[PAA-Discuss] from a fellow mil mom

[Sherry Glover]

My son who served in Afghanistan (Enduring Freedom) submitted the following  letter to the editor.  I didn't ask which newspaper but he lives in Austin, Texas. The college that he is talking about is Texas Christian University and the fraternity is Delta Tau Delta. This is an example of how unaware  our general population is of what is going on. This is proof that we all  need to continue working as hard as we can to educate people about serving in  the current military in the United States of Empire (I had to add that.).  
 
>From my son:
 
 
Just  north of campus on San Jacinto lies the Delta Tau Delta Fraternity, currently  extensively decorated in bamboo, sandbags, and barbed wire. In font a sign  proclaims "Mekong". Oh, I get it. The Delta Tau Deltas are going to party like  they're U.S GI's in the Mekong Delta. How quaint! Am I to imagine that they'll dress in fatigues and ask their female guests to re-enact a scene from  Full-Metal Jacket (a prostitute saying "Me love you long time")? Perhaps they'll  invite Southeast Asian students to the party? Why not? They wouldn't find it offensive, would they? In fact, it turns out that it's a tradition of the national fraternity that each year the chapters hold a Vietnam War-themed party.  The TCU DTD web page explains that this is a cherished tradition, thrown in  honor of former Delts who suffered in the Vietnam War at the Mekong Delta. Just asking, but is decorating a frat house in bamboo and barbed wire, running around  in fatigues and drinking beer an authentic show of
 support to Vietnam Vets? The  
yellow ribbon on their wall says "Support Our Troops". Were they serious, they  could 
give their time to the VA (_http://www1.va.gov/volunteer/)_ (http://www1.va.gov/volunteer/))  or give  their decorations fund to wounded vets 
(_http://www.americasupportsyou.mil/)._ (http://www.americasupportsyou.mil/).)   If only there were a way to support the troops that didn’t make me lift a  
finger... How about this: Show your solidarity with the troops by spending the  
weekend sober and celibate. See, service members in Iraq and Afghanistan have  
General Orders prohibiting alcohol and extra-marital sex. Not much of a party,  
huh?
Here's the rub: I take offense that they're celebrating a war. Will there be My Lai Massacre Mai Tais? It does sound tasteless and offensive, right?  
Dressing up in cammies and prancing around behind sandbags tells me how  
little they understand what war means. There are consequences; people die or 
are  mutilated, there are physical and psychological scars. And they're having a party 
about it? You celebrate the end of a war, the end of the destruction, but I see these being overlooked and instead a mockery made of what veterans  experienced and the hell that was visited upon Southeast Asia. 
If this is  their way of saluting the troops for their sacrifices, as a combat veteran (of a  current war) I feel justified in returning their salute with one finger.
Tim Riley
Graduate Student, Public Affairs  


Terry  Riley
_www.whatifyouknew-nm.com_ (http://www.whatifyouknew-nm.com/) 
Military  Families Speak Out
Stop The War Machine
Albuquerque Veterans for  Peace
New Mexico Grassroots Democrats
Democracy for New  Mexico
Albuquerque Center for Peace and Justice
Precinct Chair - Precinct  6 Ward 15A
BCDP Resolutions Committee Member
NMDP Central Committee  Delegate

Son of a Veteran (WWII)
Veteran (Vietnam era)
Brother of a Veteran (Vietnam era)
Father of a Veteran (Gulf War era)
Father of a Veteran (Enduring Freedom)





Go, heart, unto the lamp of light,
Go, heart, do service and honor.
--Anonymous

The value of life does not depend upon the place we occupy.
It depends upon the way we occupy that place.                                                                                                     
St. Thérèse de Lisieux
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