The events described in this series are not unique to the Vietnam War; however, this war’s legacy darkly ripples through current time and generations thereafter, just as the Iraq/Afghan wars will and are doing. War is a package deal where grisly death, torture, rape, abuse and other atrocities are part of the package. This series draws primarily from The Last Phoenix by Carl Douglass, Fire in the
Martin Luther King Vietnam Speech
Description of the Tet Offensive in the City of Hue
Description of the Ho Chi Minh Trail
Winter Soldier Project - Vietnam
Description of the Phoenix Program
The Colonel on the Heart of Darkness
Iraq :: Vietnam, AbuGraib :: ConSonPrison
1960s Acetic Anhydride: Opium to Heroin
The Last
A
"I've thought about money a lot. My folks never had any, and we were treated like dirt. People like us never had a chance against the rich people. We just clean up after them. I've put a lot of thought into our situation. I have more than a sneaking hunch that the blame for this dirty little war is going to fall on guys like us who don't get to see the whole picture or to make the big decisions. One of the Company guys warned me that we might be charged as war criminals like Hitler's people even though we were just obeying orders. My dad always said that it always runs down hill, and the little guys are always at the bottom of the hill waiting for it to fall on them. When they shanghaied me into the army, I made up my mind that I was not going to end up like my dad or any of the other poor fools at the bottom. I also swore that I would get even. The difference is money. Without it you get crapped on. With it you have a chance. This war can't last forever. I suppose I'll have to go back to the World someday, and I am not going to go there without money. A lot of it."
He reasoned that if he did not move the merchandise, someone else would. He also reasoned that money was the determinate of power, of a comfortable life, and often enough, of survival itself. He determined to insulate himself against any need for help or protection from any government, church, or society. He had no qualms about moving bricks, especially since he knew that no more than 2.5% of the smuggled drugs were ever intercepted.
