by DENNis MYERs
Conclusion
know it’s kind of clichéd, but, you know, are still unable to deal with that whole aspect of their life, for personal reasons, you know, everybody’s experience is different and the things they were asked to do. But, yes, it’s very rewarding. I heard from somebody this morning that was actually at Khe Sanh. … He’s just coming to grips with things. So it’s kind of nice.
Michael Archer
Tell me about the new book. The book is about a captain in the Marine Corps [who] showed up at the siege of Khe Sanh when about 6,000 Americans were surrounded by about 35,000 north Vietnamese soldiers, heavily armed, heavily supported with tanks and artillery and so forth. This gentleman, Mirza Munir Baig [called Harry], he had been educated at Cambridge University, had come from a very wealthy and notable family in India—precolonial India … came to the United States. … He enlisted in the Marine Corps as a private and worked his way up. What he brought to Khe Sanh was he was fluent in French, he had read all of everything [Vietnamese military commander] Gen. Võ Nguyên Giáp had written … he studied every
PHOTO/DENNIS MYERS
President Kennedy once told a navy buddy who he’d appointed to a high Pentagon office that because he had been given a close exposure to history, he had an obligation to write about it. Michael Archer, now of Carson City, found himself in 1968 at the significant, dramatic battle of Khe Sanh, and he has written about it in an award-winning series of three books, including The Gunpowder Prince.
Did you ever feel that your fate was being decided by people standing off at a safe distance?
aspect of the battle of Dien Bien Phu, and he made the assumption that Giap was going to repeat that at Khe Sanh, and Giap did. And consequently, Harry was waiting for him.
Absolutely, particularly at Khe Sanh because Khe Sanh became very political, as you may recall. The Tet offensive, it was part of the Tet offensive. It was an election year. President Johnson actually—on March 31st of 1968, before the siege of Khe Sanh had ended—he actually made that famous speech that he would not run and so forth—
How is the book being received?
And would start peace talks.
Quite well. In fact, last night—funny you should ask—the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation awarded it the best biography of 2019. … To be honest with you, given the nature of the book, writing about an immigrant, kind of an unusual marine and unusual situation … I didn’t know whether something like that … would be accepted, and it wholeheartedly was by the Marine Corps.
How often do you hear from people who have found your books? Just this morning. Yes, I hear almost every day from somebody, seriously. … It’s surprising how many Vietnam vets—I
Yes, and would start peace talks. Exactly. And it was very demoralizing for those of us that had watched so much carnage. And later, when I got to know some of the people we fought against—I went to Hanoi, and I’m still friends with several north Vietnamese soldiers that were wounded at Khe Sanh—and I came to know that their plight was pretty much the same as ours. And then I really felt bad, because there was just an enormous amount of bloodshed on both sides at Khe Sanh for the 15-month period from mid ’67 until mid ’68, and, you know, it was all for naught … and we were only 19 then. Ω
by BRUCE VAN DYKE
What’s your problem? Look, let’s just cut the crap and deal with the obvious. By stonewalling Congress about everything (taxes, finances, security clearances), President Capone is essentially pleading the Fifth. He and his legal team are busy concocting some presidential executive version of The Fifth Amendment in order to stall, obfuscate and avoid the hell out of The House. But the ploy isn’t particularly clever—it’s desperate. And here in America, we all know what a mob boss is really saying when he takes Da Fifth. It’s tantamount to pleading guilty to everything. No need to get bogged down in minutiae or legalese. The sumbitch is pleading guilty to everything. And Trump supporters, WTF? I’m afraid you have a problem. A rather large cred problem. Because if you still support this blithering, doddering moron after that horrific bullshit he barfed
out in Wisconsin this past week about doctors executing babies, well then, how the hell do you expect us non-MAGAns to have any respect whatsoever for your political and sociological acumen? What exactly are you telling us about the functioning of your thought processes when you continue to support This Raving Jerkoff who just makes up the most horrible horseshit he can think of and then presents it as truth? We’ve seen a lot of truly horrid assholes in American politics over the years, but I do feel quite safe in asserting we’ve never seen anything as purely puckered as this asshole. • It’s not really much of a mystery as to the basic cause for the overwhelming bulk of humanity’s problems. It doesn’t take a Ph.D. in astrophysics to see that the problem isn’t immigrants or
plastic or even Trump. It’s overpopulation. Pure and simple. Individually, most of us are nice, reasonable, decent folks, willing to let you merge in front of us on a crowded freeway. People, for the most part, are pretty nice. So people aren’t the problem. Not exactly. No, the problem is that there are way too many people. Sometime in the ’20s, we are going to hit 8 billion people on Planet Earth. Man, that’s a load. That’s too effing much. So here’s my Question. If you could magically make it happen, instantly and painlessly, what would be your ideal number of humans on this Earth? I’m thinking 50 to 100 million. But really, that may be too high. Why? Because we’re all sexed up on erotogens, and we’re absolute slaves to Sex Itch. If we started at 100 mill, we’d be back in the billions in 200 to 300 years (file under Bar Talk Topic). Ω
05.02.19
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