A True Fighting Gamecock at the University of South Carolina

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I don’t personally know Kyle Carpenter, but I imagine he did what most normal college young men did this past semester at the University of South Carolina. He probably worked hard to be the good student that he is, but I’m guessing he also played video games, watched sports on TV, discussed classes and what he might do this weekend with friends. He might even be watching our Gamecock baseball team or be thinking about next year’s football and basketball teams.

Kyle Carpenter continuously tries to pass himself off as just a regular student at the University of South Carolina. But last week, Kyle Carpenter visited the White House–not on a tour, but as an invited guest of President Barack Obama. You see, Kyle Carpenter really isn’t your average USC student. He is the retired Marine Corporal Kyle Carpenter, and he was at the White House to receive the Medal of Honor from President Obama. Kyle is the eighth living recipient and the second Marine recipient of this great honor since the start of the war against terrorism in Afghanistan.

Why did President Obama honor this twenty-four-year-old man? Kyle Carpenter’s story is anything but ordinary. On November 21, 2010, Kyle and his best friend Lance Corporal Nicholas Eufrazio stood guard on a rooftop in the Marjah District of the Helmand Province of Afghanistan, taking fire from the Taliban, when a grenade landed on the roof. What this young Marine did in the next few seconds changed the lives of both his best friend and him.

He dove toward the grenade.Silhouette fedora

His action saves his best friend’s life, and miraculously, Kyle survived the blast.

Kyle remained conscious for a few seconds after the blast, feeling his life’s blood pour out of him. According to his personal accounts, in those second that Kyle remained conscience, he asked if his best friend Nicholas Eufrazio survived, and he accepted Christ in his life so that he could go to Heaven. Plus he was upset, thinking about his family he wouldn’t see, as he was certain he was going to die there on the rooftop in Afghanistan?

In the critical minutes that passed, Carpenter went through three revivals of flat-line cardiac arrest. By the grace of God, the medics, paramedics and doctors didn’t give up on Kyle, and Kyle’s intestinal fortitude refused to give up. The next thing this heroic young man remembers is waking up at Walter Reed Army Hospital, following a coma that lasted more than five weeks.

Over the next two years, Marine Corporal William “Kyle” Carpenter underwent almost forty surgeries to repair the loss of a right eye, a blown right ear drum, a fractured nose, destroyed lower jaw and cheek bones, plus a right arm broken into more than thirty pieces. And those weren’t the worst injuries–he also had shrapnel in his brain. During two years of recovery, this native of Mississippi and resident of Gilbert, South Carolina strived to return to normal.

In a recent interview with a local TV station, he talked about going back to Afghanistan to the very rooftop where the horrific incident occurred, for nothing else but closure on that fateful moment—that moment when he did what he claims all Marines would proudly do: dive on a grenade to protect his fellow Marines.

Kyle’s recovery has been nothing short of miraculous, and he is now doing things that none of his doctors would have predicted. Kyle is even contemplating running the Marine Corp Marathon in the future.

The Twenty-fifth Anniversary of Tian’anmen Square

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Over the past couple of weeks, the Chinese government has been preparing for the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Tian’anmen Square Protest by cracking down on their list of potential protestors, fearing a repeat of that fateful day.

On June 4, 1989, the World watched in horror as the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA), including their tanks, turned on their very own people. The image that I have in my head is probably the same image you have in yours; the student moving in front of the PLA tank in Tian’anmen Square.

How did the world’s most populous country get into that position?

In April of 1989, an icon of the Chinese Liberals, Hu Yao-bang, passed away. Hu was a former General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) who had refused to shut down a protest in January of 1987. To honor Hu’s death, students held peaceful demonstrations in Shanghai, Beijing, and several other cities.

The students who participated in this demonstration were some of the top academics in China. Although this started out as a memorial to Hu, it evolved into a protest to bring attention to the poor living conditions in China. Over the next month, this memorial service escalated to a pro-democracy protest with an estimated 100,000 students and workers participation, which culminated in Tian’anmen Square in Beijing. The participants in the demonstration were not the usual protestors, such as students and activists; instead, they included lawyers, journalists and older adult relatives of the students.

