Viewing Combat Stress Injuries as Opportunities

for Preventing PTSD:

Invitation to the

2nd National Symposium at Florida State University

on February 16, 2007

By

Charles R. Figley, Ph.D

Florida State University Traumatology Institute

This is a call to arms! That was our attitude last year when we held the first National Symposium on Combat Stress Injuries. We organizers sensed that there was insufficient attention to those who “bore the battle.”[1] In particular most of the attention was on combat-related PTSD and what to do about it once these men and women returned from war. Far more needed to be done when they were IN the war. This article is part of a special publication of VetSpeak.org that will focus on the upcoming Symposium I will co-chair on February 16, 2007. I talk more about the Symposium later.

Combat Stress Injuries

I have been investigating the immediate and long-term psychosocial consequences of combat for the combatants since 1971. As one of the Symposium organizers I want to emphasize the distinction between the stress of combat, something every combatant experiences if they are alive, and combat stress injuries that most often lead to Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

No matter what you think of today’s wars being fought by the US military, these warfighters represent less that 1% of the US population.[2] They deserve our respect and our help. One way of helping is for the other 99% of the US to be more aware of what these men and women are going through and how best to help them during and following deployment. The 2nd National Symposium will increase awareness.

The concept of combat stress injuries[3] is an important distinction. Mental health diagnostic labels can harm both warfighters and the military units they serve within. Navy Captain Bill Nash, MD who is co-chair of the Symposium and co-editor of Combat Stress Injuries, makes the point in Chapter 3; that there are major problems associated with medicalizing and pathologizing operational stress problems. Stress injuries have been kept separate from the physical injuries or wounds. He points out that if given any label at all, they have been classified as having something benign like “battle fatigue,” “exhaustion,” or “combat stress reaction.” The avoidance of labeling and a focus on normalization have also long been central to civilian crisis management efforts. The Israeli Defense Force has always used Combat Stress Reaction (CSR), for example, which is discussed by Zahava Solomon in her new book by the same name.[4] But there are limitations for normalizing what might be acute dysfunction with long-term negative consequences unless the right action is taken, rather than simply returning the injured warfighters to battle or discharging them to fend for themselves as a civilian.

As with any injury, complications may set in. In the case of combat stress injuries, the complications may be a stress disorder, depression, substance abuse, family violence, homicide, and suicide. Further, Dr. Nash suggests that combat stress injuries can be divided into three categories depending upon the source of the stress: (1) stress fatigue, caused by the wear-and-tear of accumulated stress; (2) grief stress, caused by the loss of someone or something that is highly valued, and; (3) traumatic stress, caused by the impact of terror, horror, or helplessness. Each requires acute care as soon as possible. Navy Captain Nash will discuss the implications of these injuries at the upcoming National Symposium.

It may be surprising to some but the actual rate of combat stress injuries have actually declined over the years. Unpublished stress casualty rates for United States troops deployed to Iraq vary but have never exceeded 2% of all war theater soldiers and Marines deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. However, this makes the assumption that there were no false negatives. In other words: Our current ability to accurately tell who is and who is not injured is very poor. These current wars, some would argue, are far more stressful than previous wars because of the sectarian violence, the complicated political context, numerous individual explosive devices; multiple tours with insufficient between deployment down time, and; the high percentage of troops from the National Guard and reserve forces.

Fortunately, most authorities agree that the Military is getting better at being able to anticipate and prevent combat stress injuries. This is due to better training, great reliance on chaplaincy and mental health services. They in turn are better trained thanks to the cumulative knowledge about the causes of such injuries and how best to respond to minimize damage.

Normal Stress versus Stress Injury

At the same time, because stress reactions are viewed by some as a “normal reaction” to being down range (the combat environment), differentiating what is normal and what is not, is a major challenge. Everyone experiences combat stress. Deciding who experiences a stress injury is tricky. But even if we are able to determine which is or is not a stress injury, there is considerable resistance to admitting injury among warfighters – physical or mental. A buddy or small unit leader may be the only ones who have witnessed the indicators of a combat injury and are in the best position to get help. Many are not trained to administer the appropriate interventions and those to whom they are referred have minimal training and resources.

