U.S.M.C.
I like to reflect about the nature of fantasy and reality...this one is about reality.
I was in Sacramento last weekend and a friend and I were walking around the park at the capital building. We were really looking for a homeless looking person to give some (wonderful Thai food) leftovers to but we had a difficult time finding anyone who looked hungry. I found that quite strange and I can only imagine that the governator and his goons have probably run all the tramps to the other side of the skids. Don't worry, they will be back as soon as a democrat is elected!
We came across a beautiful memorial that commemorates the veterans of the Vietnam Conflict....or did it finally become a war after all these years?
When you are in Sacramento, at the capital, you should go see it. From outside it kind of looks like stonehenge but without the cross beams on top. Inside, relief panels of various vietnam memories cast in bronze are affixed to the huge blocks of granite. Bronze soldiers stand and sit guard over the memorial. As with the D.C. memorial, all the names of the fallen soldiers from California are etched in marble. Chilling, cold marble.
The whole effect is 3-dimensional and the site almost begs you to touch. It has a feel like you could climb into the scenes.
Standing guard over the memorial is an old weathered Marine who goes by the name of Gunny and chances are if you visit, he will be there. You can't miss him! He stands about 5 foot 8, he's African-American, he wears a field jacket with the patches that will never come off his arms. He proudly wears a hat with the pins that chronicle his tour of duty. He also wears these big coke bottle glasses that dominate his face and obscure his eyes. Gunny and some of his friends maintain a vigil around the site. The vets built this tribute with their own money at a cost of $3.5 million.
Gunny stood firm and stern as my friend and I took in the panels. He watched us very carefully but did not speak. That is he didn't speak until my friend began tugging on one of the soldiers arms. Gunny quickly moved in and gave my friend a warning that his behavior would not be tolerated. He was serious! I almost expected him to pull a billyclub off his belt.
My friend meant no harm and slowly struck up some friendly conversation. Gunny's iceberg personality melted a bit. He explained to us how he voluntarily stands guard over the memorial to ensure its safety. It hasn't been there for long but in its short history, the memorial has been repeatedly vandalized. Bronzed machine guns have been pried and torn out of soldiers hands, whole panels have been ripped from the walls, and there is plenty of visible evidence of touching. Our collective hand oils wear bronze into an interesting and contrasting hue.
Gunny told us tales of school buses full of children who litterally climbed the soldiers in front of their chaperones eyes and he seemed indignant about that but I could understand that sort of behavior cause I work with the little spirits everyday and I know how they need to keep climbing. Gunny wasn't gonna tolerate anymore of this bullshit on his watch and that explained his persona quite a bit.
After giving us the F.Y.I. about the malicious and human behaviors ellicited at the site he gave us a tour of the panels. He told us about each scene and what it represented and in some cases who the soldiers were. His whole spirit turned from protective guardian to loving docent.
He told tales of his time in the bush and if you can ever get a veteran to tell you a tale please listen very closely. Some vets are quite boastfal about their experiences but from my experience veteran's rarely share their hearts.....so when they do, feel with them because it is like a prayer.
Gunny showed and told us about the scars on his head from where the shrapnel tore through his helmet one awful day.
After 20 or so minutes of being with him the ice berg was a memory and Gunny got pretty light-heatred with us. He laid a couple one's on us that I hadn't heard before. He cracked, "You boys know what U.S.M.C. stands for don't you? Uncle Sam's Misguided Children!" It means, "U Suckas Missed Christmas!" To me his delivery was like the spirit of so many yo mama jokes I've heard and you could really tell that for Gunny the Marines were like his momma and his poppa. He was drafted in '65 and stayed through the Tet offensive in '68. He grew up on a battlefield and in a way, like so many veterans, he never left. The Marines Corps is what he knows best so he's still serving the best way he knows how.
We talked some politics and my friend asked if he would ever go to war again. Gunny replied, "It would depend on the President." He went on to say that he wouldn't fight for Bush and that he thought the Iraqi war is nothing but bullshit. "The Iraqi's didn't blow down the World Trade Center!" He knows the war is really about oil and he wants an end to it but he sees that the only way to end it is to blow the country to hell. That's where our opinions diverged but I understood that our viewpoints were crafted from our perspectives and experiences and you can't take that away from someone. Nor would I ever want to.
Gunny is awfully mad at the government for the shameful way veteran's of the first Gulf War have been ignored. I'm thinking he will be more apalled if this current war ever ends......Killgore would remind us after a whiff of napalm, "Someday this war is gonna end."
My friend and I had to leave Gunny but we made a friend and I hope to go back and see him sometime. And I hope people stop fucking with the memorial but I do hope people keep touching it. Although it rubs Gunny the wrong way (dumb pun intended) I think this is the whole point of the site.
The veteran's of Vietnam came back untouchable. They were scorned and shamed and spat upon for their service. 58,000+ died during 16+ years of combat in that jungle hell war but the death toll doesn't begin to touch the emotional and physical scarring of the survivors. For those who came back from Nam "alive" they left part of themselves, part of their hearts, part of their souls, part of their youth rotting in the awful bush of the emerald green jungles. Those of us who never experienced the war first hand can never know what this is really about. We can only guess, listen and feel and I'm glad there is a place for people to do this in Sacramento.
