Once More With Feeling

I have attempted to begin this blog on several occassions and for reasons that I am not completely clear on, it hasn't ever really happened. So... this time I'm hoping to make a change in that.

First of all, a brief explanation: I believe that my generation in the USA (I just had my 55th birthday so that puts me firmly at the tail end of the Boomers), and the generations following us, have been substantially colored by America's, and American's, experience of the Viet Nam War. I believe our collective experience in Viet Nam has colored virtually every military action this country has taken since, and I believe that citizen reaction (and/or lack of reaction) has also been colored by the experience.

For some time now, I have wanted to gather the stories of men who were in Viet Nam, as well as the stories of men who, for one reason or another, did not go to Viet Nam and to form those stories into a dramatic presentation much like Eve Ensler did with women's stories in The Vagina Monologues.

It was fairly recently that I was informed by some female friends of mine that I should include the Viet Nam stories of women as well; stories of nurses, of wives, sisters, mother's, and girlfriends. It seemed like a good idea so I decided to throw that into the mix as well.

Then, somewhere last fall, I began to feel like stopping with the effect of Viet Nam was an inadequate consideration of the subject and the people. The wars we have engaged in post-Viet Nam, it seems to me, both look back to that time and forward from that time, and the people who have been involved in those wars - particularly our present wars in Iraq and Afghanistan - are important to the story. Their stories are important to us!

So... that brings us up to now.

I am relaunching this site - intentionally on this anniversary of 9/11 - in the hope of using it to make contact with folks who have served on the battlegrounds of this country during the last 50 years, and folks who have been profoundly affected (in whatever ways) by their participation (or lack of participation) in these wars.

I hope that you will leave comments here and that you will also contact me directly (thom.speaklo@gmail.com) so that I may speak to you in more detail. I hope that this blog will grow and change and that I can find others who are interested enough in this project to assist me with collecting and telling the stories of the many who have, in one way or another, been a part of Generation Vet.