I Walked Into A Tent Full Of HUMAN HAMBURGER Nearly 50 Years Ago In Vietnam. Here Is What I Saw.

[TheMastersNemesis]

Warning - What I am about to say may be too strong for some here. I support complete ban on military weapons. Turn them all in.

Timeline - Vietnam near Khe Sahn probably early March 1968 at a place called LZ Stud. Right after the 1st night of Operation Pegasus the next morning I got news that we had many casualties in our battalion. I was in Bravo 1st of the 5th Cavalry - 1st Cavalry Division.

We had just been shelled that morning by the North Vietnamese. Took a number of rounds and some were within yards. Was pretty shook up at the time.

Later that morning my 1st Sergeant and told us that our Captain had been wounded and 2 or 3 from his squad had been killed. Our Battalion Commander had been shot down. All killed except XO who had been captured and tortured. Battalion had numerous casualties. Perhaps 30 KIA.

NOW FOR THE KICKER. Sgt Rios informed me that I was to go down to graves registration to ID our dead from the Captain's HQ squad. NOTHING could prepare me for my new experience. I walked down to the graves reg area and there was a tent 10-40 feet. I was accompanied by an NCO and brought into this tent with 30 bodies laying side by side.

What I saw was beyond terrible. One body the solider had no face. Had been hit by shrapnel. Others were missing various limbs. Very few were even recognizable. There was blood everywhere on the ground. Uniforms were in tatters. The bodies had been brought in just like they were found. Many bodies were severely mangled looked like road kill. It was sickening far beyond belief.

I could only ID one of ours who I barely knew. At least his face was intact. But he was dead from an abdominal wound. The rest is more or less of a blur. After 50 years thankfully you forget a lot of details. These massacres bring back that day more than anything else. So I have NO MERCY for these gun nuts if they shoot themselves. They are the problem as is the NRA and GOP.

I lost my temper when I came out and threw my helmet at a nearby jeep cussing a blue streak only to be chastised by my first sergeant. He really pissed me off. I have never been more angry, sick and shaken in my life since.

I have not thought much about this scene until this massacre. I had similar thoughts with Newton. I know what happens to people when they are massacred first hand.. These crime scenes are exactly like what I saw 50 years ago. These children, these kids and these people are casualties of war waged by the GOP and NRA. And what I remember is just absolutely the worst horror and we have that same horror now just about every day. .

The trouble is the real results of these shootings are so sanitized and the victims so completely and deliberately hidden. I am so mad I would lock also those GOP bastards in their chamber against their will and FORCE them to look at every single body photo until they throw up.

America should be finished with being nice and civil. When the RW, GOP and NRA attacks we should wither them with political counter fire. We need to demonstrate and try to shut them down cold.

When the hell is enough enough. Start demanding and pushing back hard and without mercy. They won't stop going after these kids. It is up so sane adults to shut these people up and rout them politically. Harass them for a change on social media.

Sorry for being so combative, but what are we to do now that we are seeing these kids being viciously attacked. We are NOT going to change the GOP mind on this issue.

[Downtown Hound]

1. I can only imagine

Thank you for sharing.As long as we censor the true cost of violence, it will continue to go on.

[TheCowsCameHome]

2. All I can say is..

..Thank you for posting. I have no other words....

[onit2day]

65. Watching the movie "the Post" we find out they were just sacrificed to save face

They knew in '65 there was no way to win but used it as a stage to test weapons and make money while knowingly sacrificing all those men. Funny how Bush/Cheney and Trump all dodged going to Nam yet all gung ho to sacrifice other's kids.. The government of hypocrisy.

[Fred Sanders]

3. Thanks you for that. DU, please Go Fund The Kids:

My name is Cameron Kasky. I am a student at Stoneman Douglas.

I created the #NeverAgain movement as well as the March for Our lives. Our team has been working hard since day one.

The funds will be spent on the incredibly difficult and expensive process that is organzing a march like this. We have people making more specific plans, but for now know that this is for the march and everything left over will be going to the victims' funds.