While the protest grew, the Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Deng Xiao-ping held meetings with his closest advisers to discuss how to deal with the first major threat to the Communist rule that this country had experienced since the Civil War of late 1940s. Besides this conflict in the Square, there was also conflict amongst his own advisers, Premier Li Peng and CCP General Secretary Zhao Zi-yang, as to how to handle the growing protest. The protest came just after the fall of the communist movement (or more correctly labeled, the dictatorships) in Eastern Europe. Chairman Deng Xiao-ping was going to do everything in his power to make sure the harsh communist rule would continue in China. The vision of a strong, self-reliant communist society had been largely shelved by the generation that had grown up after Mao. They thought Deng was different. They thought wrong!

On May 20, the Communist government declared martial law, which in itself sounds strange for a Communist dictatorship. Chairman Deng decided to follow Li Peng’s “get tough” plan and ordered the Chinese troops into Tian’anmen Square to end the pro-democracy protest.

After the protest was put down by the military, more than 10,000 protesters were injured, and a large number of people were detained or arrested. Strangely, Chinese citizens just “disappeared.” But that was not the worst of it; more than fifty Chinese were murdered. Sure makes the term Peoples Liberation Army sound like a misnomer.

The man considered to be the leader of the movement, Liu Xiaobo, was later arrested and put in prison, where he still sits. Liu won the Nobel Peace Prize for leading this peaceful protest advocating political reform.

Although the government had quelled similar protests since the mid-1980s, the extremely violent suppression of the Tian’anmen Square protest caused widespread international condemnation of the Chinese government.

Chinese business leaders and advisers in Beijing believed that most of the countries would restart their business with the People’s Republic of China (PRC) after a brief period of complaint over the Tian’anmen Square Incident. The Chinese government’s hopes were dashed for joining international organizations, trade or otherwise. Then US imposed sanctions and the World Bank suspended China’s loans.

Although there had been significant improvement in human rights in China in the in the twenty years leading up to the Tian’anmen Square Incident, abuses had continued.Silhouette fedora

Today, China has evolved militarily and economically into a world power. They have a growing middle class and a growing economy. However, the Communist Politburo still runs the country, though they have let up their boot a little from the necks of their peoples. Still, they have real issues within their government and economy.

I believe that, if another protest ever breaks out in Tian’anmen Square, this time the army will join the protestors in the streets and overthrow the Communist leaders.

What do you think will happen the next time the students start a protest in Tian’anmen Square?

 

Jacqueline Lee Bouvier Kennedy Onassis

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Monday May 19 marked the twenty-year anniversary of the passing of Jacqueline (Jackie) Lee Bouvier Kennedy Onassis. Her death was the result of cancer. Jackie was born on July 28, 1929, in Southampton, NY. The reason I’m writing about her is two-fold; first, she is one of the most interesting people of the twentieth century; and, second, I have a novel coming out soon covering the months leading up to and the assassination of one of her husbands, President John F. Kennedy.

Jackie Kennedy Onassis was born into a very wealthy Catholic family and was raised as a very privileged child. As a young girl, she learned to speak French, while involved in horsemanship and ballet. Jackie spent her junior year in high school studying abroad in Paris. When she returned to the United States, she entered George Washington University, where she earned a degree in French Literature. After college, she landed a job at The Washington Times-Herald, which required her to take photographs of Washington residents, and then tie an interview to the pictures.

Jacqueline Bouvier met her future husband, John F. Kennedy, at a dinner party in 1952, and she married him one year later.

In 1961, with the inauguration of John F. Kennedy as 35th President of the United States, she became First Lady. To this day, many consider her to be the grandest of all of the first ladies to serve in that role. Kennedy became the youngest President and defeated the seated Vice President Richard M. Nixon. Clearly, part of her elegance was critical to President Kennedy’s election in one of the closest for President in US history.

In my novel about the period leading up to the Kennedy assassination, I rarely mention Mrs. Kennedy but her role in my novel was big part of the plot. I know this sounds like a conundrum, and, well, it is. There’s no way to be delicate: President Kennedy fooled around, and he fooled around a lot. I mean, his affairs were the stuff of legends. It is said that, during the Cuban Missile Crisis, he wanted to find someone to “relieve his stress.” Condone it or not (and I don’t), he saved the world from nuclear devastation and kept nuclear missiles from our very doorsteps. There is even the rumor (more than a rumor, but for now we’ll leave it at that),that he was going to divorce Jackie and marry one of the women he was messin’ around with, after serving out his second term in office.Silhouette fedora

Through all of this, Jacqueline Kennedy remained her dignified self. Some would say she liked the power trip and prestige, but if you study her personality, that doesn’t seem to fit. I think she felt that it was important to be dignified at all times, and dignified she was. Did she love President Kennedy? Yes, I believe so. Part of her reason for staying in the marriage was that it was the thing to do in that day and time, and divorce was not a part of her Catholic upbringing.

