Staying-at-Home for Peace and Health — a Song Sums-up How Many Feel, We Gotta Get Out of This Place

Madison, Wisconsin —We're borrowing the anthem of Vietnam War veterans today: 'We Gotta Get Out of This Place,' (written by Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, and recorded by Eric Burdon and the Animals in 1965).

Great book of the same title, if you have not read it: We Gotta Get Out of This Place - The Soundtrack of the Vietnam War (Bradley, Werner. University of Massachusetts Press, 2015).

Enjoy:

Ex-Home Depot Exec, Now VA Crat, Denies Agent Orange Health Effects, Rattles Veterans

Agent Orange denier, Thomas Murphy, now in charge
of benefits at the Veterans Benefits Administration

America's worst bureaucrat you never heard of - Meet the VA's Thomas Murphy, new acting Under Secretary of the Veterans Benefits Administration

Have a friend in Adams County Wisconsin who spoke with me a couple of years ago about his brother, who served in Vietnam, was exposed to Agent Orange and in sum came home and died.

The brother's name does not appear on The Wall. It should. The man and his family are not alone in being disrespected by the U.S. Dept. of Veterans Affairs, (VA), and it's getting much worse.

A different friend today sent an article about a petition begun demanding the firing of a high-ranking appointee with the VA.

The VA official, Thomas Murphy, works actively to deny benefits to veterans exposed to Agent Orange and other similar herbicides causing myriad catastrophic health problems including cancer and death, after denying in 2102 that Agent Orange caused any adverse health effects. This is a crazy view, in opposition to science, but a view that serves the VA where hostility to veterans is the new mission statement.

Rightwing neocons have been smearing Agent Orange victims for years, and Murphy has joined them revealing much about the Obama administration's approach to honoring veterans.

The former VA Director of the Compensation and Pension Service Thomas Murphy stated repeatedly his benighted view first made public in 2102 "there is no conclusive evidence that TCDD, [the most toxic of all the dioxins and dioxin-like compounds in Agent Orange and other defoliants], exposure causes any adverse health effects," (Disabled Veterans), and was awarded for this absurd view by the Department of Veterans Affairs which appointed Murphy, acting undersecretary for benefits at Veterans Benefits Administration, (VBA).

Veterans across the political spectrum are outraged, but this appointment is one you likely won't read about in the corporate media. screwing veterans is good business.

Denying that Agent Orange causes cancer, birth defect and kills you is like saying VX gas is good for children.

And Murphy is the guy the Obama administration puts in charge of the VBA? What is the Obama adminstration thinking?

By the 2ndbattalion, 94thartillery writing to other veterans and advocates

Here is a Petition to Fire VA's Tom Murphy

As everyone knows by now VA’s Tom Murphy with his vast experience at Home Depot overrode the entire field of science and medicine both nationally and internationally by his public statement that:  Agent Orange did no harm.

My previous link:

Thursday, June 30, 2016

Veteran Petition to Oust VA Agent Orange Denier

One veteran started a Change.org petition to oust VA Agent Orange denier Thomas Murphy after he was promoted as acting Under Secretary for Benefits at VA.

Murphy, formerly the Director of Compensation, was just promoted to acting Under Secretary for VBA. Unfortunately for Vietnam veterans, Murphy is a documented Agent Orange denier, and based on his past decisions in contradiction of claims from scientists, burn pit veterans should also be concerned.

In response to the move that has been called “anti-veteran,” Thomas Osmond created a petition to support ousting the denier, Thomas Murphy.

Please be sure to sign the petition and get read up on the issue. I cannot figure out how our federal government has devolved to such an extent where public workers are able to actively defraud veterans of their benefits.

But that is where we are at today.

"Because his six years at Compensation and Pension are fairly judged to be a relative failure in serving America's Veterans. First, his determination and success in "holding the line" on Agent Orange claims. The two most visible groups he's fought on this are the Blue Water Navy Veterans and the C-123 Veterans Association.