We will have all the funds put into our website's donation page.

Thank you.

https://www.gofundme.com/8psm8-march-for-our-lives

[MLAA]

15. Thanks for posting link. I donated and left a message of support.

[Fred Sanders]

22. I have been watching the page...the kids are getting like 1K a minute....remarkable. Over 820K now.

Plus Clooney and Hollywood to come...where is Oprah?

[tblue37]

44. And now

$897,515 of $1.5M goal
Raised by 12,223 people in 1 day

[Borchkins]

45. I gave.

[pangaia]

52. just donated...

[Vinca]

4. And some wonder why soldiers get PTSD. Horrible, just horrible.

[nolabear]

5. Its a sane response to an insane situation.

I’m sorry you had to witness human madness and it’s effects. I know having people who are supposed to be our protectors from those horrors blow off their responsibilities and dismiss the fact that we’re not suffering an enemy attack but attacks from one another is horrific.

Thanks for being real.

[MFM008]

6. I have never seen a dead person

I couldn't even go and say goodbye to my own dad.
I'm sorry you or anyone has to go through
such a thing...
I know somebody has to do it I just couldn't do it.

[malaise]

7. The truth is people need to see the carnage left after the AR-15 slaughters

this cannot continue.
Sorry for your horrific experience

[Leghorn21]

8. Thank you, Master.

”The trouble is the real results of these shootings are so sanitized and the victims so completely and deliberately hidden. I am so mad I would lock also those GOP bastards in their chamber against their will and FORCE them to look at every single body photo until they throw up.”

YES

[yallerdawg]

9. Americans are shocked to the core when we get a glimpse of the reality.

From Vietnam era, I remember the gunshot to the head by the Vietnamese officer - and the little girl running, ravaged by napalm. They're etched in our memories - and we saw them on TV, not your reality, TMN.

If we had seen the reality of Columbine, Sandy Hook - we wouldn't be dodging this newest reality.

[Raster]

10. There is ONLY ONE WAY to right this wrong...

...VOTE. EVERY. REPUBLICAN. OUT. OF. OFFICE.

They DO NOT DESERVE to survive as a party. They DO NOT DESERVE to ever have control of this Country again!

[dchill]

33. +1,000,000. They are collaborators.

They deserve to be tossed into their privatized correctional facilities.

[Raster]

38. They are ACCOMPLICES...

...and need to be treated as such!

[RiverStone]

64. Damn right!

Lets hope we are seeing the beginning of the end of the very sick GOP.

[backtoblue]

11. Knr

[democrank]

12. TMN, with tears in my eyes I send a hug.

~PEACE~

[kentuck]

13. I was in country at that time but not at Khe Sanh...

I was aware of the stuff going on near the DMZ and that some of our guys were pinned down at Khe Sanh. I'm glad you were able to make it out.

[dembotoz]

14. when the death camps were liberated in ww2 there were photos of folks from nearby towns brought in

to see what their government had done so very close to their homes....

perhaps we need folks in congress to be given similar tours...

[BSdetect]

18. British soldiers were so upset they threatened the locals to watch with eyes open or else...

[MLAA]

16. All I can do is agree with you and send you ❤️. Thank you TheMastersNemesis

[world wide wally]

17. And about 90% of the GOP politicians who oppose any form of gun control never served

Guessing at the 90%.... It's probably higher

[sarge43]

19. Thank you for the courage it took to remember and to remind us of the reality.

You have absolutely nothing to apologize for. To hell with thoughts and prayers and "it's too soon to discuss this".

This madness has to stop.

[Demit]

20. That is a very powerful post.

I'm glad you were able to write it. Those are memories you shouldn't have to have, the way these kids now have memories they shouldn't have to have. I'm glad they're angry. Their anger might be what finally propels us all to a solution. The beginnings of one, anyway.

[KT2000]

21. thank you for the truth of it

yes - we see a sanitized version which allows anyone to dismiss the horror of it.

