraq, is reminding George W. Bush of that every day during his current vacation at the ranch in Crawford. Pictures of all the Americans killed in Iraq, with brief details, are available at the CNN site.

I believe those still driving around with American flags on their cars, supposedly as some indication that they support our troops, would be offering the deepest support if they were displaying flag draped coffins on their cars instead.

8 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

I learned something new today. I didn't know Dad had "recruited" you to the Air Force reserves! I have seen the pictures that he had mailed Mom from Korea before I was born.

I guess I was the reason Dad got to come home, because Mom was pregnant with me, and that was how Dad got out of the reserves. At least that is what I was told. Tom, you may know different? :)
Thanks again for sharing.

~Rake (Reiko)

2:58 PM  
Blogger Tom Blake said...

My best recollection is your dad got to come back to the States but did not get released from the Reserves early. He had enlisted before me, so his 6 year commitment expired before mine, but I don't remember if he had to serve the full 18 months of active duty on the callup, as I did.

12:49 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

My sympathies and admiration go to Cindy Sheehan. She is the first symbol of an anti-war movement on the Iraq invasion. She is making a tiny splash that maybe will grow. What a difference from the Viet Nam days that Tom recalls. The anti-war movement then was huge and was led by kids, not mothers like Sheehan. The history books are saying that Watergate forced Nixon to resign, but I believe the anti-war movement had a big impact, making him vulnerable, and allowing a "second rate burglary" to have historical consequences.

John from Phoenix

5:49 PM  
Blogger Tom Blake said...

The Vietnam War did spawn a huge anti-war movement, which the invasion of Iraq has not yet done. Some reasons for that difference might be that Vietnam involved a military draft, whereas the American forces in Iraq are all volunteer, and Iraq was invaded in part to overthrow a brutal dictator, while in Vietnam we were fighting on the side of an unpopoular puppet government.

The peace movement against the Vietnam War did eventually develop a maternal branch, "Another Mother for Peace", co-founded by the actress Donna Reed, who became a very effective speaker at anti-war rallies.

The anti-war movement exacerbated Nixon's paranoia which spawned the stupidity of Watergate. In seeking the Presidency, Nixon said he had a plan to end the war. His plan supposedly was to have the Vietnamese take over the role of the American troops - the same plan Bush supposedly has for Iraq. After he was elected, Nixon continued the war and expanded it into Cambodia.

2:55 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Being over here in Thailand you don't really get a clear picture of the effect these deaths are having on communities back home.

The numbers are steadily growing and it will soon get to the point where many people know somebody or know somebody who know somebody that got killed. Kind of like a six degrees of seperation for troop deaths.

I know this becuase I just got a JFK High alumni newsletter sent over here. In the updates there were several people on active duty in Iraq and there had been one death -- a guy who went to school with Jon and whose younger brother was in my class.

I didn't know the guy, and I wasn't really friends with his brother. But it was having a name, a recognisable person, added to the list of deaths that kind of hit home.

I think once this really starts to sink in for others, the tide will shift -- if it isn't shifting already.

Chris

1:54 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I saw a report on the number of US troops who have died since returning from Iraq. I can remember the figure, but it was shockingly high, in the hundreds.

These were from suicides, car accidents, out-of-hnad fights, etc.

I searched for it but couldn't find any concrete stats. Could be interesting though.

Chris

2:19 AM  
Blogger Tom Blake said...

Chris, did you find the Kennedy student on the CNN death site I linked to in my posting? As I write this I am tearing up for him and his family. It could have been you or Jonathan. I would like to see his picture. If you are not comfortable posting his name here, please e-mail me privately.

I have not been to Texas since I was there for Air Force training in 1966, but I would seriously consider joining the parents of war dead protesting outside the Crawford ranch.

Here is a link to an MSNBC article about the mental health problems of returning Iraq war veterans.

10:13 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Yes, he is on the list.

His name is Steven M. Langmack.

Chris

10:57 PM  

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