By Atty. Antonio P. Pekas
With the body count of military casualties in Marawi City steadily rising everyday, we who belong to the “older generation” can’t help but be reminded of the Vietnam War. The US suffered about 60,000 casualties, but unquantifiable were the sufferings it caused those who were wounded. For so many went home alive, not in coffins but seriously wounded or physically maimed, but still many others were so traumatized they had to mentally suffer all their lives. Some of them were so screwed up, they were practically crazy or like zombies.
The American public were so taken by that experience that many movies were made of its effects on people. There was that movie about a young husband who survived the war but came home in a wheelchair.
Certainly, the wife was devastated. After the husband fully recovered physically, the day-to-day goings on had to be reckoned. The wife had to do the lifting of all heavy objects the husband could not handle while seated on his wheelchair.
The worst was the question on how to make love. As the husband was becoming more and more bitter about his situation, the wife had to undertake the initiative which meant she had to work on him while lying down in bed or while he was seated on the wheel chair.
It was a very sad thing to watch the husband’s ego fully shattered due to his inability to deliver.
Then the shouting matches ensued as the pressures of their situation started getting into the couple.
But I don’t remember anymore how the movie ended.
Then there was the movie Fourth of July where Tom Cruise was the star. He came home a decorated Vietnam hero and was enjoying all the accolades he was receiving. The enjoyment however was short lived as he was in a wheel chair.
He tried to live by the positive side of things but he soon met another veteran who was similarly situated. They became friends and started doing the rounds of night spots together trying to find out if they could still sexually satisfy and be satisfied.
Tom Cruise became so frustrated. But, again, I don’t remember how the movie ended.
Other American soldiers in Vietnam discovered the joy of making money by smuggling dope to the US mainland. Mostly through the diplomatic pouch. Others did it by using their positions as officers or as MPs (military police).
Others became addicts because of the morphine or heroin they had to take as painkillers after sustaining the proverbial wounds of war.
Which reminds me of the supposed origin of shabu. I heard that it was the substance American soldiers or special forces had to take just before embarking on a military operation. Perhaps it gave them courage but more importantly, they became sleepless and would not feel any hunger.
But what was the antidote after the operation? The American military should go public on this as this big military secret did not remain so for long. Somebody was enterprising enough to make a big business out of it. At the expense of our youth, or of everybody as those who became addicts became the worst criminals—raping and killing almost anybody, including their family members. **