Five years after President Kennedy’s death, she married Aristotle Onassis, a Greek shipbuilder. At the time, there was a crazy rumor going around that she only married Onassis to hide former President Kennedy, who was alive but had no brain function. Personally, I believe she married Onassis to have some semblance of privacy.

The last image of Jackie Kennedy in my novel is her crawling out on the back of the Presidential Limousine, while bullets rained down, so she could retrieve part of the President’s brain. Her Secret Service bodyguard had to push her back into the car and cover her body with his own. Somewhere during all of this, it is said that, when the shot from the Grassy Knoll hit President Kennedy, she exclaimed “Oh, my God! I have his brains in my hand!”

Are you aware of more former rumors about President and Mrs. JFK that have since been proven to be fact? What opinions do you have of Jacqueline Lee Bouvier Kennedy Onassis?

 

 

When Words Are Like Toothpaste

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A lady at our church used to do the children’s message. About once a year, she would sit among the children and squeeze toothpaste from a tube. Once she had coaxed out as much as she could, she’d hand the empty tube to one of the little boys and ask him to put the toothpaste back in the tube. When he failed, she’d pass the bowl of toothpaste and the empty tube around to the other children as they one by one would fail to return the toothpaste to the tube. “Your words are like this toothpaste,” she’d say, holding up the bowl. “Once they are out of your mouth, they can never go back again.”

What a great lesson—a lesson that is as relevant to adults as it is to children. In fact, I know a couple of gentlemen who should have taken this lesson to heart.

I have always loved basketball at all levels—especially the National Basketball Association, commonly called the NBA. On Saturday night, Los Angeles Clippers’ owner Donald Sterling purportedly made some harsh racist remarks. I was stunned. For years, Elgin Baylor, an African-American, served as the Clippers’ club president. The Clippers’ current coach is Doc Rivers, another African-American. And, of the twelve-man Clippers’ roster, ten are African-American. How can that be? How can someone who lives in the sports world and who gives the appearance of being tolerant say such things? The answer is easy. He is a racist. Maybe a closet racist, but a racist, none the less.

As this story continues to develop, there may be other explanations. For example, Donald Sterling claims he had authorized his ex-girlfriend to make this recording because he feared he’d forget what he’d said. But now he says she altered the recording. However, more and more facts have immerged regarding Sterling’s racism including preventing non-whites from living in his rental apartments.Silhouette fedora

Since this story broke, I learned that Elgin Baylor had filed a lawsuit against Sterling and the team over his old contract. The same is true of several other of his former players and coaches. Sterling has chosen to fight them in court rather than honor their respective contracts.

Now Doc Rivers, one of the best coaches in the league, must coach his team, the Los Angeles Clippers, under adverse conditions brought about by the owner of the team. Coach Rivers is contemplating his future with the club. About ten years ago, I had the pleasure of meeting Doc Rivers. He seemed like a gregarious gentlemen. He let some of my AAU basketball kids take pictures with him. What a day for my team! But here and now, Doc Rivers, a splendid ambassador for the game of professional basketball, is being put through unnecessary drama and negative attention.

During the Clippers game on Sunday, the team turned their uniforms inside out during warm-ups—a silent but brilliant protest of Sterling’s evil words. But clearly their heads were not in the game. Can you blame them? The new commissioner of the NBA, Adam Silver, says he is investigating Sterling’s racist remarks and is expected to quickly address the situation. But I have to agree with Mike Greenberg of ESPN, who said that other than Michael Jordon and Earvin “Magic” Johnson, the owners have been silent on the racism displayed by Sterling. They have a platform and they are not taking advantage of it!

Another racist in the news is Cliven Bundy, the Nevada Rancher whose recent dispute with the federal government over grazing rights culminated in a near armed confrontation that could have become much worse. Mr. Bundy’s ridiculous statements could clearly impact public perception of his case against the United States Government. Mr. Bundy demonstrates that if you put a microphone in front of someone over and over, eventually he’ll tire of reciting the same message and his true personality will slip out.

As those kids learned, you can’t put the toothpaste back in the tube. If your heart is pure, then one does not have to fear words uttered in private or before a microphone, but should your heart hold hideous secrets, be aware that in today’s world of instant record that eventually your true colors will be exposed—especially the color of your soul.