[Loryn]

23. No words.

[Hulk]

24. It's time to state the obvious. They want to CUT Social Security, Medicare, education, etc....????

It's time we respond in kind.

Changing the subject to guns. Our idiot in chief is contemplating doing some tweeking with background checks? Seriously? Who gives a rat's behind. It's time we get real on this issue.

I'm ALL FOR banning assault weapons of ANY KIND! Register and make illegal the purchase and ownership of such weapons of war. You own a grenade launcher? Tough shit. It's either going to get smashed with the rest of the AR 15's and M16s, or YOU FUCKING ARE ILLEGAL and subject to penalties.

Idiots spent their money on these monstrous weapons to terrorize our cities and towns with; now they can forfeit them. Ownership of vast quantities of ammo?....illegal. Ownership of more than a reasonable number (to be determined) is illegal. You can received the penalty for the crime if you are caught. Armor piercing ammo?...illegal. Clips with more than 10 rounds?...illegal. ALL this bull shit is making this country the shooting barrel for the NRA profits and fun and games. It's time to end this insane game of cat and mouse. Fuck the NRA, and fuck everyone of these corrupt politicians that have taken a dime from them and are too chicken shit to stand up to their interests.

Our country is in the toilet on this...and it's time to throw a life line to get us out. No simple "background check" is going to remedy the nightmare we live in today. Drastic action is required, and playing the game with the NRA and these sons of bitches in Congress is a total waste of time...while WE are sitting ducks and "fish in a barrel" for these monsters with arsenals the size of third world countries.

[3catwoman3]

37. Veery well and passionately stated.

No one, no one, no one, but NO ONE needs these kinds of weapons. If you enjoy shooting one, go to a shooting range and rent a session.

[scarletwoman]

53. Huzzah! I'm with you!

Great post - thank you!

[Blecht]

25. Any member of Congress who takes blood money from the NRA needs to see what they are responsible for

They should go through what you had to go through.

[ChazInAz]

26. Thank you, sir.

[PatentlyDemocratic]

27. Thank you

Sorry you had to endure that experience. Glad you made it back and that you are supporting policies to improve our safety. Very much appreciated.

[bronxiteforever]

28. When the hell is enough enough. Word. K & R

[pandr32]

29. Your story means a lot--thank you

And I agree that all those Republicans in Congress should be forced to view pictures of innocent gun violence victims until they grow a spine.

[smirkymonkey]

30. K&R for exposure.

Thank you for sharing that.

[redstatebluegirl]

31. K&R

[calimary]

32. Don't apologize for this post. It is magnificent in its tragedy and horror and outrage.

We need to hear MORE of this. Everything IS so sanitized. You are so spot-on about that! NOBODY gets it. Some of us do get it, though,thanks in part for testimonials like yours and also probably to just good ol' fashioned horse sense about what's basically right and basically wrong. About being rational instead of paranoid.

Remember Crosby Stills Nash & Young's singing about "Find the Cost of Freedom"? Back during the Vietnam War era (1971).

Makes me think back to Kent State. "Four Dead in Ohio" (another opus by CSN&Y) - during an on-campus anti-war rally that went horribly wrong. That shook a lot of people awake, back then. Those of us who were trying to avoid the draft or fighting against it or trying to stop the war - we suddenly realized that we didn't have to GO to war to see real-life battle carnage. It was right there in front of us, at the wrong end of the National Guard. Four kids, shot and killed. And shit - with the death toll in any of these latter-day domestic massacres, it's horrifying and soul-searing to think that we got off easy back then, by comparison.

[dchill]

69. I agree with all you say. +1000

[heaven05]

34. this nt

[dchill]

35. A truly magnificent post. It is a valuable insight...

into the reality of the TRUE EFFECT of the astonishingly "liberal" interpretation of the 2nd Amendment. No well-regulated militia required. Thank you for your service, and your willingness to relate your experiences.