"TCDD, the toxin in Agent Orange, is recognized by science to be the most toxic of the toxins, and definitely causes "adverse health effects." VA itself (but not Mr. Murphy) understands that it is a highly toxic substance.

"Mr. Murphy firmly claimed that Veterans Benefits Administration had already determined none of the C-123 Veterans were ever exposed, and no amount of proof from scientists or government agencies would raise the claim to VA's "as likely as not" threshold. All claims would be denied, he said.

Petition link:

Now I have no knowledge of this Change.org so I have no idea, [Note: Change.org is very okay,].

However it sounds like a good idea.

Book Review—We Gotta Get Out of This Place, The Soundtrack of the Vietnam War

We Gotta Get Out of This Place - The
Soundtrack of the Vietnam War
(University of Massachusetts Press, 2015)

"If you only read a single book concerning Vietnam veterans this year, make it this one," says Vietnam War veteran, Lem Genovese (Yankee Medic).
 ---
Music is a high-voltage cable embedded into the human experience.

For Vietnam War veterans, music experienced in Vietnam can open channels to an intense and conflicting range of memories that can last a lifetime.

In We Gotta Get Out of This Place - The Soundtrack of the Vietnam War (University of Massachusetts Press, 2015), authors Doug Bradley and Craig Werner offer an engagingly authentic and fascinating account of the impact of music on the men and women who served during the invasion and occupation of southeast Asia.

While serving in Vietnam, veterans used music as a survival tool through which they were comforted, inspired and reminded of the insanity of war. The healing power of music is a recurring theme through the book laced with irony.
 
Death and killing (and not being killed) were followed by breaks as Marines and troops engaged in banter, rest and partying at an EMC (Enlisted Mens' Club or EM Club, 'land of the 10 or 25-cent beer').

In Vietnam, music, the same music from back home, was both surreal and direct, creating a culture at the intersection of war and music, note the authors, and blazing a path for veterans to talk about the War.

"For the Marines at Khe Sanh and the more than three million other men and women who served in Vietnam, music provided release from the uncertainty, isolation, and sometimes stark terror that reached the front lines to the relatively secure rear areas known as the air-conditioned jungle," writes Bradley and Werner in the introduction. "For the fortunate ones who did get back home, music echoed through the secret places where they stored memories and stories they didn't share with their wives, husbands, or children for decades. Music was the key to survival and a path to healing, the center of a human story that's too often been lost in the haze of politics and myth that surrounds Vietnam" (Introduction pp. 1, 2).

Marine Gordon Duff at China Beach 1969

I checked around with Vietnam veterans I know, who after noting the "bullshit" and "lies" that was the Vietnam War, starkly confirmed the power of music coming from the Armed Forces Radio Network and tape systems rigged up in a hootch or if lucky around evacuation hospitals like China Beach.

"More than any other song, 'We Gotta Get Out of This Place,' (written by Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil and recorded by Eric Burdon and the Animals in 1965), was the glue that held the improvised communities of Vietnam together then and a magnet bringing vets together today. 'We Gotta Get Out of This Place' was our 'We Shall Overcome,' observed Bobbie Keith, who served as an Armed Forces Radio DJ in Vietnam from 1967 to 1969 (pp. 9, 10).

I read a passage from Bradley and Werner's book about a group of troops guessing what song was coming up first on the Armed Forces Radio Rock-and-Roll Marathon to a veteran I know. The first song was We Gotta Get Out of This Place.

"I was in Vietnam late, 101st Airborne, C 2/502nd Infantry, Sgt., September 71-Janaury 72, infantry patrolling in the I Corps area. So no music except when we came back to Camp Eagle," said Bob Walsh, an attorney in Michigan now who helps vets fighting neocons at home.

Walsh asked some his war buddies what songs they heard, and sent over music videos produced the last decade of the music they listened to during the war. His talks and emails with me could have come right out of Bradley and Werner's book so connected is the prose of the veterans they interview and use extended first-person, "solo" passages.