Bundy Ranch – It Isn’t Over Yet

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For those of you who were like me, fixed to every single development of the standoff between the United States Bureau of Land Management (or BLM) and the Cliven Bundy Ranch, I want you to know—it is far from over. The BLM swooped in and inflicted tyranny on the Bundy Ranch and the good citizenry for a total of three days, before they finally stood down. An interesting fact emerged toward the end of the conflict: US Senator Harry Reid’s son and a former staffer are in positions of authority in Nevada, and they may have been behind acceleration of this conflict, due to pending or potential business dealings. If true, is it related to this conflict?

Let’s look at what started this confrontation. Silhouette fedora

Mr. Bundy claims that his family has operated the ranch since in late 1800s, before the establishment of the BLM, and he does not recognize the BLM’s claim, due to his family’s continued occupation of this land.

As of this date, Cliven Bundy has lost twice in federal court prior to these events, which began last Thursday. So in essence, going into last week’s confrontation, the federal government may—and I say may—have had the upper hand. According to various legal sources, all the federal government would have had to do is file a lien against the property, and let the lien process play out. It may be a conflict of interest to have the US Government rule on a dispute between a federal branch of the government and a US citizen, but I will leave that for legal minds to resolve.

However, the BLM showed up with overbearing force, including some who may not have been solely BLM personnel, which included snipers. Not only did they threaten the Bundy family, they threatened the neighbors and protestors who showed up to defend the Bundy family. The BLM even went so far as to set up an area three miles from the Bundy Ranch for “1st Amendment Rights,” one of the most bazaar things I have ever heard. They threatened people with tasers, threatened people taking pictures of the snipers and of the BLM employees squatting down behind their vehicles pointing guns at the demonstrators.

The contrast in the optics of the situation was clearly in the favor of the Bundy Ranch, the neighbors who road on horseback carrying the United States flag and the other protesters who showed up, who for the most part were well behaved.

Quickly, this confrontation between the US Government and the people escalated into a very volatile situation.  Moreover, when the BLM personnel were removing the cattle from the Bundy Ranch, some of the animals were mistreated, including the killing of two bulls. It has also been reported that some personal property of the Bundy’s was destroyed.

Mr. Bundy has admitted he is behind on paying grazing fees. Now, I am left with several unanswered questions: If fees are due, to whom do they owe the fees—the US Government, or the State of Nevada? And do they really owe anyone? If fees were paid, when was the last payment made? What are the legal steps that either side had available to them, before this incident, and why were those steps not taken? What are the new legal steps that are now available as a result of this stand-off?

Do you have answers? What questions have arisen in your mind, in light of this incident? Do you feel the US Government acted justly and appropriately in this case? Why, or why not?

Doolittle’s Raid on Tokyo

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Historical MarkerApril 18, 1942, is a very important day in the history of World War II. On this day, Lieutenant Colonel James Doolittle launched his fighter-bomber group, consisting of sixteen B-25Bs in a six-hundred-mile bombing mission over Tokyo, Kobe, Nagoya and Yokohoma, Japan. The original plan called for Vice Admiral William Halsey to maneuver the US Navy fleet, so that the bombers, after dropping their bombs, could fly and join up with Chennault’s AVG Flying Tigers.

This significant event was very important to the United States, as it was the first offensive mission against Japan after their attack on Pearl Harbor. However, the attack on Japan didn’t go exactly as planned. While the US Navy aircraft carriers Enterprise and Hornet attempted to slip undetected close enough to Japan to launch the attack, they were spotted by Japanese patrol boats. These eighty brave men immediate went to their back-up plan, launching some four-hundred miles earlier than planned, changing the already-dangerous bombing run over the enemy’s country to a ditching mission, after completing their bombing run. While they were told to spare the Japanese Imperial Palace, Doolittle himself buzzed the palace in his plane. Fifteen of the sixteen planes made it to China. The remaining plane made to the Soviet Union—our great World War II ally—where its crew was interned.

Doolittle and his fighter-bomber group practiced their mission at Lake Murray, South Carolina, a recently constructed lake. They practiced on Doolittle Island, Shull Island and Dreher Island, flying out of Columbia Army Air Base, which is now the commercial airport for Columbia. Following the raid, Doolittle’s B-25s continued to train at Lake Murray for the duration of the war. Sixty-four of these men continued to fly throughout the remainder of the war.

