Vietnam Veteran News with Mack Payne

Not all the US Marines who served in the Vietnam War were from this county though most were. One exception was a remarkable Englishman named Alastair Livingston. His story is featured in this episode through a story in the Ilkley Gazette titled: War hero from Ilkley looks back on his service in Vietnam that was submitted by Annette McIntyre, a reporter for the publication. The occasion for the story was at November's Remembrance Day Service at the NATO HQ in Pristina, Kosovo.

McIntyre relates Livingston's story as follows: He was a young lad from Ilkley, North Yorkshire, UK who went to Canada and joined the army there. There was not enough action in the Canadian Army to suit the young lad from North Yorkshire so he moved south and joined up with the US Marines in 1968. Livingston became a Marine paratrooper and qualified as a Navy seal and on top of that he learned to speak Vietnamese. Naturally he ended up in Vietnam where he served almost three years with distinction. During his service in Vietnam he was highly decorated with awards including the Silver Star and two Purple Hearts.

After the Vietnam War Livingston remained in the Marines and retired in 1988. Since then he has gone on to work in a variety of roles including peacekeeping, conflict prevention, human rights and reconstruction with organizations including the UN, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, the UK Government and various NGOs.

His work has taken him to war-torn areas including Kosovo, Croatia, Baghdad, Sinai, Tajikistan and Afghanistan. Among other things he has helped protect the rights of minorities, overseen a unique central Asian mine-action co-operation project, and advised on elections in Kosovo.

Livingston's response when asked if he had any regrets for going to Vietnam with the US Marines is: "Did I ever regret my service, there, in my almost three years of service, or at any other time in my career, military or civilian...no, not at all. I made my decisions and then moved on with my life...to regret having made a decision that then couldn't be changed in hindsight, would be counter-productive."

Alastair Livingston is a truly outstanding servant for all mankind.

One of my favorite subjects for this podcast, the Vietnam Veteran News, is the musicians and their music of the era. According to the great humanities lecturer, Dr. Funkhouser, formerly of the University of Florida, music is an indescribable and mysterious thing that has an enduring effect on its listeners.

In this episode we will take a look at one of those Vietnam Era performers who is still making a difference today. His name is Joe McDonald and he was recently featured in a story found in The Boston Globe website titled: Country Joe McDonald, still bearing witness that was submitted by Matthew Guerrieri.

McDonald first saw the light of day in Washington, DC. His parents who were both members of the Communist Party relocated to California and young Joe grew up in El Monte. Before his parents became disillusioned with the Communist cause they named their son after Joseph Stalin, one of the most hated mass murderers in history. Young Joe joined the US Navy at the age of 17, served three years and then settled down in the Berkeley area to join the protest movement.

He formed up Country Joe and the Fish with fellow guitarist Barry Melton. Their biggest hit was “I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-to-Die Rag” but he is best known to members of the Vietnam Era for his Vietnam War Song. The band became one of the more exploratory psychedelic acts of the late 1960s and some describe McDonald as one of the era's most dedicated political conscience. McDonald saw his music as an alarm rather than a solution.

In the Mid 1970's the band broke up and McDonald continued a solo career in promoting assorted causes. One cause was a renewed association with Vietnam Veterans with a particular on the contributions of military nurses.  He became an expert on Florence Nightingale and the history of nursing. That led to the creation of a one-man show about military nurses.

Joe McDonald remains relevant with his causes to this very day.

As the year 2016 comes to a close and 2017 gets ready for its debut, one of the most asperous legacies of the Vietnam War - the use of Agent Orange - that high powered weed killer with such high expectations but with such dire unintended consequence will continue to dominate the attention of  the VA with much controversy and acrimony.

Agent Orange and its relationship with the Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans has been featured on this podcast many times in the past. For years that special group of Vietnam Veterans have been seeking assistance for its many members who are suffering from diseases that have been recognized as be caused by exposure to the dioxins found in Agent Orange from the VA. The VA has remained adamant in its policy of refusal toward the Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans as the advocates for benefits continue their struggle for equity in benefits.

The new year that will bring a change in National leadership, offers encouragement to the advocates for equity. A story on the ProPublica website titled: Long List of Agent Orange Decisions Awaits VA in 2017 that that was produced by Charles Ornstein, ProPublica, and Mike Hixenbaugh of The Virginian-Pilot offers insight into the upcoming forks in the road the VA will approach in the near future.

