MATTERHORN: A Review

I am washed in the blood of my men;
Their lifeless bodies I have lifted from the ground
And carried in my arms...
I am dead with them.
I am washed with their lives.
- Josh Hoskins, KIA Republic of Vietnam 1968 (Long Grey Line by Rick Atkinson)

Karl Marlantes' 2010 best seller, Matterhorn, is one of the better books to have been written about the nightmare, that those of us who fought there, knew as Vietnam. It is not in the same league as Tim O'Brien's If I Die in a Combat Zone, Box Me Up and Ship Me Home or his Pulitzer Prize finalist, The Things They Carried. Marlantes' could have benefitted from reading the chapter in The Things They They Carried entitled "How to Tell a True War Story". A 'true war story' is one that moves you, "if truly told, makes the stomach believe." Matterhorn did not make me 'feel' it. Oh, it was realistic and Marlantes was able to conjure up many of the sounds, sights and smells of Vietnam and the moments of sheer terror but it just did not move me. No amount of 'realism' will ever be able to render a 'true' picture of what Vietnam was like for the American soldier, much less the Vietnamese soldier. While Marlantes' writing may have been therapeutic for him, it only serves the general public as another example of the axiom, 'war is hell.' But war is much more than hell. Books that glorify war, while decrying it, by surreptitiously glorifying the soldier, only serve to prolong the American love affair with war.

Only the Dead have seen an end to War.
- George Santayana

There have been more realistic war novels written: Harry Brown's A Walk in the Sun, James Jones' TheThin Red Line, and Erich Maria Remarque's All Quiet on the Western Front. All of which make the stomach believe but none of which glorify war. And there are a host of novels that deal with surreal aspects of war including: Joseph Heller's Catch 22, Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughter Five, where a conscientious objector is the protagonist, and Thomas Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow, where the protagonist's erection can predict a missile launch. Admittedly, when a country loses a war they tend to be more self-reflective than when they win a war, but like someone once said, "Nobody wins a war." And trust me, there is a plethora of books out there explicating the Vietnam War, looking for Jimmy Buffett's 'lost shaker of salt.' But like Tim O'Brien says:

You can tell a true war story by the questions you ask. Somebody tells a story, let's say, and afterward you ask, "Is it true?" and if the answer matters, you've got your answer. For example, we've all heard this one. Four guys go down a trail. A grenade sails out. One guy jumps on it and takes the blast and saves his three buddies. Is it true? The answer matters. You'd feel cheated if it never happened. Without the grounding reality, it's just a trite bit of puffery, pure Hollywood, untrue in the way all such stories are untrue. Yet even if it did happen - and maybe it did, anything's possible even then you know it can't be true, because a true war story does not depend upon that kind of truth. Absolute occurrence is irrelevant. A thing may happen and be a total lie; another thing may not happen and be truer than the truth. For example: Four guys go down a trail. A grenade sails out. One guy jumps on it and takes the blast, but it's a killer grenade and everybody dies anyway. Before they die, though, one of the dead guys says, "The fuck you dothat for?" and the jumper says, "Story of my life, man," and the other guy starts to smile but he's dead. That's a true story that never happened."
-The Things They Carried

Where Matterhorn does excel is in Marlantes' descriptions of men in war and the relationships they develop in combat. Marlantes is also able to depict what it was like being a black Marine in 1968 in Vietnam and makes clear the turmoil that existed between black and white Marines and the life-long friendships that overcame this distrust and bigotry that existed at the time. One such relationship was between a white Marine from Idaho, Williams, and a black Marine from the Mississippi delta, Cortell. Williams is troubled by Cortell 'hangin' out' with other black Marines and wants to know why. It is one of he more poignant moments in Matterhorn as the two Marines carry on a conversation about why black people want to 'be congregatin.' The conversation hinges on the story of the Ugly Duckling.

"Well, let me tell you what I think that story be about. It be about this little duck that can't grow up. Can't grow up to be a big duck 'cause he ain't a duck. But he don't know what he's 'sposed to grow up to." Cortell looked carefully to be sure he wasn't losing Williams. "I mean, you don't know what you supposed to grow up to, that make it pretty hard to grow up." He waited a moment. "So, we ain't congregating, we just hangin' out with people best we can to figure out where to is. You with me here? To ain't with the white folk 'cause we be black folk and tryin' to find to hangin' out with you chucks just a dead end for us. When I hang out with you chucks, I'm a black man first and who I really am come next. When I hang out with the splibs, I'm me first and there ain't no black man at all. It got nothin' to do with white folk. It's just the way it is. Ain't no voodoo conspiracy. We just hangin' out and movin' on best we can."
William who had been holding his breath, let it out. "Yeah. There it is."
"There it is," repeated Cortell.
- Matterhorn, p. 115