"Then I was at Qui Nhon in II Corps, with a security company. So music was around all the time. AFRTS (Armed Forces Radio and Television Service) (Good Morning, Vietnam) actually played some good stuff. The music was of the time and the time of the music. As the Vietnam War dragged on music made some of the strongest and most effective statements. Politics and events informed the art. Some ass commented on the Paint It Black video that the Stones were not talking about Vietnam. He got told to fuck off."

Noted Walsh, "At Fort Rucker, at the helicopter flight school, you had Jags, Vets, Mustangs, big block Dodges. They had a need for speed. Flyin’ and dyin’. So Born to be Wild, by Steppenwolf was in favor with the rotor heads. By the way, I was against the Vietnam war (it was stupid) but it was the only war we had, and I volunteered to go when I did not have to. It was fun, it was real, but it was not real fun."

Like the veterans Bradley and Werner present, Walsh notes a lot of war, peace and insanity themes in the music they listened to. "Take a look at these. My brothers have done a good job," wrote Walsh in an email.

Walsh lists Eve of Destruction (McGuire), Bad Moon Rising (CCR), We Gotta Get Out of This Place (The Animals), The End (The Doors), Fortunate Son (CCR), War (Edwin Starr), Paint It Black (Rolling Stones), Top Five Vietnam War songs, Where Have All the Flowers Gone (The Kingston Trio), and Ballad of the Green Berets.

Walsh's list mirrors the many songs referenced in Bradley and Werner's book.

Chapter Two of We Gotta Get Out of This Place is entitled Bad Moon Rising.

Like the war, tastes and war experiences varied wildly.

"Ed Emanuel, who spent most of 1968 with an all-black Long Ranged Reconnaissance Patrol team operating in Tay Ninh province, found country (music) irritating and usually avoided places where it was being played," (p. 60).

Emanuel was into soul music and Motown.

"If Aretha and Creedence got their strongest response from black and white soldiers, respectively, Jimi Hendrix spoke to almost everyone in Vietnam," writes Bradley and Werner. The Star Spangled Banner at Woodstock, Purple Haze, The Wind Cries Mary, and Machine Gun are noted among others.

The celebratory and healing power of music in Vietnam resonates today.

"I met both Craig Werner and Doug Bradley at the May 2010 LZ Lambeau session on The Deadly Writers Group [out of which the idea for the book grew] and their session dealt with the therapy that comes from writing about our veterans experience. For the most part the readings were filled with disgust, anger, moral injury and how it went down in those lethal moments for the other vet writers," notes Lem Genovese (Yankee Medic), and lifelong musician commenting on the book. "Music has been my lifeline since the day I set foot on Vinh Long Army Base in the Mekong Delta in early December of 1970 and for the 13 months I spent there. Listening to AFVN (American Forces Vietnam Network) non-stop while I spent 14 to 18 hours a day in the non-air conditioned message center office that I had all to myself next to the 214th CAB's Adjutant Office. The music kept me sane and from going off the deep end of substance abuse during my tour of duty."

Craig and Doug get veterans with varied experiences to share their favorite song from their time in Southeast Asia and why after all these decades, that music can instantly transport them back to that time and place. If you only read a single book concerning Vietnam veterans this year, make it this one. From anti-war anthems like Joe McDonald's "I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-to-Die Rag" and Edwin Starr's "War" to Marvin Gaye's timeless LP "What's Goin' On?" there is a wealth of emotional attachment that needs to be shared with this nation after all these years."

That's high praise for a book from an Army combat field medic of 17 years.

