I lay awake a bit, thinking about writing this and sending it.
In my first-ever Post:
Happy New Year - Timelines: Curiously Powerful & Personal; I said I wouldn’t send you another one unless you responded and let me know it would be ok with you to send others this year.
Yet, here is another one being sent to you, ugh...
I wouldn’t say I like that. I want my words to be trusted. This isn’t a good start. I shall rationalize it. I am learning how to do this, and I made an error. That meant there wasn’t an option for me to send others in the future, as I mentioned in the first one you received.
None, nada, wasn’t there - I had made you a Subscriber without your consent. I have changed that, and you are not one now. I fixed it. You must hit the button below to become a member of this krewe! I hope you shall join in.
I never intended to sign you up, but I HOPE you will.
This email provides the option I left out in the first one.
I just wanted to ask you if you would consider Subscribing.
To do that only means you will be an Ally and help me write a Newsletter. Period. No “join the movement.” Call your Rep, March on Washington. Nuttin’ else.
FYI - I don’t know precisely what I shall be writing about. I expect to write in the voice of someone who was Drafted in 1968 and lived through the experience, albeit now, in 2023, I can be described as:
Honorably Discharged
Disabled Vietnam Era Veteran
Divorced Three Times
Homeless living in my car
I haven’t had a drink today.
It may make me a cliche, a quantum anomaly, or just another blip in time.
The five things listed above are PARTIALLY TRUE and are derived from a stereotype I think is quite overused and applied because of the trash the media generally talks about when referring to those poor Vietnam Veterans.
Absolute Truth: I am an Honorably Discharged, Disabled American Veteran (DAV). I AM NOT HOMELESS. I have been married three times. While I do not often imbibe, I occasionally do, but pretty rare. I am blessed with how great life is.
I intend to help destroy the above stereotype using my and some of my fellow DAV’s experiences and comments on contemporary issues/news/ideas.
As I see it, the fact is, we are doing very, very well, and most understand that there is no guarantee we shall get up in the morning. That makes us LUCKY. Many of us live one day at a time and wish to serve others, and we show up. Johnny Rivers said it so well in 1971 before I was discharged from the military. “The Only Thing That’s Permanent Is Change.”
Johnny Rivers - 1971 - Permanent Change - Nailed how to take the following steps.
In closing,
I want my words to be seen as hopeful, fun (smart-ass style), personal, and informative to folks who are not Veterans but Vets as well, but they are already thinking much of it anyways. It will be fun reading any comments regarding my personal opinions. Again, I do not want to “sign you up for a cause.”
I shall be writing in between some of my DIY projects, some known to cost more than if I just purchased them in the first place. ;o)
“Thank you for service.” is now being said to me. It took nearly 40 years before I ever heard that said to me. It was first said to me by a clerk at a Home Depot in West Hartford, Connecticut, in August 2006. It stunned me. I shall never forget it.
Yeah, Buddy, I should have said it long ago. Even today, it’s easy to forget that even as you read this, a young man or woman in uniform is getting off an aircraft in a foreign county in our name.
Progress takes time.
In 2023 I now hear it in different ways. I wish my Brothers and Sisters who did not come back heard it, somehow, too. Maybe they have. I can not ask them. I sometimes wonder how Paul is doing. He didn’t make it back. He was from “Chaug,” too. Minnechaug Regional High School, Hampden/Wilbraham, Massachusetts, Class of ‘68. He was sixty-six days older than me.
Gone. Always remembered. This Falcon has flown beyond.
There is greater hope today.
Hope is perennial, demonstrated by the PACT Act, passed and signed into law on August 10, 2022. This is hugely optimistic relative to how long Vietnam Vets had to wait just for the acknowledgment of what Agent Orange did to us. For me, this is true as of this week. Coincidentally, I am trying this writing thing out since walking has become such an issue. In my case, I use braces that help me walk without tripping now. I have had them for five days.
The most significant difference is that YOU, folks, today made that happen.
This shall be the last time I send this Newsletter unless you enter your email address in the space below and hit the button. I shall only be using that email address if you do; the one I used to send it to you has been removed from the Newsletter Subscriber when I hit the send button now.
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Lived the time of your service.....only beginning to understand it now.....keep it coming.