One is whether to expand the list of diseases that are presumed to be linked to Agent Orange. Currently the VA recognizes 14 health conditions, including various cancers that are caused by exposure to Agent Orange. A federal panel of scientific experts said there is now evidence to suggest that Agent Orange exposure may be linked to bladder cancer and hypothyroidism. It also confirmed, as previous experts have said, that there is some evidence of an association with hypertension, stroke and various neurological ailments similar to Parkinson’s Disease. Despite new evidence of linkage, if past performance continues the VA will drag its feet as much as possible and hide behind funding excuses.

Another biggie is whether to make naval veterans who served off the coast of Vietnam eligible for benefits. this is the crux of the matter for the Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans.

Next is: Whether to extend coverage to service members who served along the Korean demilitarized zone during the Vietnam War and who say they were exposed, as well.

Last but definitely not least is the question of whether veterans’ exposure to Agent Orange can affect their descendants. This is without a doubt the most hideous of the lurking hazards related to exposure to Agent Orange.

Our country owes its veterans a solemn obligation of assistance when those veterans get sick as a result of something the country did while they were serving their country.

Many years ago I had a Professor in the Humanities Department at the University of Florida named Dr. Funkhouser. The one thing I remember him saying in one of his long lectures in Walker Auditorium was his characterization of music. He described it as a mysterious thing that has inscrutable effects on human beings. The story I am featuring on this podcast episode proves that theory out. It comes from The Charlotte Observer and is titled: Music project helps veterans coping with war memories that was submitted by Brittany Ruess of the Columbia Daily Tribune in Missouri.

Brittany tells about The Healing Box Project that was started by musician Dave Dunklee and his wife CJ. The Dunklees started The Healing Box Project at the Warrior Transition Unit in Fort Leonard Wood a few years ago, serving soldiers Dunklee described as "fresh off the battlefield." Trying to cope with the wounds of war, music became part of their recovery process.

When the Warrior Transition Unit was closed down they wanted to go on with their work helping veterans even though they were not officially a part of the VA. Luckily they were contacted  by a peer specialist who invited them to continue The Healing Box Project at the Truman Memorial Veterans' Hospital at Columbia, Missouri. Through the Program they give guitars and lessons to disabled Veterans. they give the joy of music through guitar playing. They use music to replace symptoms of PTSD and our motto is "the guitar is the box and healing begins with the first strum." One of the primary goals of the Program is to prevent suicides.

Today the Project is working with many Vietnam Veterans at Truman Memorial. Dunklee says: "When a veteran receives a guitar, the reaction is always the same. Maybe they haven't smiled for a long, long time, but there's always a smile." And sometimes it's like disbelief."

You are encouraged to visit their website and discover more about this wonderful Project that is helping many Vietnam Veterans cope with the ravages of PTSD.

http://www.thehealingboxproject.org/aboutus

This is the first regular episode of this podcast, Vietnam Veteran News, to come to you via one of Bob Heil's PRO series PR 40 Wide Frequency Response Dynamic Microphone. Our goal here at the Vietnam Veteran News Podcast is to present the best product possible to our subscribers and welcomed guest listeners. That is the main reason we upgraded our microphone to one of the best available in the world of broadcasting.

Using that high quality Heil PR 40 Microphone, I will feature the story of another Vietnam Veteran to help illustrate my judgment that the Vietnam Veteran Generation is as great as any that ever headed the call of duty from its country. That veteran is Clarence Walter Reed Mellot. His story was featured in The Casper Star Tribune in a piece titled: Master Sergeant Clarence Mellot, Cheyenne that was submitted by Gayle M. Irwin.

Clarence served in the Air Force during the Vietnam War and he remained in the military until his retirement. After living all over the world during his Air Force career he settled down in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Among doing other things in his retirement, he’s volunteered at the Cheyenne VA Hospital for the past 12 years as much as his health would allow. The motivation to serve others at the VA resulted from the treatment he received when he was deathly ill in the Walter Reed Hospital in Washington DC years before. He had became ill as a result of his service in Southeast Asia and ended up undergoing several surgeries on his digestive tract and spent six months in Walter Reed Hospital.

He got so low in spirits while in the hospital, he did not want to go on living. As Clarence put it: “Friends I didn’t know would come to the door and visit with me and try to instill life into my defeated mind.”  Those wonderful acts of kindness to him in his time of need encouraged him to remain in the Air Force where he continued to work in air rescue doing his best to help others.

While in the hospital Clarence picked up on writing as a means of overcoming depression. It worked for him and he has since written nearly 3,000 poems, as well as a few books, including “My Heart’s Poetry." A link to that book is provided with the recommendation you buy a copy and sample some of Clarence's thoughts.