Do you see why we need far more attention to this critical issue? We can’t help if we don’t know who needs it. All of the experts on combat stress and recovery agree that the earlier the detection and intervention the better. Why? Because low rates of combat stress injuries do not necessarily predict low rates of eventually diagnosed combat-related stress problems. The mental health problems experienced by Vietnam veterans after their war ended attest to the gap between identified battlefield stress casualties and the true extent of combat stress reactions actually generated in that conflict. A Walter Reed Army Hospital research team has found that 17% of heavily engaged Army and Marine “trigger pullers” admitted significant stress symptoms 3 to 6 months after returning from Afghanistan or Iraq. The team also reported, unfortunately, these those most affected were least likely to seek help. Why? They saw that the costs were too high. They were concerned about stigma and treatment effectiveness. Numerous government and journal reports confirm that there is a looming public health problem among these brave 1% who volunteered to serve in the military who “bore the battle.”

Personal Invitation to the 2nd National Symposium

This is where the National Symposium on Combat Stress Injuries comes in. The co-organizers have created a Symposium which offers serious and significant resources for understanding and helping combat veterans without a hint of politics or partisan rah-rah. The organizers are not pro-war but pro-warrior. We hope that the Symposium will be seen as one of the most inclusive and interdisciplinary gatherings of its kind. Innovation and thoughtful debates are welcome as we maintain a central focus on the welfare of the
warrior and warrior families.

Finally, I would like to personally invite everyone who reads this article to join us at the 2nd National Symposium, February 16th at Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida. The purpose of the symposia series is to note and discuss new and important knowledge about how to understand, measure, prevent, and management combat stress injuries in order to avoid the long-lasting, negative consequences for the warfighters and their families. One major development since the first Symposium (held at the same venue, February 10, 2006) is the publication of the Combat Stress Injuries book. Through a special arrangement with the publisher (Routledge), the first 100 registrants for the Symposium will receive a copy of the book as part of their registration materials.

One of the co-sponsors of the Symposium is the Vietnam Veterans of North Florida, Inc. The VVNF is incorporated in the State of Florida and is a federally incorporated veteran’s non-profit organization (a 501.c19). The VVNF Color Guard raised the first flag over the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Tallahassee, after touring with it all over the northern half of Florida to every county seat to display that first Flag prior to it being dedicated with the Monument. That operation was known as the Great Vietnam Veterans of Florida, State Coalition, Flag Drag. Other co-sponsors include the Collegiate Veterans Association and the National Veterans Foundation. We welcome co-sponsorships as a way of emphasizing importance of both the history of veterans’ causes and the importance of inclusiveness in unity of cause. If you are either unable to attend or to co-sponsor the Symposium, feel free to join the join the Combat Stress Forum to collaborate on research.

[1] `` let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the Nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan ,'' Abraham Lincoln, Second Inaugural Address
[2] As of January 2005, there are some 250,000 military service personnel out of nearly 300,000,000 estimated population of the US.
[3] There is increasing reason to believe that overwhelming stress of combat can inflict literal, physical injuries to the neurobiology of warfighters and civilians. The term “injury” has significant advantages when communicating with warfighters about the nature of their reactions to severe stress and how best to care for them. Warriors understand that stress injuries, like sports injuries, may be unavoidable, at times—they are just part of the cost of doing what they do. And like sports injuries, most stress injuries heal up quickly, even without professional attention. But also like sports injuries, stress injuries are most likely to heal quickly and completely if warfighters monitor themselves for symptoms of injury, and take proper care of those injuries that are sustained.
[4] Dr. Solomon is a keynote speaker at the National Symposium.

The Mission Evolves:

Swift Boat Vets to PTSD...

By

Willie Hager
(Sometimes AKA Wilder)

www.VetSpeak.org

Vetspeak has been in a state of evolution, from day one. Originally conceived, it was to be a one-stop on-line writers group and a forum for veterans with an aspiration for writing. It quickly evolved into an on-line magazine, but time and money ultimately became too big of a hurdle in providing an attractive, timely, and informational site for the veteran perspective. The current format as a blog-site seems to be, for now, a workable forum for topics that directly affect veterans and their quality of life, as well as the circumstances that they find themselves in sometimes, as a direct result of their unselfish service to their country.

Given the present day situation with the war in Iraq and in Afghanistan, and now in combat operations in Somalia, again; it seems that topically the debate follows the mood of the rest of the country, and polemics always bubble to the top. Everyone demands that everyone else adapt whatever opinion they might have about the war on terror, regardless of facts; whether they are for it, or against it. Sadly, often times these opinions are bereft of the facts (often by design). Folks who hold dogmatic opinions ears and minds are for the most part closed to input of any other, often more factually informed sources, with differing perspectives.