While Doolittle’s raid did little damage to Tokyo, it gave the United States hope during a very dark time in our history and showed the Japanese that they were indeed venerable. Hirohito had grossly miscalculated that the United States would be willing to enter into peace talks after their six-month campaign throughout the Pacific. But Roosevelt and his Joint Chiefs had a different answer than the Japanese had anticipated. This surprise attack forced the Japanese to attempt to extend their defensive perimeter, which led to the Battle of Midway, ending their offensive war.Silhouette fedora

Doolittle and his crewmen held annual reunions around the country, up until last year. They often came to Columbia, SC for these reunions, the last time being April of 2009. In 1956, Hennessy Distillers presented Jimmy Doolittle with a bottle of 1896 cognac, in honor of his birthday. Three years later, the City of Tucson present them with eighty gobbles (shot glasses) commemorating the airmen, thus starting the annual reunion ritual.  Each living member would toast the mission, those who had passed and the remaining survivors. Last year, the four remaining living members celebrated with their last toast of cognac at Eglin Air Force Base in Fort Walton Beach, FL. One of the survivors was too ill to make the trip.

How should we continue to honor these brave men from the greatest generation on their anniversary date this year? I recommend that a toast of cognac or our favorite adult beverage would be very appropriate, along with a moment of silence to commemorate their brave mission.

Lost Plane at Sea?

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In March, a plane took off that was eventually lost in the ocean. The plane had extra fuel, the most sophisticated navigation equipment with triple redundancy, flight plans and contingency flight plans. There were communication points established along the way. All of the communication points were made until the plane was lost, believed to have crashed in the ocean. Shortly after the plane disappeared, extensive search ensued, but to date, no debris has been found. What happened? Will we ever know?

The above paragraph was written about Amelia Earhart. Her plane went missing almost 77 years ago on her attempted around the world flight.

Today, like 77 years ago, we are missing a plane; the Malaysia Jet MH 370 has disappeared. it’s kind of an eerie circumstance, don’t you think?

The Malaysia Jet was a Boeing 777, which according to all of the talking heads, is one of the safest and easiest to fly, containing a redundancy of all technologies. It took off on time on March 8th, carrying 239 passengers and a crew of ten. Their flight plan called for them to fly from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, which should take just under six hours.

There were several check-in points along the route, all of which were met until after passing over Thailand and crossing out into the South China Sea, when something changed. From there, the puzzle began to develop, starting with the Malaysian Government. On the first day, they couldn’t or wouldn’t even confirm what time the plan went missing.

As of this date, there are very few pieces of evidence that help us build the story of what happened. Now, almost three weeks later, the inconsistencies continue to mount, which no one can begin to explain. I think this passage of time alone almost eliminates all possibilities of hi-jacking or terrorism. (Not completely, perhaps, but most likely.) Terrorists normally want a big show, but there has been no big show, yet!

We have been told that the jet operated for seven hours after the last communication point, and the jet went off its designated track. Frankly, the exact direction the plane traveled during those seven hours is unknown. Silhouette fedora

As we delve into the mystery, let’s start in the cockpit; it would have been occupied with the pilot, co-pilot and flight engineer. Yet, researchers have focused only on the pilot, who was reported to have some personal issues. But for him to turn off two transponders, plus one below the flight deck, would likely imply he had some assistance. Did that assistance come from the other occupants of the flight deck? During the seven hour unmonitored portion of the flight, was only one deck officer involved, and were either or both of the others subdued? This doesn’t make sense. I have also heard that the pilot was suicidal. If so, are we to believe he subdued the crew, then took a joyride over the ocean for seven hours, and then flew it into the water? Hmmm?

Now, somehow they didn’t know where the jet was located, but yet they know the jet reached a flight altitude of 45,000 feet, which could have caused the pressurized cabin to fail and could have impacted the oxygen system, thus taking out the passengers, whether permanently or temporarily. Do you find it weird, as I do, that they knew the flight altitude, but not the flight path? It also has been reported that the jet eventually dropped down to 5,000 feet, in essence to fly below radar detection. Again, how can they know that, without knowing where it was? Come on.

Now let’s focus on the route the jet took. At first, it successfully passed the scheduled waypoints along the route. Then came the story that the flight plan was altered just before or shortly after take-off. How did they know that? Just after crossing over Thailand, out over the South China Sea about two hours into the flight, the jet went off in a different direction. Climbed up, then dropped down, then—presto magic!—it disappeared!