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I come to you this Christmas Day with a happy heart. I discovered that Santa Clause was very good to me this year when I looked under the tree. In addition to all the toys and packages for  the younger ones I found there a package just for me. It turned out to be a Heil PR 40 Wide Frequency Response Dynamic Microphone to be used for this podcast. After talking to Santa about the Heil PR 40 and how valuable they are I began to realize why Elwood Blues traded the Cadillac "Blues Mobile" for a microphone while brother Jack was cooling his heels in the Cook County Jail.

When I started this podcast three years ago I set it up under the tutelage of the "Podcast Answer Man" Cliff Ravenscraft. Cliff seemed to master everything he ever tried with great success including podcasting. With podcasting he was and still is a big proponent of putting out a superior product both in content and sound quality. He recommended using a Heil PR 40 microphone for the best sound quality of a podcast. I figured such a successful podcaster like Cliff Ravenscraft  must know what he is talking about and I promptly followed his advice on microphones. After only three years and almost 800 broadcast podcast episodes I to the plunge and asked Santa Claus for a Heil PR 40 and he came through. From now on you will be hearing me through my new microphone.

Heil Microphones are top quality and I just had to know more about this product and in the process of learning more about it I discovered a very interesting story about a very sharp guy, Bob Heil. He was a very precocious young man growing up in the St Louis area who became a professional quality organ player at an early age. By the time he was fifteen years old he was playing in the biggest venues in St Louis.

He quickly became a sound expert and started a company manufacturing sound systems. His reputation and talents was so good he began providing sound systems for entertainers including: The Grateful Dead, The Who, The James Gang, Jeff Beck, ZZ Top, Humble Pie, Seals and Crofts, Bachman-Turner Overdrive, Leslie West, J. Geils, Ike and Tina Turner, and Chuck Berry, Joe Walsh, Peter Frampton and Bon Jovi.

He left the entertainment business and In 1982 He and his wife, Sarah, started Heil Sound, a top notch manufacturer of quality microphones. It is a privilege and honor for this podcast to be heard through a microphone made by Bob and Sarah Heil.

Merry Christmas to you all from the Vietnam Veteran News Podcast.

If I could just remember his name ...

Christmas is normally a time of joy when the birth of Jesus Christ is celebrated around. Ordinarily it is a time when families get together and have a good time with gift exchanging and the consumption of lots of good food. If you were serving in Vietnam during the Christmas season it generally was not as nice as it was for the folks back home.

One Vietnam Veteran's poignant Christmas story is on the War Stories website titled: If I could just remember his name ... It was submitted by Paul Scimone, L/Cpl., H&S co. 3rd Med. Bn., Phu Bai, RVN. In his piece he tells about an experience he had on Christmas Eve at Phu Bai in 1967. He was serving at the time as a driver/litter-bearer for 3rd Medical Battalion in the 1st Marine Division.

Things were relatively quiet around their area on that Christmas Eve with only one medevac flight coming in around 9:00 pm. On it was young Marine from the 2/26 Marines who had a serious head wound. The doctors quickly determined he was brain dead but were amazed that his vitals were almost normal. The doctors said to put him in the shock and debriedment room where he would surely pass away and then his remains would be shipped off to the Graves and Registration at DaNang the next day.

Scimone rolled the gurney with the wounded Marine into the S & D room, left him there and returned to his "hootch" he chatted with his buddies about what they thought might be going on back home for Christmas. After a while of doing that he began to think about the young man that lay dying on the gurney in the S & D room. It began to bother him the wounded soldier was dying alone on Christmas Eve. The rest of his story just might bring you to tears.

One of the more unpleasant legacies left to us from the Vietnam War is PTSD. It is plaguing many Vietnam Veterans regardless of their country of origin. For the record PTSD is defined as: a mental health condition that's triggered by a terrifying event — either experiencing it or witnessing it. Symptoms may include flashbacks, nightmares and severe anxiety, as well as uncontrollable thoughts about the event. Many Vietnam Veterans experienced terrifying events in that war and are paying the price still to this very day. Too often the payment comes in shorter lives resulting from living on the margin. They die prematurely from an assortment of maladies including injuries, accidents, suicide and homicide.

Fortunately American veterans are beginning to receive assistance for the PTSD condition from VA programs. Can't say the same for Vietnam Veterans in other countries. The country of New Zealand is beginning to seriously consider the affect of PTSD on its brave veterans. The change in attitude is illustrated in an editorial opinion piece from The Otago Daily Times titled: Unhealed war wounds.