This is also true when it comes to electoral politics due to the mis- and dis-information campaigns mounted by both the Left and the Right through the mechanics of the two major political parties, who, up until this election haven’t listened to the Peoples voice in a very long time, and have spent most of their time and resources in publicly name-calling and personally trashing anyone who disagrees with them. Political Correctness from the Left would be a prime example of this, as would the act of “Swift-Boating”, from the right. Would that these were the only two examples of my point! But, they are not. There are far too many to go into here. The problem with all of this is that Objective Truth always suffers and uncivil debate always ensues, thereby often successfully smoke-screening the True trail to a solution.

It is with this in mind that as the debate roars on over what to do in Iraq, and in the War on Terror everywhere else on the globe; VetSpeak.org will be shifting its focus to a problem that is growing at an alarming rate. One which results from direct active participation in all of the above mentioned arenas; and that is the inability to reconcile one’s experience as a warrior in these conflicts with a normal, productive, American Dream kind of life.

This was a problem which was first brought to America’s attention back in the 1970s by the veterans returning from Vietnam, themselves. They called it Post Vietnam Syndrome. After years of debate and politics, it was finally accepted in the early 1980s by the V.A. and the Mental Health Community at large, recognized on the pages of the DSM, their diagnostic Bible, as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder; a now “legitimate” diagnosis described as an anxiety disorder resulting from psychological and social trauma. A problem that ultimately affects, at some point, each and everyone of ours’ dealings with our returning service personnel as they wander unprepared into the mine field of readjustment, encountering the unexpected changes at every level in the social order of things, as they remember it being on the home-front. They only remember the home-front that they originally left to defend, even with their very lives if necessary. It is seldom that the home-front of their hopes and dreams is the one that they return to. It is often very traumatically different.

In the ‘70s, research demonstrated that 15% of returning vets were experiencing problems to some degree. Today, that figure is a reported 30% of returning Iraq and Afghanistan vets. That’s double the number of those experiencing problems from Vietnam, from a much smaller population of candidates and a much shorter time span of stressor opportunity, than in the Vietnam era research populations. Houston; we have a problem…! Dare we hem and haw about who is right and who was wrong? Or, shall we put aside our pro-war, anti-war, and party politics, and on these pages and elsewhere combine our resources to get it right this time. Can we work together to give this problem the time, attention, and possible available remedies that have, to date, been overlooked; and that it and our returning troops deserve?

I don’t know the answer to that, but VetSpeak.org is gonna try. We hope that regardless of political affiliation or philosophy, those who read these words will join us. I assure you that there will be plenty of opportunities to participate as we move forward on this mission. A mission begun by Diane Ford Wood, co-founder of VetSpeak, with a proposal at a National Vietnam Veterans Against The War Annual meeting, just over a year ago, in Chicago. That proposal; to pull together a national PTSD Symposium too draw attention to this obviously unsolved problem from as far back as Vietnam, and now again a rapidly growing problem for a new generation of troops.

In our preparatory research for our proposal, we found that there was already such a National Symposium that had recently had their inaugural gathering at Florida State University, under the direction of Dr. Charles Figley, PHD, and were in preparation for the 2nd National Symposium at Florida State University . After meeting with Dr. Figley, and reviewing the results and conclusions from the First Annual Symposium, National Symposium on Combat Stress Injuries, we felt that rather than duplicate already existing efforts; we would offer whatever support that we might have access to, in order to bring about the most important purpose of our original proposal; to create a forum of renown such as a National PTSD Symposium for the purpose of examining not only “accepted”, or Politically Correct thinking on the topic, but to re-examine what has been done or has not been done by the Pentagon and by the V.A. and is so obviously not working.

Another purpose would be to also incorporate alternative thought, research, and functionally successful community level projects and groups. This secondary purpose would be to gather and archive as many research papers from un-official sources, and to data base the successes and the failures of alternative grass-roots “treatment” projects, as well as “institutionalized” programs such as the Vet Centers and the V.A. This centralization in clearing house fashion, and continued support for successive Symposiums at FSU could provide the beginnings for really getting it right, for all of the right reasons, this time.

We hope that you will join us. If so, you can begin by checking out the Symposium on-line and possibly registering to attend, or by donating either in kind resources, lot’s of E-mail Attaboys, or just good ol’ American Tender to help off-set the cost of even having a Symposium by visiting 2nd National Symposium at Florida State University.