Continues Genovese: "As an aviation unit, our Huey crews would hit their radios to the AFVN stereo signal frequency once we got all of our required radio chatter out of the way. Flying over the Mekong Delta at sunrise and sunset listening to Jimi Hendrix version of Dylan's "All Along The Watch Tower" is a memory that has lasted a lifetime. The brown-white wake of the Navy's swift boats against that surrealistic sky filled with colors that could only be described as psychedelic vermilion, red, purple, yellow in those layers of clouds as the sun peeked over the distant horizon was a once in a lifetime experience for me."

Bing Crosby's "White Christmas" was an especially sarcastic touch, flying over those multilevel colors of green and brown of the Delta. The music basically was not only a lifeline for me in Vietnam, it became a calling. My therapy and my passion all rolled into one."

That's the thing about We Gotta Get Out of This Place - The Soundtrack of the Vietnam War. Truth is after reading the book I didn't feel entitled to review it without checking with my veteran buddies who lived it.

Do a veteran a favor this Veterans Day, and pick up a copy.

Rick Perry Disses Vietnam War Veterans; Offers Banalities at VFW Convention

Frontrunner, Rick Perry

Frontrunner for the GOP nomination for the presidency, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, outlined his foreign policy before the annual convention of Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) in San Antonio this week, a day before President Obama addressed the American Legion Annual Conference in Minneapolis.

And even Perry's vague outlines and platitudes manage to offend democratic sensibilities.

Perry paid homage to the xenophobic mind-set of the national VFW organization by warning that the U.S. ought not "go it alone" in using the military and intelligence community's might, then in the course of the next few sentences saying we "cannot concede the moral authority of our nation to multilateral debating societies," presumably referring to the community of countries comprising the Untied Nations that might call for international law trumping wars of aggression. Said Perry:

It's not our interest to go it alone. We respect our allies and we must always seek to engage them in military missions. But at the same time, we must be willing to act when it is time to act. We cannot concede the moral authority of our nation to multilateral debating societies, and when our interests are threatened American soldiers should be led by American commanders.

Perry tried to sanitize the Vietnam War stating it "stands as a stark reminder of the cost of war." Perry did not mention the fact that the Vietnam War was begun and sustained through the lies of politicians.

Nor did Perry mention the war against Vietnam War veterans launched during the Bush-Cheney administration, and not acknowledged nor repudiated by the Obama administration.

Perry echoed the moderate-sounding George W. Bush promises made in 2000 on the topic of military adventurism, before Bush - as generally understood - stole the U.S. election and then launched illegal wars of aggression based upon lies.

"We should only risk shedding American blood and spending American treasure when our vital interests are threatened, and we should always look to build coalitions among the nations," Perry said.

Perry is an Air Force veteran.

Vietnam Force Recon Vet Works for Peace on 50th Anniv of Agent Orange Use

We want peace; pass H.R. 2634

Vietnam War veteran Chuck Palazzo (1970-1971) has a lot of friends.

To a man, they love the guy. Ask Wisconsinite, Lem Genovese, sometime if you have an interest in history.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of a deadly obscenity that continues to kill and maim—Agent Orange.

Palazzo works as a man of peace now in Da Nang, putting his heart into healing and bringing attention to the horror that is still inflicted on newborn babies today 50 years later. [I'll spare you the pictures.]

In the United States there is currently a bill in Congress, H.R. 2634 [2011]—seeking broad and long delayed remedial action on behalf of all Vietnam-era victims of Agent Orange—a bill a country that cares for liberty and humanity would pass in an instant.

Palazzo works for relief from Vietnam.

I really don't know what drives Palazzo today; what demons he faces; what love he lives. Nor, will I ever understand [or ask] what he went through in the Vietnam War.

Chuck Palazzo

But we regard each other as friends, and I salute him today. It's nice to have genuine warriors for peace as friends.