The editorial does a good job of pointing out the cause of the condition. In other wars like World Wars I & II fighting was conducted in an environment where the enemy was recognizable and there were definable "front lines." Those wars had their own psychological hangovers like shell shock after World War I, or the numbed exhaustion called combat fatigue after World War II. In the Vietnam War combatants went into environments where the enemy could not be easily seen, where there was no frontline, while still carrying the significant weight on their backs and around their bodies their forebears knew.

The New Zealand RSA (Royal New Zealand Returned and Services’ Association) is working to proactively identify the concerns and raise awareness about the realities of modern service and its PTSD hangover. The RSA believes New Zealand must support its veterans and their unhealed wounds of war.

In this episode we will take a look at two late breaking news items relating to Vietnam Veterans. The first one comes from the defense.gov website titled: Pentagon’s Newest Exhibit Commemorates 50th Anniversary of Vietnam War by Amaani Lyle DoD News, Defense Media Activity. On Tuesday, December 20, 2016 Vietnam veteran and former Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel returned to the Pentagon today to join Defense Secretary Ash Carter in officially opening an exhibit honoring the estimated 9 million Americans who served in the Vietnam War.

The permanent exhibit, located on the 3rd floor of the Pentagon between corridors 2 and 3, uniquely documents and illustrates the history of U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War through a variety of media outlets of the time. It exhibits historically accurate material and interactive experiences designed to help today’s American public better understand and appreciate the service of the nation’s Vietnam veterans and their families, and the history of U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. The next time you are on the 3rd floor between corridors 2 and 3 in the Pentagon check it out.

The other bit of Vietnam Veteran news comes from the propublica.org website is   titled: ProPublica Files Lawsuit Seeking Agent Orange Documents From the VA and was submitted by Charles Ornstein of ProPublica. It seems that last may ProPublica requested some information from the VA relating to correspondence between various VA officials and scientist Dr. Alvin Young, who has guided the stance of the military and VA on Agent Orange and whether it has harmed service members. The request also sought internal correspondence about any contracts awarded to Young or his consulting firm.

The VA has consistently relied upon Dr. Young's findings for the foundation of its policy toward Claims by Vietnam Veterans seeking assistance for Agent Orange related diseases. Dr. Young has been known say Vietnam Veterans seeking that assistance are "freeloaders making up ailments to “cash in” on the VA’s compensation system." Oh and by the way, much of his research about Agent Orange was funded by Monsanto and the Dow Chemical Company. Over the years, the VA has repeatedly cited Young’s work to deny disability compensation to vets.

As of this date the VA has produced none of the requested documents citing: computer issues and a backlog of requests as their reasons for noncompliance with ProPublica FIOA request. Since the VA has stonewalled and failed to disclose the requested documents ProPublica has filed suit.

In the previous episode a story about the end of the line for the tremendous Phantom F-4's service in the US Military was featured. To continue our effort to honor the service of this magnificent aircraft, in this episode we will take a look at the F-4's role in Wild Weasel missions that started in the Vietnam War and remains an important part of combat air missions to this day.

In the early days of the Vietnam War the US enjoyed air superiority over North Vietnam but that all changed when the Russians and Chinese engaged in a tit for tat move by installing advanced surface to air missiles (SAMs) in the north to counter the threat posed by American air power. As usual the Americans used their innate superiority in problem solving and came up with a successful way to confront this new challenge in the air over North Vietnam.

The American solution to the SAM challenge was known as Wild Weasels. An informative article in The Military History Online website titled: The Wild Weasels "Daredevils of the skies" that was submitted by Mike Nastasi lays out the whole story. In late 1965 a special group of Air Force pilots were asked to perform a very dangerous mission that was much akin to playing with a basket full of mad rattlesnakes.

Their mission, if they chose to accept, was to directly attack those deadly SAMs so the bombers could accomplish their missions. The brave pilots accepted the challenge and succeeded. The first Wild Weasel kill came soon after the first Wild Weasel mission on December 20, 1965 when Captains Al Lamb and Jock Donovan took out a site during a Rolling Thunder Strike on the rail yard at Yen Bai, some 75 miles northwest of Hanoi.

One especially dangerous and nerve wracking mission performed by the Wild Weasels was to try and get picked up by the SAM's radar so they could be located  and counter fire could be executed. Oftentimes in these missions SAMs would be fired at the Wild Weasels. In that case they would fly directly toward the oncoming mission head on and then in the last seconds before impact with the missile the brave Wild Weasel pilot would make a sharp evasive turn hoping the missile could not react to the rapid movement of the aircraft and fly by harmlessly.

All Wild Weasel pilots deserve our undying admiration.