Now let’s get back to the Malaysian Government’s report. After the jet was in the air and disappeared, they reviewed the manifest of passengers, and it was discovered that two Iranians, who paid cash for their tickets, were on that flight using stolen passports. Reports came out that this is not unusual in Asia or other third-world countries, as a large number of passports aren’t checked. And by the way, they then discovered then that these passports were stolen and had been illegally used. Crack detective work!

Now, here is where the story gets even stranger. Didn’t countries have satellites that could provide information on the flight path? Haven’t we been told that the CIA has satellites that can read license plates on cars, which are clearly smaller than a jet? Then it was reported that there were no satellites covering the Indian Ocean, along one of the speculated flight paths. Hmmm, I thought there were satellites covering the entire earth. I’ll bet Al Queda loved hearing this little tidbit.

Let’s review another fact: we have been told the jet flew for seven hours after the transponders were turned off. I wondered then, how did they know that? Well, about seven days after the jet disappeared, it was reported that when these jets are constructed, Boeing places monitors on the engines that provided data as long as the jets’ engines are in operation, but the Malaysians didn’t purchase that feature when they purchased their Boeing 777s. But it took Boeing seven days to provide reporters that data? Were they all on vacation and when they came back, somebody walked into that room and said, “Hey look what I just found? Who knew?”

Let’s look back for a minute at the fact that there were 239 passengers and now seven other members of the flight crew that flew seven hours off course. What happened to them? No one attempted any phone calls during that time? Yet, four days after the jet disappeared, it was reported that the cell phones indicated they were still working. Has anybody dropped their phone in the water? Does it work? I personally know the answer; it’s a big fat no!

So by the second week following the disappearance, a number of countries were providing search equipment, including the Chinese, as China is the residence of most of the passengers. And just then, the Malaysian Government announced that there were some valuable items on the jet, including, but not limited to, a large quantity of lithium batteries. Hey, it might have been nice to know that earlier, but hey, these guys sent text messages to the families that their relatives were dead. That is very touching, don’t you think? Who said they are a third-world country?  Talk about utilizing modern technology!

By now, the speculations include alien spacecraft, black holes and the jet being hidden in a hanger in Pakistan. If I have one guess, I’ll guess that it is not in Pakistan. The US Government has satellites and so many drones in the air over that country that we almost have to have traffic controllers watching them. So the odds are you that you could never sneak a jet in there.

Finally this week, I heard that a French satellite found 122 items in the water that could be from where the jet crashed in the water. The French found it, but the US and China didn’t? Am I the only one who finds this strange?

What are your thoughts and opinions of what happened to the missing Malaysia Jet MH 370? Let’s discuss!

 

The Vietnam Conflict

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I became draft eligible at the end of the Vietnam Conflict. During the last years of the draft, I was in college. The US Draft Board was running lotteries for selection, based on date of birth. And to use a sports acronym, I just barely squeaked into the top twenty, thus I had an immediate 1-A. In just over a week, I received my notice to report for my physical. I was running on the college track team, so I was certain to pass. I was torn by my future decision. Enlisting would mean committing four years of my life, but it would put me in the service of choice, versus two years of assignment to a random branch of service.

My father said, “You could end up chest-deep in a rice paddy, holding your gun over your head, while bullets are zinging past.” Obviously, my father wanted me to continue in his footsteps, entering the US Air Force. You see, when my father was seventeen, he enlisted in the US Air Force shortly after Japan bombed Pearl Harbor.

I took a lot of time and thought hard about the decision. I did not rush my choice. Just over a week before I was to report for my physical, President Nixon called an end to the draft. I can tell you that at that point, I still had not decided whether to enlist.

About two years ago, I decided to write a book, or a series of books, on the Vietnam Conflict. Why? Well, I lived it from the beginning to end. The year of my birth, 1954, was the beginning of Vietnam, and it ended while I was in college. When I was about nine years old, a friend of our family had a son killed in Vietnam. I remember sitting in their home with them, but—typical of a ten year old—it had no impact on me then. 