By Chuck Palazzo

Dear Friends,

Fifty years ago today, the U.S. started what would become one of the most devastating military campaigns in history – the spraying of Agent Orange. On August 10th, 1961, and for 10 years thereafter, the United States sprayed this deadly poison on over 20% of the southern part of Vietnam. The result of what would soon become known as a senseless crime against humanity, affected civilians and military personnel on both sides of the Vietnam War. The effect through the years has resulted in the death and disease of over 4.8 million Vietnamese. Today, 50 years later, the genetic consequence of Agent Orange continues to kill and maim a fourth generation of victims. The toxic and destructive ecological effect remains throughout Vietnam and continues affecting the citizens of Vietnam, poisoning their food chain and causing multiple illnesses and birth defects.

I had the privilege of participating in The Second International Conference of Victims of Agent Orange/dioxin, which was held in Hanoi from August 8th to 9th, 2011. It included Agent Orange victims, victims of other toxic chemicals, scientists, lawyers and social activists from 19 countries. As an international delegate, I was also privileged to have an opportunity to affirm what the Conference developed as an International Appeal. I signed my name, not only in solidarity, but as a confirmation to the entire world that the victims of Agent Orange must be recognized by the manufacturers of this poison as well as the U.S. Government – and to provide comprehensive and meaningful assistance to the victims of Agent Orange and their families in Vietnam in a more practical and effective manner.

I ask each of you to please read and distribute the appeal which follows below. The Agent Orange problem is very real. Its victims continue to suffer. Please join with us and demand that action is finally taken. 50 years is far too long.

Thank you.

Chuck Palazzo
- Marine Combat Veteran, served with 1st and 3rd FORCERECON RVN 1970-1971. Currently living, writing and working in Da Nang, Vietnam as an Agent Orange and Unexploded Ordinance activist and researcher

APPEAL of the Second International Conference of Victims of Agent Orange/Dioxin

Hanoi, Socialist Republic of Vietnam, 9th August, 2011

The Second International Conference of Victims of Agent Orange/dioxin, held in Hanoi from August 8th to 9th, 2011 included participants from around the world: Agent Orange victims, victims of other toxic chemicals, scientists, lawyers and social activists. The conference is a significant and important historic event, marking the 50th anniversary of the first spraying of the toxic chemical Agent Orange (1961-1971) by the U.S. forces in Vietnam and Indochina.

The delegates to the Conference agree that:

During the Vietnam War, from 1961 to 1971, U.S. forces through Operation Ranch Hand sprayed nearly 80 million liters of herbicides over South Vietnam, of which 61% was Agent Orange containing at least 366kg of dioxin, the most toxic substance known to science.

Since the First International Conference of Victims of Agent Orange in 2006, there has been greater public understanding and awareness of the dangers of Agent Orange/dioxin to humans and to the environment. More diseases have been officially recognized as being due to exposure to Agent Orange. Along with the Vietnamese people, many others around the world have become victims of this toxic weapon of mass destruction. Soldiers in the U.S., South Korea, Australia and New Zealand were exposed during the time they fought in Vietnam, and now their children and grandchildren are suffering as well. People in the U.S., Canada, South Korea, Puerto Rico, Australia, New Zealand and other areas were exposed because they lived near or worked in areas where the U.S. forces stored, buried, manufactured, tested or experimented with Agent Orange as part of their war in Vietnam.

Because of dioxin related damage to their endocrine, immune and reproductive systems, victims of Agent Orange suffer from multiple health conditions, some of which are quickly lethal and others which doom people to a life of horrific misery. Due to these diseases, many have been denied the most basic of human rights – especially the right to life, and the pursuit of happiness. Because of their inability to work and bearing the costs of medical treatment, most victims of Agent Orange everywhere are very poor. However, because Agent Orange was intentionally directed against the Vietnamese people, they are subject to the most onerous conditions. 4.8 million Vietnamese people directly sprayed repeatedly over extended periods of time were subject to multiple sources of exposure. The proportion of old people, women and children, who are especially susceptible to dioxin, is particularly high in Vietnam. In Vietnam, an enormous number of children continue to be born with Agent Orange-related birth defects. Now, a fourth generation of Agent Orange victims is being born. Because of this danger, in effect many women have been denied the human right to bear children. Agent Orange not only harmed human beings and devastated the environment of Vietnam during the war but also continued its devastation after the war. Dioxin dumped in the soil continues to damage the environment and sicken the people in and around several “hot spots.” Causing deforestation of nearly 3 million hectares of land, during the war, especially in coastal areas, Agent Orange has damaged not only the environment in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia but also the regional environment. It has and continues to have severe consequences for people in many areas of the world.

