Memories of War
1969/70 - Watching Walter Cronkite on the evening news. My Mom thought it was kind of weird a 9-year-old wanting to watch the news, but she let me. She never realized till I told her a few years ago that I was waiting for the Vietnam report and the body count. Knowing that if the American number didn't rise, my Uncle was safe for another day.
1986 - Sitting in a military installation with the "boards" lit up, while Navy ships & war planes crossed the Libyan "Line of Death", knowing that a cousin was in that Naval Group. Later he told me his ship was the first cross the line. Once again I'm glued to the TV reports and inside channels, worried that each ship strike is his.
1991 - Desert Storm another cousin is called up and sent to Saudi Arabia. She's there long enough for letters to start arriving. Her Chaplain (she's a Chaplain’s Aid (read bodyguard)) is "dedicated." My Uncle assumes this means very religious, I know this mean he goes to the front and she follows.
1986 - Sitting in a military installation with the "boards" lit up, while Navy ships & war planes crossed the Libyan "Line of Death", knowing that a cousin was in that Naval Group. Later he told me his ship was the first cross the line. Once again I'm glued to the TV reports and inside channels, worried that each ship strike is his.
1991 - Desert Storm another cousin is called up and sent to Saudi Arabia. She's there long enough for letters to start arriving. Her Chaplain (she's a Chaplain’s Aid (read bodyguard)) is "dedicated." My Uncle assumes this means very religious, I know this mean he goes to the front and she follows.