[gay texan]

36. My dad was there 67-68

Before Vietnam he was an avid hunter, afterwards he wanted nothing to do with guns.

Dad still won't tell us much about what happened, but the nightmares and the diseases from agent Orange remain.

I am honestly surprised you can talk about It at all.

[leanforward]

55. Nightmares.

A retired LEO told me about 1st responders on scene at Sandy Hook don't talk about it without nightmares later. They don't want to bring up the memories.

[Raster]

39. Thank you for sharing...

...peace to you.

[packman]

40. Bless you - Memories such as those are nightmares

As previously stated - We are given numbers, short videos of grief, sad faces, but no reality of what happens to a body (be it young or old) subjected to that evil.
Make those politicians walk into a bloodstained classroom, make those NRA'ers do so also .

[Plucketeer]

41. Sanitized indeed!

Just as W blocked us from seeing the hamburger being brought back from the war on terror. We surely weren't up to seeing the physical, visual evidence of just what price said warring was costing us! People get a belly-full of stuff like that and WHO KNOWS how the military industrial bilking would keep itself afloat?

Of course, the corporate media isn't gonna let us see what the crime scenes look like! They'd lose MIC advertizing revenues BIG TIME! Maybe it's time for internet news outlets to start letting us see the aftermath - without any cleanup - of these atrocities. Watching the big league "news" sources just sanitizes the gut-grabbing reality of the carnage. The shooting and the victim counts are just numbers - not numbing, as they should be. Show photos of "before and after" of each victim in recent shootings - the "after" photos, not as them cleaned up and lying in a satin coffin. No, show us them lying in the twisted lump they became while their blood soaked their clothes. It will be anything BUT undignified for them to be seen as their life oozed out of them. WE as a society, are responsible for their fates by pretending that tools of death do more good than harm. Don't give me that shit about them "going to a better place! Dead is dead. Try it sometime if you doubt it. WWJD if he'd been "packin'"?

[lastlib]

42. "We are NOT going to change the GOP mind on this issue."

So we HAVE to change the GOPee! Throw EVERY. SINGLE. ONE. of the f&uckers OUT!!

[Ligyron]

43. Yup, unless you see it for yourself, death by bullet is almost an abstract concept.

It's just like some TV show, whereas in real life it is a mess especially when they got hit in the face. Something about displaced facial features really sticks with you.

[Ilsa]

46. Pictures of the carnage should be required viewing for

Anyone in Congress who opposes gun control measures. They need to see the damage and try to sleep on it.

I am so sorry this happened to you. I can't begin to imagine it. And it was wrong for them to make you perform that horrible duty.

[Docreed2003]

47. Thank you for sharing your story

To share that type of visceral pain took a lot of strength, and I’m thankful for that and your message is spot on. One cannot appreciate the horrors of war and weapons of war without seeing it first hand. It certainly isn’t some glorious death like John Wayne in “Sands of Iwo Jima”

[TheMastersNemesis]

48. FOR THE RECORD. I Really Have Never Been Haunted By This Experience In A Serious Way.

For some reason even though I feel very sad about my experience and have never suffered any PTSD from it really. The fact that I have been able to talk about it and be open about it has helped greatly. Of course I spare the gory details except for now. Bottling something up like vets tend to do is quite harmful. Vets should be able to talk about these experiences. Holding them in and feeling guilty really makes their mental situation worse.

Younger people need to know the reality of war. There is nothing John Wayne about any of it.

So I must let you all know that I am ok. If anything I am angry that the casualties are being hidden. The public needs to be woken up even if it is brutal. It is the only way to turn the public against the GOP, NRA, RW pundits et al. THEY MUST BE PUNISHED IN SOME WAY. They are dishonoring these dead souls. And it should be unacceptable. Anger toward these people is justified.

If it were my child I would be going ballistic at them.

[Gabi Hayes]

61. My father was hit by a Nazi grenade in Belgium, just before Bastogne...over a year in hospital.

He told me some stories when I was a kid......

