Just War: A Soldier's Revelation

Just War follows my experiences as a combat infantryman. As a paratrooper, I was assigned to the 101st Airborne Division. I served in Vietnam from Feb of 1968 through Feb of 1969, the bloodiest year of the war. I was assigned to “First Strike” the modern day equivalent of the Cavalry. “First Strike,” was engaged in the Tet Offensive in Hue and numerous excursions into the A Shau Valley. By the time I had been with Bravo Company 70 days I was the 3rd oldest member of the platoon, the other 40 members had either been killed or wounded. I would spend an additional 180 days in combat. As a Trooper with Bravo Company I made 76 helicopter insertions, 54 of which were into hot LZ’s. In the year I was with the “First Strike” we sustained 97% casualties and fatalities. There were 26 times, that I am aware of, that I should have been killed or at least severely wounded, and one time… I was placed on a gurney and rushed into the emergency room. When they brought me in the ER Doctor looked at me, with no facial features, and said, "What in the hell happened to him?" When I heard his question I realized a wasp had stung me in the mouth, and I had bitten down on it just to stop the pain. I pulled the wasp out of my mouth and held it up for anyone to see. I then went into anaphylactic shock, and suffered a cardiac arrest and complete respiratory failure. I flat lined. As soon as I died, my spirit and my soul left my body. I just kind of floated up to the top of the operating room over the bed where my body was laying. Why couldn't they see me? I could see them. I looked at my hand and it was translucent, I could see through it. They could not see me because I was translucent, and you cannot see something unless it reflects light. I was aware that I was fully conscious. It was still me, and I was still the person Tom Newman. As I looked at my body it was as if my body was a glove and I am the hand. The next thing I remember was waking up in the recovery room. I was astonished as I reviewed what had just occurred. I had just existed outside of my body. Frankly, it is very hard to believe it happened. I was thinking, OK, what was that? Was it a dream? Had I been in shock? They were giving me shots, was it the effect of the drugs? But how could I verify that I had actually been alive outside my body? The Orderly was coming by making his rounds. "Oh, I see you're coming around, how ya feeling?" I looked at him and said, "Why were you guys putting blood in one arm and taking it out of the other?" With a very surprised look on his face he said, "Man, how the hell do you know we did that, you were gone?" That was what I needed to hear, if it had not been a real conscious experience for me, how would I have known what procedures they use to resuscitate me. Many people wonder about life after death, I don’t wonder about it, I know.Just War - many of the misnomers of the war; the real enemy, the everyday heroics of US soldiers. The legacy of Vietnam has unfortunately been cast in such a negative light that the shadow eclipses the actions of so many brave Americans that served to preserve the ideals of American liberty and values; One Nation under God. It is left to those that take up arms for those ideals that truly understand the cost by the price that so many paid. 2,709,918 soldiers served in uniform in Viet Nam 74% of veterans said they would do it again, even knowing the outcome. Only the witnesses of the price paid truly understand the cost. The US never lost a battle of any consequence and battlefield ratios were typically, 207 communists’ killed in action for every one American. The US lost 58,148 soldiers the communists lost a million. Gen Westmoreland thought we would reach a tipping point where the communists would be unable to sustain a prolonged engagement. What we failed to realize is that the communists did not care how many of their people were killed.