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WINTER SOLDIER -- ILLUSTRATED SCREENPLAY & SCREENCAP GALLERY |
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Once we were picking up a slingload of ammunition, and the army had a habit of putting pick up zones and drop off zones right near well-traveled roads, road traveled by the local villagers.
So we were hovering over this slingload of howitzer rounds, and I was hanging out the window observing what appeared to be a 12-year-old Vietnamese boy standing there watching us. And as we lifted up with the load, the road wash increased because of the weight, and it blew him into the path of a 2-1/2-ton truck with trailer which killed him instantly.
When that happened, my first reaction, and my flight engineer, he was observing this too, our first reaction was, I guess you'd call normal. It would be horror, pain, and then I realized, I caught myself immediately and I said, "No, you can't do that," because you develop a shell while you're in the military. They brainwash you. They take all the humanness out of you.
And you develop this crust which enables you to survive in Vietnam. And if you let that protective shell down even for a second, it's the difference between you flipping out or managing to make it through.
And I caught myself letting the shell down, and I tightened up right away and started laughing about it and joking about it with the flight engineer. He sort of moved on the same logic because I guess it sort of knocked his shell down too. [AB-1]
In one incident we were flying and we took fire from six NVA which caused the ship to explode in the air and make a crash landing.
_______________ American Buddha Librarian's Comment: [AB-1] They are afraid to feel because of the repercussions they'll receive from their own "leaders." It is their leaders who are threatening them, forcing them to commit brutal acts of murder, knocking their teeth out and making them lick their boots if they refuse sadism, and rewarding them if they kill. It is their leaders who they are afraid of. And the other guys in their group. There were no "enemies" here. "Vietnam" and the "Vietnamese" are red herrings. An enemy is someone who aggresses against you, like the Americans who were sticking their nose in the Vietnamese business. The Vietnamese could never attain the status of "enemies" toward Americans, when we had invaded their country. They didn't come over here and invade our country. They simply did what anyone would do in their situation, they fought back when their country was attacked. It's like saying a car on the freeway is an enemy when you run right out in front of it. American soldiers were in danger from them because they were where they shouldn't have been. So let's be honest here. This is simply a matter of transference. He was afraid of what his own people would do to him if he cared, and he transferred this fear to the Vietnamese, the only ones allowed to be blamed. His real enemies were his fellow American soldiers. They were the aggressors toward not only the Vietnamese, but absolutely everyone. They would, and did, eat their own children. What these soldiers didn't realize is that there was no escape, that the brutality of the Americans cut in all directions, and that by committing torture against others, they themselves were tortured. Look at their faces. Their eyes are dead. They have been tortured by their own leaders, who are the most barbaric cannibals on earth, because they think they have a mandate from God! They are absolutely guilt-free! What could be worse than a murderer who feels entitled? God is nothing but an excuse to murder. |