But trust me on this one, there was definitely tension between white and black Marines in Vietnam, and, as Rick Atkinson so aptly details in the The Long Grey Line, it spilled over at many different military posts. It was one of the primary reasons for the move to an all-volunteer military, which is a whole other blog! But contrary to Marlantes' proposition that it was just black Marines involved in fraggings (attempts to blow up superior officers by using fragmentation grenades) and it was just black Marines smuggling weapons back to 'the World,' there were a greater number of white Marines involved. I would imagine there are any number of Kalashnikovs (AK-47s) hidden in white supremacist enclaves all over the Northwest Washington, if Mr. Marlantes cared to check with the FBI office in Seattle. My own squadron, on its return to the United States in 1970, had various and sundry weapons confiscated by Customs officials and even the FBI was called in to investigate. But things haven't really changed much, show a white person with a gun strapped to his hip at a Presidential event and it doesn't conjure much fear, because, hey, that's his right! But show a black man with a beret on his head and the media is up in arms, I mean, hey, it's a Black Panther trying to scare the Bejeezus out of you at a polling place! I ask you, which is more dangerous, Beret or 3.57 Magnum? But it does make it easier to understand why Karl portrayed the black Marines primarily as trouble-makers.

Worst of all is Marlantes portrayal of helicopter support, a topic he should have researched a little better. As a former helicopter crew chief, I can tell you, we flew in ALL conditions. Our pilots were Naval trained and knew how to fly IFR (Instrument Flight Rules). We flew in monsoons, at night, with one engine, in the mountains, just to extract some sad bastard that had overdosed on barbituates. In Matterhorn, Marlantes' has his Marines humping up a mountain for eight days without food or water and blames it on being unable to be resupplied. I know the book is a fictional work, or as the New York Times likes to call it, "creative nonfiction," but it does contain a certain amount of outrageous bullshit. Marines not taking care of Marines qualifies as outrageous bullshit. And if Mr. Marlantes has 10 Air Medals (over 200 missions), he should know his portrayal of Marine Helicopters is absurd. I cannot count the times Marines have flown into 'hot' zones and taken fire after being assured that they were secure zones. We held the grunts, the ground Marines, in the highest esteem. They were out there everyday under the worst conditions and if there was anything we could do for them, we did it. But even though the book contains what I consider to be 'falsehoods', it is a realistic portrayal of the war in Vietnam and I would recommend, with reservations, Matterhorn. Semper Fi, Karl.

War will exist until that distant day when the conscientious objector enjoys the same reputation and prestige that the warrior does today.
-John F. Kennedy

Until Next Time,
I Remain,
Just another Zororastafarian crew-chief looking for a place to hang his sidearm 'fore Marshall Dillon puts a hurtin' on me...

Aqueduct Reminiscence

The Roman Aqueduct in Segovia Spain

with a view toward the

Meson de Candido

What a busy month! Most of the time I've been busier than the proverbial 'one-legged man in an ass kicking contest.' But, the good news is that it's beginning to feel normal, whatever that might be. What got to me thinking about Spain was a workshop of the Planning Commission I recently attended in Eureka Springs. It was a a rather surreal experience by any stretch. I will not divulge who invited me to the meeting or for what purpose because he threatened to rezone the property across the street from us to allow for the construction of Sarah Palin's new restaurant, the You Betcha Cafe. Only a friend, right? Well, he kind of piqued my interest at a meeting of the Krewe of Blarney in which we are both involved. He told me that it was all kinds of fun telling the community of Eureka that you were planning to cut down some old-growth forests in order to put up a metal building housing antiques. He told me that meetings like that were "uproariously funny because they brought out all the environmental nutjobs in town that liked to hug trees and feed the animals." I thought, 'Doesn't he have that backwards?'

Well, like the curious environmental nutjob I am, I moseyed on down to the courthouse and sat in on the workshop. It was a real treat, these fellows talked about a chicken ordinance for the City of Eureka Springs for a little over an hour. It was all I could do to stay awake as the Krewe of Planning and Zoning droned on about the size of the coop and exactly how many feet the coop should be set back from a neighbor's property line and exactly what constitutes a chicken and can you walk your chicken in a parade and how do you choke your chicken. Well, this was all a little to complicated for me, it takes a more organized mind to fathom the depths of chickeness than I possess. Or, as the old Zen Chicken Master once asked, "if a chicken clucks in the henhouse and your not there, does it still make a sound?"