When I was in junior high, the youth of America quickly began to turn against the Vietnam Conflict, but again, I really didn’t understand. Richard Nixon was elected President as I was entering high school, but the war was still too far off to impact me, even when they talked about doing away with college deferments. During the time, the momentum grew against the conflict, and President Nixon discussed ending it. I noticed that, as our soldiers came home, I felt they were not treated properly. And sadly, the silent majority of people sat silent as to how these soldiers were treated. Now, please understand that I am aware there was a great misunderstanding of the two peoples; the Vietnamese people did not understand the American soldier, and many of the American soldiers disrespected the Vietnamese people.

Why, then, did all this hit me so hard two years ago? The Vietnam Wall came to my hometown of Parkersburg, WV. I couldn’t wait to see it. Plus, I wanted to find the name of the friend-of-the-family’s son. I wanted to know why and how he died. Talk about a fateful moment . . . when I asked the men in the tent where I could find his name, a lady who sat writing down names looked up at me and said, “I wanted to marry him!” How startling! That statement alone humanized the book project for me.

I wanted to write a book shedding positive light on the American soldiers in an attempt to honor these men who served over there. These men who were chest-deep in a rice paddy with a gun over their head as the bullets whizzed by. Plus, I wanted to show how the American public changed during the course of the Vietnam Conflict. After extensive research, I decided that the best place to start was at the first point of the conflict—the coup of South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem. This event had tentacles that were entwined around the entire fabric of the conflict.Silhouette fedora

What are your experiences with and perceptions of the Vietnam Conflict? If you are younger, or if you remained stateside, has any revelation regarding our soldiers surprised you, as I was startled by that woman’s statement? I would love to hear from you! Where do you think the Vietnam Conflict first started, and why?

Little Boy Versus the Pharmaceutical Company Chimerix

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This post might be better titled “David Versus Goliath, Part 2.” In case you haven’t heard, there is a little boy named Josh Hardy who lays dying at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. Josh is seven years old, and in his very short lifespan has had four bouts with cancer, plus heart failure. Recently, he received a bone marrow transplant. Apparently during a routine examination in November 2013, it was discovered Josh had a bone marrow disorder of some kind—a result of earlier cancer treatments.

Before a bone marrow transplant, doctors basically lower your system, taking it down as low as they possible can without killing you, so that the new bone marrow won’t be attacked by your healthy immune system. Well, Josh developed a virus called adenovirus, something any healthy immune system would fight off, but Josh’s could not.Silhouette fedora

Tuesday morning I was sipping coffee and reading the sports section, when my wife got real emotional about something she saw on a morning news program. This just caused me to pull up the paper to hide and ignore the news program, of course, and I mumbled something under my breath that I care not to put in writing. She knows it kills me to see anything about children getting sick, so I prefer to shut it out or leave the room. Today, I wasn’t finished reading the sports scores, so I just ducked down and tried to shut it out, until she said, ”Look at that picture. He looks like a little boy we might have had.”

So I took the bait. I looked up, just as they were showing Josh in a baseball hat. I was hooked, struggling not to become emotional, but trapped in the story, just the same.

Now, the mother’s version of the story is that a drug company named Chimerix produces a drug called Brincidofovir that could likely save the little boy’s life. However, Chimerix was not willing to provide the medicine. Both the Mother and a news reporter had talked to the CEO of Chimerix, but they claimed they had donated too much of this drug and were concerned about future ramification; i.e., profits.

Naturally, I started to do a little research. I could not verify all of this, since I am guessing the CEO would not take a call from me, but later I found out that a charitable foundation called the Chimerix CEO and offered to donate a large sum of money to pay for this drug. They stood their ground. No drug!

Now don’t get me wrong; I support pharmaceutical companies that make great products—lifesaving, life-altering, life-sustaining products, and I understand they have to make a profit to do this. We have some of the best chemists, best doctors, and best visionaries who come up with these drugs, and these individuals don’t work cheap, nor should they. Lord knows, I have seen their work up close and personal in my wife’s own life, as she suffers from MS. So I was trying to stay neutral, until I found that the US government purportedly gave Chimerix over $72 million to develop the drug! With that fact, I took sides!

Get that drug to Josh, before it’s too late!

With this being a national story, it could be a great PR move for Chimerix, so there is really nothing to lose and everything to gain.

Well, this morning, back in my usual position with sports section in hand, trusted coffee cup on one side, my wife on the other, I heard that Chimerix agreed to get Josh the drug. I guess the outrage and the campaign that had picked up so much steam in the last 36 hours turned out to be the stone from David’s slingshot that fell the giant Goliath or Chimerix, after all.

Now all we can do is pray the drug will be administered in time.