Semper Fi!

Poetic Justice…

This in from Xonk: FEC FINES SWIFT BOAT VETS 300K

Thanks, Bro…Keep up the fire! Here’s my take on this one:

I don’t want to be an old I told you so…but…:-)! Pardon me, if I gloat a little…no, make that a lot! But, it has been quite a journey (and a rewarding one as well, it seems…) from the 3rd Triennial Vietnam Symposium at Texas Tech University, held in Lubbock, Texas, in March of 2005, to reading about this major victory for the forces of Truth. The journey started when a group of Old School VVAW types under the leadership of Ms Nancy Miller Saunders, serving as panel moderator, confronted these liars on Saturday, March 19th , the last day of the Symposium. I was honored to both be member of Nancy’s panel as well as to be in the company of the likes of Terry Dubose, Alex Primm, and Gerald Nicosia as fellow panelists.

As a panel, we enjoyed the in person back to back support of CathyK, SgtWayne, Calixto, Scott, BettyH, LucyD, and CathyP. Old School VVAW, one and all. And as such; primary targets in the anti-Kerry hate campaign mounted by the Swift Boat Vets leading up to and during the last presidential election campaigns. All were there to personally confront the Nixon left-overs with the Truth regarding Kerry and the VVAW. The first ones up to that point to do so; including Kerry himself, I might add. The Swifties presented at 0845, and we were on at 1030 hours. Unedited live video of panel presentations and panelists’ presentation papers are available at TTU Symposium '05.

Those who were there should definitely feel a tremendous sense of validation of personal and political principle, and most assuredly deserve acknowledgement for having been members of the crew that fired the first shots over the bow of the Swift Boat Vets in what has now become a major victory for the American electorate.

The idea of VetSpeak.org was born from that gathering. It was founded on the premise that Truth ain’t always pretty, but; it is always powerful. On my families coat of arms is inscribed on a banner the premise, in Latin; “Persistence brings down even the strongest walls…” This decision by the FEC is powerful reinforcement for both of these premises. It is an especially validating experience to have been in the fight, along with countless others joined together on the side of right, and to have prevailed.

We owe ourselves an “Attaboy!” on this one, for sure. However; we will need to remain vigilant. These guys haven’t surrendered. They’ve simply retired from the field; they are just re-grouping and will now be super busy, looking for loop-holes in these recent restrictions,
http://vetspeakblog.blogspot.com/2006/10/whos-who-art-of-cyber-camouflage-by.html, in readiness for the run-up to the 2008 elections.

I know that all hands that were at TTU will continue to provide political light, in any way that they can, to the lies of those who now must swarm like flies to sugar to any perceived loopholes in the new restrictions. VetSpeak.org will remain in the fight. We hope that all of those who brought about this social and political shift in our society, the American voter, will, too. It is to them that we truly owe this victory, and it is their hearts and minds that we will need in order to prevail in the many battles to come.

Semper Fi!
Windbender

New Boss same as the Old Boss?

Dialogue: The Fuel of Truth...

By

Willie Hager

(sometimes aka Wilder)

www.vetspeak.org

Now that the “worst” Congress in history has adjourned…by worst; I mean the least representative of the interests of the American people since Nixon and, in their own toady kinda way, the most representative of corporate and far Right political interests with their armies of high dollar lobbyists and 527s…I think that it is appropriate to look back for lessons. Like, how to make sure that it never happens again; only for real, this time!

Before we do, we must acknowledge that while the Repugs and Neocons were soundly defeated as far as control of Congress is concerned; they are definitely not out of biz. Like cockroaches, they simply scurried for cover when the light of Political Truth began shining too brightly. Should that light dim again, they will all come swarming back. We must also acknowledge that it was our own complacency in not maintaining the very principles which we had rallied around to bring about the historical toppling of the Nixon machine that lost the Left the much needed attention and support of the “political center”, who it seems, had melted back into the heartland, and/or into the Me-ness of the 80’s as a result of that oversight.