Glad I was too young to appreciate what he went through.

Last week has brought back memories, and made me think again about how he suffered, as well as the MILLIONS who died because the world watched Hitler turn from a loud mouthed laughingstock into........

I think I’m making my point

Is there the time, the will to keep from reliving another Santayana tragedy?

The children of Parkland......Godspeed

Can’t do this anymore

Thanks for the (inadequate descriptor follows)............contribution.

[Initech]

49. I'm to the point where I consider these mass shootings acts of war.

And they are acts of war. When you have Fox News egging on the politicians to create even looser gun laws and far-right fringe sites like Infowars calling these attacks "false flags" and intensifying the paranoia each time about how the "loony left is coming to take our guns away!!!1!", we have a serious problem on our hands. And when the death toll gets worse and the instruments used get worse, and politicians do NOTHING to change the laws and make things worse, that to me, is an act of war.

[randr]

50. It is important for those of us who never experienced this nightmare

to hear your story. It is equally important for us to hold these images in our minds as each and everyday the same scenes are recreated; many of the bodies being women and children. The body count has increased to horrific levels since the lsos has taken over and increased use of drone warfare. This is carnage and blood on our collective hands.
We must inform ourselves of the suffering that war brings to the human family and commit our lives to ending the madness.
Thank you so much for sharing and for your bravery and courage!

[pangaia]

51. "...these people are casualties of war waged by the GOP and NRA."

That is the truth !!

[leanforward]

54. No, you're not being combative

You're stating a life's experience. Those kids experienced the same thing you did.

I left country in September 1967. I missed tet.

May I serve you a cup of coffee, sir? Not from the field mess hall.

[TheMastersNemesis]

56. As I Have Stated It Before I Fortunately Was Made Mail Clerk Then Company Clerk.

The Company clerks did travel near the troops on larger LZ's. I was on a fire base called Stud on the other side of the mountains from Khe Sahn. Stud was a supply and support base for Operation Pegasus. That operation was launched to break the NVA siege. It was very costly.

Being shelled the same day I did ID duty made it a pretty bad day. One artillery round fell within 59 yards of where I was in a bunker that had not been covered yet.

Thank God my 1st Sergeant sent me back to An Khe within a day or two. Was more than happy to leave. Still not sure why I was there.

[leanforward]

57. Never thought I'd communicate directly.

I was with the 1st ID. First, I never had to experience what you encountered as the mail clerk/company clerk. I use to read casualty reports for my units for casualties for replacement troops. We encountered sniper fire on occasion.

At the time, I was aware that Company Clerks went out with the unit on operations. Likewise, like all of us there, we were prepared for charlie.

What you encountered makes my time like Boy Scout camp.

Sir, at some point in time I would like to drink a "33" beer with you.

[TheMastersNemesis]

59. I Never Really Went Out On Operations. But We Were Sometimes Nearby. For Example.

I am not sure where the other clerks were but assume they were with their companies on a firebase. I was on a beach north of Da Nang for a while. I convoyed to LZ Stud past Dong Ha and then was on that LZ for several days during the beginning of operation Pegasus. I was near An Khe 1st Cav base while they were being relocated to I Corp. I was on a multiple brigade fire base called Jane for around 3 months. All the company clerks were there and we all worked in the same tent. And the last month in Nam I was at a base called our division base Camp Evans until I left for the US. November 68 the Cav was sent to Tay Nihn Province.

Of course if you ended up on a small base and it was attacked you became infantry. We always had our weapon and ammo on us.

[FarCenter]

58. Deadly bomb attacks in Afghanistan leave street cleaners with a gruesome task

KABUL — When Yar Mohammad Mohammadi joined the municipal street cleaning crew here over a decade ago, he was expecting some unpleasant tasks. But nothing prepared him for the grim debris he encountered after a bloody bombing in central Kabul last month.

“We found hands, feet — even a head,” recalled Mohammadi, 40. “I couldn’t eat for the next two days. I was horrified.”