The more we touch the more we will feel.
I was in Sacramento last weekend and a friend and I were walking around the park at the capital building. We were really looking for a homeless looking person to give some (wonderful Thai food) leftovers to but we had a difficult time finding anyone who looked hungry. I found that quite strange and I can only imagine that the governator and his goons have probably run all the tramps to the other side of the skids. Don't worry, they will be back as soon as a democrat is elected!
We came across a beautiful memorial that commemorates the veterans of the Vietnam Conflict....or did it finally become a war after all these years?
When you are in Sacramento, at the capital, you should go see it. From outside it kind of looks like stonehenge but without the cross beams on top. Inside, relief panels of various vietnam memories cast in bronze are affixed to the huge blocks of granite. Bronze soldiers stand and sit guard over the memorial. As with the D.C. memorial, all the names of the fallen soldiers from California are etched in marble. Chilling, cold marble.
The whole effect is 3-dimensional and the site almost begs you to touch. It has a feel like you could climb into the scenes.
Standing guard over the memorial is an old weathered Marine who goes by the name of Gunny and chances are if you visit, he will be there. You can't miss him! He stands about 5 foot 8, he's African-American, he wears a field jacket with the patches that will never come off his arms. He proudly wears a hat with the pins that chronicle his tour of duty. He also wears these big coke bottle glasses that dominate his face and obscure his eyes. Gunny and some of his friends maintain a vigil around the site. The vets built this tribute with their own money at a cost of $3.5 million.
Gunny stood firm and stern as my friend and I took in the panels. He watched us very carefully but did not speak. That is he didn't speak until my friend began tugging on one of the soldiers arms. Gunny quickly moved in and gave my friend a warning that his behavior would not be tolerated. He was serious! I almost expected him to pull a billyclub off his belt.
My friend meant no harm and slowly struck up some friendly conversation. Gunny's iceberg personality melted a bit. He explained to us how he voluntarily stands guard over the memorial to ensure its safety. It hasn't been there for long but in its short history, the memorial has been repeatedly vandalized. Bronzed machine guns have been pried and torn out of soldiers hands, whole panels have been ripped from the walls, and there is plenty of visible evidence of touching. Our collective hand oils wear bronze into an interesting and contrasting hue.
Gunny told us tales of school buses full of children who litterally climbed the soldiers in front of their chaperones eyes and he seemed indignant about that but I could understand that sort of behavior cause I work with the little spirits everyday and I know how they need to keep climbing. Gunny wasn't gonna tolerate anymore of this bullshit on his watch and that explained his persona quite a bit.
After giving us the F.Y.I. about the malicious and human behaviors ellicited at the site he gave us a tour of the panels. He told us about each scene and what it represented and in some cases who the soldiers were. His whole spirit turned from protective guardian to loving docent.
He told tales of his time in the bush and if you can ever get a veteran to tell you a tale please listen very closely. Some vets are quite boastfal about their experiences but from my experience veteran's rarely share their hearts.....so when they do, feel with them because it is like a prayer.
Gunny showed and told us about the scars on his head from where the shrapnel tore through his helmet one awful day.
After 20 or so minutes of being with him the ice berg was a memory and Gunny got pretty light-heatred with us. He laid a couple one's on us that I hadn't heard before. He cracked, "You boys know what U.S.M.C. stands for don't you? Uncle Sam's Misguided Children!" It means, "U Suckas Missed Christmas!" To me his delivery was like the spirit of so many yo mama jokes I've heard and you could really tell that for Gunny the Marines were like his momma and his poppa. He was drafted in '65 and stayed through the Tet offensive in '68. He grew up on a battlefield and in a way, like so many veterans, he never left. The Marines Corps is what he knows best so he's still serving the best way he knows how.
We talked some politics and my friend asked if he would ever go to war again. Gunny replied, "It would depend on the President." He went on to say that he wouldn't fight for Bush and that he thought the Iraqi war is nothing but bullshit. "The Iraqi's didn't blow down the World Trade Center!" He knows the war is really about oil and he wants an end to it but he sees that the only way to end it is to blow the country to hell. That's where our opinions diverged but I understood that our viewpoints were crafted from our perspectives and experiences and you can't take that away from someone. Nor would I ever want to.
Gunny is awfully mad at the government for the shameful way veteran's of the first Gulf War have been ignored. I'm thinking he will be more apalled if this current war ever ends......Killgore would remind us after a whiff of napalm, "Someday this war is gonna end."
My friend and I had to leave Gunny but we made a friend and I hope to go back and see him sometime. And I hope people stop fucking with the memorial but I do hope people keep touching it. Although it rubs Gunny the wrong way (dumb pun intended) I think this is the whole point of the site.
The veteran's of Vietnam came back untouchable. They were scorned and shamed and spat upon for their service. 58,000+ died during 16+ years of combat in that jungle hell war but the death toll doesn't begin to touch the emotional and physical scarring of the survivors. For those who came back from Nam "alive" they left part of themselves, part of their hearts, part of their souls, part of their youth rotting in the awful bush of the emerald green jungles. Those of us who never experienced the war first hand can never know what this is really about. We can only guess, listen and feel and I'm glad there is a place for people to do this in Sacramento.
The more we touch the more we will feel.
posted by el Craplastico | 10:10:00 AM
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