This sad state of affairs came as a result of the astonishing lack of attention to Constitutional principle of government for all the people. The very principle which had driven us all to victory through an evolution of personal, social, and political repression and metamorphosis. All of this with a price tag of personal economic sacrifices, as well. Not keeping this fresh in our hearts, in our consciences, and in our daily lives is what allowed that amazing breathe of fresh air called Political and Social Freedom to be sucked out of our nation. That, and repression and re-framing of the political arguement by the Right, to suit their own ends. Tyranny, once again, had become as rampant and as divisive as it was during the fascist years of Nixon and his cronies.

This losing sight of the ball on the part of the American People ultimately led to the Political Correctness model of those from the Left seeking public office through pandering to demographically assured voter blocs, and to the self appointed spokespersons of said blocs. New Boss; same as the Old Boss…and we were indeed, fooled again. This was, without a doubt, the great undoing of the most powerful weapon that we had when we ended the Vietnam War and the Nixon reign and lifted the boot-heel of oppression from the necks of many of those very same above mentioned demographic voter blocs The Unity of Purpose and Principle that had carried us to victory in the first place was soon forgotten in the political purges and infighting over the spoils of political and social revolution by the Left of the late ‘70s and ‘80s.

All of this occurred with utter disregard for the equality of personal freedom of speech, religion, sex, and race that were the original impetus for that most important, but ultimately self-defeated, political and social revolution. It manifested itself in powerful minority issue caucuses and Civil Rights lobbyists dealing with religion, sex, guns, and race reinforced with Political Correctness. This lack of dialogue, my friends, is what fueled the equally successful Gingrich Revolution and it’s Contract with America/Family Values agenda and the coming to power of the Neocons. All of this with the gleeful assistance of many of the ol’ Repug Nixon gang, now embedded as lobbyists and 527 political hate groups such as the Swift Boat Vets (known here at VetSpeak respectfully as NSSV’s, or Not So Swift Vets). I guess that it is true that power corrupts.

I hope not. I hope that we have transcended the greed and corruption of personal power that seeped into our great Movement the last time around, and that we now have set out to build a political future for the true soldiers in the current political revolution; the American People. The ones, regardless of party registration that voted the for the candidates and the issues as they apply to their daily lives, and not the agenda of Special Interest groups, whatever their persuasion or cause. All issues should now be considered by their worth and benefit for the largest number of American Citizens, regardless of religion, race, economic status, or party registration. This means bringing an end to the era of “Political Correctness” and divisive rhetoric from all parties that are struggling around these issues. In other words, civility and respect for one another in our dealings with the matters that most affect us as citizens of a free and great nation. The time has come to separate political party registration from the concept of “affiliation”, or “allegiance” and begin to consider what would be the best decisions for us as a majority of American Citizens, rather than as members of individual advocacy groups, locked into divisive Politically Correct agendas, whether they happen to be from the Left or the Right.

Unity of Purpose and Principle is what got us to this major Congressional power shift this time around, just like it did back in The Day. We should stick with it, this time. Being a registered Democrat does not mean, by any stretch of imagination, that one does or must, for fear of personal retribution or political or social ostracization, vote the party candidate or line. Blacks don’t necessarily have to vote the Democratic ticket, anymore than middle class white folks must vote the Republican ticket. In order to be good Americans, we each simply need vote our conscience. And when the vote is in, respect and support the results. Political Parties, corporate lobbying groups, 527s and minority advocacy groups aren’t mentioned in the Constitution. However; guarantees of Individual Liberty, Freedom of Speech and Freedom of Choice most certainly are. In America, according to our Constitution; we are entitled as U.S. Citizens, to speak our personal thoughts and ideas, and to vote our personal choice without fear of oppression from any individual, corporation, political party or faction. In the end; it’s not up to anybody but us to make sure that we don’t get fooled, again.

We cannot retreat into our own personal worlds again. We are all in this together. The Repugs haven’t retired from the fray, they are simply re-grouping, waiting for an exposed artery…or for the light of Truth to dim, again. We must remain vigilant. If we are truly going to make a better quality of life for all of the citizens of our great nation, we must remain engaged. We have a responsibility to stay tuned in, and to speak up assertively when someone is singing out of Constitutional tune, or forgets the words and guarantees, no matter what political party or special interest that they might represent.

We must not allow personality cults or personal power and enrichment to corrupt our political/social leadership at our own personal expense or welfare, ever again. We cannot neglect our constitutional duty to continue to Speak Truth to Power. We must, as a people united, set the agenda, and not allow the 527s, or the political campaign managers, or the minority caucuses, or the media pundits to usurp our privilege and responsibility, ever again. That is our responsibility as a free thinking, self governed People. We cannot allow the new congressional leadership to define and set policy, any more than we can allow the Neocons to take charge again; we must remain engaged in open respectful dialogue at all levels in order to ensure that our Representatives indeed represent an agenda perceived as correct by the majority of American Citizens, and not one designed by corporate lobbyists and special interest groups.