This Day in History – March 5, 1953 – The Death of Joseph Stalin

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Today, March 5th in 1953 marks the 60th anniversary of the death of Joseph Stalin ending the reign of one of the most brutal butchers of the twentieth century.  He was the General Secretary of the Soviet Union and was the uneasy, untrusting ally of the United States and Great Britain during World War II.As soon as the war was over, he became the first face of the United States’ arch enemy in the Cold War.  Literally, tens of millions of common people and hundreds of political leaders from the Soviet Union died as a result of Stalin’s direct orders.

Stalin’s rise to power was as brutal as his rule. He had tentacles everywhere providing him information, including Lenin’s private office, where Stalin’s wife worked. In early 1923, Lenin believed Stalin was too rude and would not be tactful enough to handle the power that comes with the position of General Secretary. Lenin went so far as to write this.

As Lenin’s health failed, due to complications from a failed assassination attempt, Stalin would become his messenger. Also, with Lenin ailing, Stalin knew he would have to move and move quickly to seize power. Stalin set out to create conflict within the party and remove potential contenders.  At Lenin’s funeral, Stalin stated, “Leaving us, comrade Lenin left us a legacy of fidelity to the principles of the Communist International. We swear to you, comrade Lenin, that we will not spare our own lives in strengthening and broadening the union of laboring people of the whole world – the Communist International” (Simkin).  Stalin believed that he could present Lenin to the world as the “new Jesus Christ” and communism would soon displace Christianity (Simkin).

Following Lenin’s death, Stalin continued to divide and conquer within the Politburo, always finding allies and alienating enemies. Once his new allies would start working with him, he would have his enemies either sent to Siberia or killed. His internal power within the Communist Party came out of fear more than respect.

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Stalin’s rule came at a heavy price to the Russian people. Most of them had little to eat and many would starve to death during the harsh Russian winters. All this was done during the early 1930s when the world’s economy was so bad that there were no countries to offer help. This didn’t slow down Stalin at all, next he turned his attention to purge the Red Army of his detractors, based on his belief that the army was planning a military coup. By the time he was finished, an estimated 30,000 military personnel were executed. Lastly, Stalin turned against his own secret service, the NKVD.

As Stalin was finishing off the so-called “fascist elements” (Simkin) with his secret service, and he felt he had cleaned up his own backyard, he turned his focus on Hitler’s potential movements in Europe. Stalin wanted to build an alliance with other European countries, believing Hitler would not attack a united Europe. First, he reached out to British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, who didn’t trust or like the communist dictator Stalin. When the British rejected him, the paranoid Stalin believed that the British were encouraging Germany to attack east (Russia), rather than west (France and Great Britain). While Chamberlain has long been vilified for his opinion of Hitler, he was spot on with his evaluation of Stalin. Surprisingly, Churchill, who opposed Chamberlain’s position on Hitler, wished to form the alliance with Russia, despite the fact that Churchill disliked and did not trust Stalin.

Once Hitler started his quest through Europe, Stalin believed that Germany would not attack the Soviet Union until they had conquered both France and Britain. However, Stalin had one other move to get his union with the Allies; he would form an alliance with United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt. This would put him into an alliance with Great Britain. And so it was. Stalin, Churchill and Roosevelt would form an uneasy alliance for the next five years. Roosevelt and Churchill would turn a blind eye to the atrocities carried out by their ally Stalin, while in the same breath condemn those of Hitler. All three allies spied on each other throughout the war. Currently, I am writing a book about the Soviet’s spying on the United States.

One of the factors in the United States’ decision to drop the atomic bombs on Japan was not only to end the Pacific War, but to keep Stalin from taking over China and other countries in Asia. This was an ironic thought process, considering their division of Europe among the Soviets, the French and the British, and the Americans basically handed the Soviet Union to Eastern Europe to rule. The Soviet Union believed that if the United States was the only one with nuclear weapons, they would be at great risk. Stalin knew the Soviet Union must possess the atomic bomb, if he was to have any chance of advancing communism around the World. Stalin acquired the bomb through abduction of scientists and spies in the United States and Great Britain.

All this happened sixty years ago today. Today’s American headlines again discuss the threat of a Russian show of force using nuclear weapons. Do we see any similarities today between Stalin’s actions and those of Putin in the Ukraine?

 

WORK CITED

Simkin, John. “Joseph Stalin.” Spartus Educational. N.p ., Web. 5 Mar. 2014.