Well, I'm sure your asking, just what the heck does this have to do with the Aqueduct in Segovia? Well, it seems as though there a several different camps of philosophy on how Eureka Springs should maintain its 'Eurekyness.' There are those who wish to preserve Eureka as it was, those that think Eureka will lose its Chi if things change, those that want the town to grow and keep its quaintness, those that think 'quaint' stifles growth, those that want motorcycles to come to town, those that want them to go somewhere else, just a lot of factions. Sitting in the Meson de Candido, run by the same family since before Columbus set sail for America, and looking out on an aqueduct that was built 1500 years ago, you get this awesome sense of history. When I listen to people in Eureka talk about preserving homes and buildings because they are part of Eureka's history, I start to realize that our country has no real concept of history and until we do, we should not be allowed to use the word 'History' in a conversation. I can just imagine Juan on the Planning and Zoning Board in Segovia saying to the developer, Junius Brutus, "I don't know Junius, if you put that damned aqueduct through the center of town you are going to ruin the damn plaza and think of the effect it will have on Pedro the water-bearer, you are going to put him out of business."

It seems to me like it's not necessary to preserve some things, I mean if you build something to last 1500 years, you might have to remodel it once or twice, but preserve? I don't know, seems like it will preserve itself, barring some kind of natural disaster. But I think it wise to remember the lessons of Ozymandias, also. What folks need to figure out first is what is worth preserving. I mean I like a good pickle every now then, but there are folks that could care less about ever preserving a cucumber. All the different organizations and commissions in Eureka have the best of intentions, they just need to remember that the road to Hell is paved with Chicken Lips.

Until Nest Time,

I Remain,

Just Another Zoroastrian Chicken Plucker trying to figure out how to get across the road when I'm already there....

Insouciant Crucifixion

The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it NOW deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.

- Thomas Paine

Vice President Cheney proved he was the consumate 'summer soldier' during the Viet Nam era, when he avoided the draft with several deferments. I can't really blame him about that too much, many of my friends did everything they could to prevent being drafted during that war. I even tried it myself up until the time I could no longer avoid service. My deferments came from being in school, not unlike the former Vice President. However his behavior as Vice President and his behavior since leaving office perplexes me. My granddaddy always told me that it was a sin to question another man's patriotism and for the life of me I can not figure out why anyone else would want to do that, especially a former Vice President of the United States who did everything possible to avoid service in the military. When did he earn the right to tell Americans what being a patriot entails? When he gave the name of a CIA operative to the press? When he let his chief of staff, Scooter libby, take the fall for him? When he continued to lie about WMD even after GWB said publicly, we could not find any? When he continued to lie about the Al-queda/Saddam Hussein connection? When he criticized the 'patriotism' of a Viet Vet who not only was wounded in combat three times but was awarded medals for gallantry in combat? When he lied about how much 'actionable intelligence' we gleaned from torture? When he continues to politicize fear? Dennis Kucinich was wrong, Dick Cheney should not have been impeached. However, like many people in this country, I think he should be held accountable for his words and his actions. I do not think History will remember Mr Cheney fondly or be as forgiving of his abuses of power as the current administration.

From time to time I forget about the power of forgiveness. Of course, before you can be forgiven, reason dictates that you must first ask for forgiveness and before you ask for it, you have to believe that you have done something wrong. At the present time, I can not imagine Dick(less) Cheney ever asking for forgiveness for anything he has ever said or done. I asked a former pastor, Reverend Cathy, if she thought you could forgive someone when they did not ask for forgiveness. Cathy said I could wait quite awhile before some folks would apologize or ask for forgiveness, so you might as well forgive them, "...ultimately, it's the greatest gift you can give yourself!" So then, I'm trying to figure out how it's 'the greatest gift', when I see this trailer on the Tube (not to be confused with the underground rail system in Paris) for Invictus, a new movie about the reconciliation efforts of the Mandela government in South Africa. "Aha!", I sez, "If you get too deep, you can not see what's on the surface."

Forgiveness should not be that complicated, it's the individuals involved that make it complicated. We are all at different places on life's journey and we all have differing views about forgiving. I remember as a young Marine in Viet Nam our motto was 'Kill 'em all, let God sort 'em out.' Sounds rather foolish to me now, I must admit. But many hold that same philosophy today, let God do the forgiving, it's not my place. I also hear people say, "I'll forgive somebody but I won't forget what they did." Is that really forgiveness? Does forgiveness require any 'buts' or 'if onlys'? Does forgiveness mean that you forget about justice or punishment for criminal acts, no. It doesn't really matter what religion you are or if you have none, forgiveness is powerful because it relives you of your burden and resentment.

Not forgiving someone is like taking poison and expecting the other person to die.

- OPRAH (I think)

So, by now, I suppose that you might have been able to surmise that I have been harboring some really ill feelings towards the former Vice President. Feelings that were really making me bitter and filling me with hate. But after much soul searching, I have decided to let them go, to forgive. Do I expect an act of contrition on his part? No. Do I expect him to continue to live in fear and to spread his venomous attacks on the Obama Administration? Yes. Will anything Dick Cheney says ever affect me negatively again? Hopefully and prayerfully, No.

Until Next Time,

I Remain,

Just another Zoroastrian Sudoku Warrior that finally knows Dick about Forgiveness...