Dialogue is the fuel of Truth…silence is the fuel of tyranny. The choice is ours.

KERRY..., KERRY..., KERRY...!

Open mouth, insert foot...

or

What goes 'round, comes 'round..."Manifestation of Foot In Mouth Syndrome"

By
Bill Hager AKA Wilder
http://www.vetspeak.org/

O.k., O.k.; I wish it would just go away, too. But it ain't gonna. So, it seems to me that rather than hunker in the bunker during this round of incoming from the spinmiesters of the Far Right, maybe we ought to tough up and return fire. Identify the source of fire and gain and maintain fire superiority while employing USMC Fireteam tactics of envelopment to turn the attack and neutralize the attackers...pretty basic stuff, but very effective; ask any USMC Grunt who has served in combat.

The incoming fire is coming from the same ol' gang that brought you the successful frontal assaults on the Kerry campaign re his Vietnam service, back during the last Presidential election (?), those cockroaches who seem to always successfully scurry out of sight when the lights come on exposing their scavenger political activities; Swift Boat Veterans For Truth, or as I call them, the Not So Swift Veterans (NSSVs). They have now spread throughout cyber-space in multiple disguises http://vetspeakblog.blogspot.com/2006/10/whos-who-art-of-cyber-camouflage-by.html. They only come out when the light of truth has gone out, in order to politically scavenge for leftovers from politically juicy situations for the Repugs to feed themselves and others on, in their march to fascism.

Once again the target of that hostile fire is John Kerry. Been there, done that. VetSpeak was created as a result of the outright lies of the NSSVs during the Presidential election that was stolen by the Neocons (Neoconservatives). It was born from a group encounter by old VVAW (Vietnam Veterans Against The War) types from The Day and the NSSVs while at the 5th Triennial Vietnam Symposium at Texas Tech University (TTU) in Lubbock, Texas http://star.vietnam.ttu.edu/starweb/center/servlet.starweb?path=center/2005.web&id=2005symposium&pass=&search1=EVNTF%3D5thtriennial&format=format. (Just scroll down, the NSSVs are on at 0845 on Saturday, March 19th, and we follow at 1030. You can view unedited video feed of the event and find our submitted papers there, as well as at http://www.vetspeak.org/.)

We weren't at TTU to support John Kerry's political aspirations, per se; we were there to Speak Truth to Power in a direct rebuttal of the tactics of the Repugs in their use of 527s, especially the NSSVs (left over operatives from the Nixon Shame), and their lies regarding Vietnam Veterans, VVAW, and John Kerry and his testimony before Congress http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/082204F.shtml# during VVAW's Operation Dewey Canyon III in Washington D.C. in April of 1971, during aforementioned election run-up.

The NSSVs smear campaign was in response to John Kerry's political aspirations and his then active campaign for the Presidency. We were there at TTU to respond directly to the NSSVs' outrageous rhetoric in the campaign, which was decidedly derogatory with reference to Vietnam Veterans in general, but which was disgusting in it's absence of fact when applied to those who had fought there and now opposed our further participation in that National disaster known as Vietnam, and was filled with outright lies. I should include here that it is a fact that John Kerry was one of my heroes and an inspiration back in The Day, but his hunkering in the bunker during that despicable assault by the NSSVs definitely tarnished my image of him, and most likely was a determining factor in his loss of many otherwise supportive veterans' support in the critical final days of the election. That's a bummer as it was Dewey Canyon III in general along with Kerry's testimony before Congress on live TV, and the somewhat earlier Winter Soldier Investigation that initially inspired my activities with VVAW for the subsequent four years, and my personal support for him in his recent Presidential bid.

Now, for the "Rest of the story...", as it applies to this latest flare-up twixt the NSSVs and their favorite whipping boy Senator John Kerry, and it's impact on the rapidly approaching mid-term elections. Let me say first that Senator Kerry's under fire comments, whether the ones that were spoken in the piece, or the originally scripted ones that were the supposed to be a joke about The Shrub, were both inappropriate for the occasion and, frankly, lame rhetoric. As a result; he is a tarnished political icon now, like so many other living icons of the Democratic Party and activist Left. A creatively unsolicited distraction for those who truly seek to take our country, our quality of life, and our Flag and Constitution back from the Neocons who currently control the Republican party (and the 527s) from with-in the White House (Yikes!...I'm having a Nixonian flashback!).