The use of Agent Orange in the war in Vietnam is a war crime and a crime against humanity Its consequences are passed from generation to generation. It challenges us to end, once and for all, the use of chemical weapons and any weapons of mass destruction anywhere today.

Humanity’s concern about the effects of chemical warfare, the threat of accidents at chemical manufacturing plants and the looming environmental disaster due biochemical engineering is increasing. The agony of those exposed to Agent Orange is central to this consciousness and international solidarity with Agent Orange victims’ struggle for justice is growing.

CALL TO ACTION

Therefore, the Delegates to the Conference hereby call upon:

1) Solidarity

All victims of Agent Orange, whatever their nationality or circumstances of exposure, should unite more closely and earnestly to act for our common interests. Further, to demonstrate our solidarity with victims of other weapons of mass destruction such as the atomic bomb and depleted uranium, ,All the victims and their supporters should work together in unity and coordinate actions. Only together, can we be effective, powerful and successful in achieving justice!

2) Organize

We ask all of humanity, all governments, organizations and individuals, whatever their social or political position, to take immediate action to support all victims of Agent Orange, with particular emphasis on those in Vietnam. In every country, and in every region, we should set up organizations and develop specific programs for mobilizing material resources in whatever form and for making our voices heard in all available forums in support of the struggle of the Vietnamese Agent Orange victims for justice.

3) Study and Remediate

Scientists, public health and environmental experts, especially from the United States, should focus on studying the specific health and environmental dangers of Agent Orange/dioxin and possibilities for remediation. This is very urgent in order to help victims whose time is running out, and in order to avoid similar disasters for future generations.

4) U.N. Ban on Weapons and War Crimes

The world community in general, the United Nations and each government in particular should rapidly promulgate new measures to more effectively prevent all acts in violation of international laws prohibiting war crimes and crimes against humanity.

5) U.S. Government and Chemical Manufacturers to Accept Responsibility

The U.S. government and chemical manufacturers of Agent Orange, particularly Monsanto and Dow Chemical should accept their responsibility and engage in greater and fuller efforts to work with the Vietnamese people and government to clean up the existing 'hot spots,' and to provide comprehensive and meaningful assistance to the victims of Agent Orange and their families in Vietnam in a more practical and effective manner. Because little of the monies appropriated by the U.S. Congress has actually reached the victims, funds intended for the victims should be given to Vietnamese NGOs like VAVA so that they actually go to those who need assistance most. The need for hospitals, clinics and respite homes for the victims and their parents, is overwhelming – many of the victims require 24 hour care and their elderly parents who are doing the caring also need help.

6) Disclose Locations of Agent Orange Sites

The U.S. government and all governments that have allowed the use of Agent Orange for any purpose during the Vietnam war years, should publicly disclose all the locations where Agent Orange was used, buried or dumped.

7) Partner with VAVA

The Vietnam Association for Victims of Agent Orange/dioxin is the legal and moral representative of Vietnam’s Agent Orange victims and acts as a non-governmental organization representing the interests of these victims throughout Vietnam. To hear their voices and to help Vietnamese victims effectively and specifically, people of good will and compassion should partner with VAVA and assist it programatically and materially, contacting VAVA through its website.

NOW, fifty years since the first use of Agent Orange in Vietnam, the delegates of the conference declare again that the needs of the victims are urgent, requiring immediate action! Half a century is too long to wait for justice!

We pledge to work together to make sure that justice delayed will no longer be justice denied!