Oddly enough, and unfortunately, I think that it is because of his lack of education and judgement on the current facts and issues, and not the troops' lack of good study habits that could possibly keep them stuck in Iraq for at least another two years. Especially if the Democrats don't succeed in taking the House or the Senate this go 'round. It is true that during the Vietnam era, if you were a student and you didn't do well; your ass was headed for the Nam...that went on for ten years. That was a result of the draft, and it's favoritism towards the sons of the rich, well educated, well placed, elected or appointed officials. Remember, "I ain't no Senators son", a ballad from The Day, by John Fogarty? A good report card was the only way out for a guy who didn't fit any of the above categories. In the world of the "All Volunteer Army", which incidentally was brought about as a result of VVAW's, the student anti-war movement's, and the millions of others' protests against the draft for Vietnam; this dynamic of under-educated troops is not a reality. Talk about irony!

In Vietnam most draftees were high school drop-outs, and if you were over 20 years old in Vietnam you were usually referred to as Old Man or Pappy. Today's Armed services are the most highly educated of all time, and while I can't find a statistical reference as to the median age in the armed forces today, it is not unusual for troops to be in their late twenties or early thirties. I can't believe that Kerry could subliminally "Botch a joke" with that knowledge comfortably stashed in his VVAW leader/Senatorial rhetorical grab-bag. Presidential type guys should know the facts about what war they are referring to when they speak out against it, one would think. If it's truly Baby Bush's (Shrub's) education he was referring to, as he says; Shrub, like Clinton and other Presidents, went to Yale. That doesn't make him smart by any stretch, but I gotta say; it makes him "educated" by American standards. So, if it was a joke on Bush (who in himself is a joke); I, for one, didn't, and still don't, get it. Neither I suspect did "middle America", the largest pool of undecided voters. Neither, apparently, do those troops up there in the header picture of this article, regardless of the explanations and subsequent apology.

Sadly, his efforts at explanation, and then it's exploitation by the Repug 527s, led by the NSSVs, has energized the Right and has undermined what was fast becoming a Democratic blitzkrieg on the House of Representatives and the Senate in the upcoming mid-term elections on November 7th. Bush isn't even running, why focus on him with a denigrating joke (as much as he deserves it, considering his I don't have a clue persona)? It's his failed policies, and those who champion them, that should be the focus at this crucial time leading up to the mid-terms. Kind of hard to get the support of the troops when they think that they've been insulted (see picture above) as the result of a "botched joke". This, as a result of the efforts of the NSSVs and other Repug 527s in spinning what was, I believe to be, a badly timed slip of judgement and tongue on Kerry's part, into the message to the American people that Kerry was dissing the troops in order to trash the Democrats regarding their anti-Iraq War message. By playing into the spin with his "explanation". He opened the door for the spinmiesters to take everyone's eye off the ball just before the mid-terms.

His published "full text" of the joke didn't help out, either...with no written reference to Bush; the joke, it turns out, was on Kerry. As I listened for the past few days, I was in pain for Kerry as his convoluted efforts to explain the faux pas away became more and more pathetic. I was reminded over and over of watching Rosemary Woods' testimony before Congress with reference to the erased 18 minutes of the Nixon White House tapes. She just couldn't get her leg up high enough to reach over the desk and "accidentally" hit and hold the "record" button for 18 minutes thereby causing the erasure, in the manner that she claimed before the Congress. Now, that was a joke. Kerry's joke and his explanation of it was like he was shooting himself in the foot with an automatic pistol with a 14 round clip.

More bad judgement, more damage to the Democrats' efforts to focus on the war in Iraq and the reasons for rethinking our commitment to that failed Bush policy. More ammo for his political enemies. When John Kerry should have spoke up against these attacks by the NSSVs during the Presidential election; he remained silent and distanced himself from those who were willing to stand with him. Now, it seems, when discretion is the better part of valor; he can't keep quiet and just stand on his record. Both are a reflection on his judgement, in my opinion. Moral of the story, as so eloquently stated by Lou Dobbs; when you know you are already in a hole, stop digging. And, that's no joke.