For the cleaners, clearing away and carting off body parts has become a grisly but routine chore in the Afghan capital, where suicide bombings and commando attacks by extremist insurgents take place almost every month. The United Nations on Thursday reported that more than 3,400 civilians were killed in the country in 2017, many in attacks targeting public places.

...

But it is the psychological pressure of cleaning bomb blast sites that weighs most heavily. Powerful explosions can tear human bodies into unrecognizable pieces. Even after police and health workers have carried wounded victims to hospitals and corpses to morgues, bits of flesh and bone often remain behind.

The cleaners wash bloodstains and collect body parts in plastic bags or carts. Later, out of respect, they bury them in the nearest cemetery; some end up in one grave with no marker.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/it-shatters-our-spirits-deadly-bomb-attacks-in-afghanistan-leave-street-cleaners-with-a-gruesome-task/2018/02/17/470ff0fc-0da1-11e8-998c-96deb18cca19_story.html

[TheMastersNemesis]

60. Hiding The Victims & The Families Allows The Carnage To Continue.

It is more than a coincidence that the victims and their families disappear almost instantly. The excuse is to protect the public. But is has another purpose in that is sanitizes the real brutality. It helps the pro gun lobby. Some of the carnage should be shown and more should be spend on covering the funerals and interviewing willing members of victim's families.

[BigmanPigman]

62. I heard that the little 6 year old bodies in the one Sandy Hook

classroom where a lot of kids were killed looked like what you described. Body and bone and tissue bits all over the place. This is why men come back from war and never, ever want to talk about what they see. People, particularly men since 99% of violence by guns is done by men, should have to see what they are capable of doing and what they actually do do for blood money. I was a first grade teacher during Sandy Hook and for three weeks before I had to return to work after Winter Vacation and Sandy Hook all I could do was think about how I would defend my 6 year olds. My classroom doors only locked from the OUTSIDE so I envisioned getting the fire extinguisher and hitting a shooter over the head with it after I sprayed him. Then I would get the jump rope and tie him up while the kids would run. Little kids can run really fast and they can cut sharp turns easily. That was my plan. Nice, huh?

[tirebiter]

63. Once I was

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[PatrickforO]

66. I'm not sorry you're combative at all. I'm sorry our party is not generally so.

Those kids now marching, organizing marches and working to force action HAVE that combativeness we all see our party needs.

You know, when that welfare rancher Cliven Bundy illegally took over that federal land, and then those right wing-gun-nut 'militia' showed up with their machine guns, took high ground and started throwing their weight around, asking residents for their 'papers,' it turned my stomach.

I knew two of the parents of students killed at Columbine. I know someone who was in the Aurora theater massacre.

I'm with you. We don't need that crap. Nobody needs these military style assault weapons, and someone who has been flagged numerous times by law enforcement should NEVER be able to buy a gun.

We HAVE a well-ordered militia. It is called the National Guard.

I'm sorry for your horrible memories. Seems like the crazies who sent all those people to Vietnam were mostly in it for profits, the same as these NRA lizards and the weapons manufacturers they represent are. They want to enrich the few at the expense of the many, but the price of their freedom can no longer be the blood of our children and grandchildren.

It's enough.

We are marching with the kids.

[Hekate]

67. TMN...

Thank you for saying this.

[hunter]

68. My brother's godson saw similar in Iraq.

It messed him up.

I think PTSD is like sunburn. Some burn easily, some don't. It has nothing to do with how "strong" you are, it's just a genetic lottery.

[TheMastersNemesis]

70. Fortunately I Am Ok And Have Been For 50 Years. Have Never Lost Sleep Over It.

Sorry about your brother's godson. Every one reacts differently.

[Honeycombe8]

71. I think photos should be taken and shown on tv. And the politicians have to have a special screening

Attendance mandatory or they face a severe fine.

[ehrnst]

72. One of the Sandy Hook parents had an open casket service for their child

They invited their representative to look at the body, which had no jaw left.

If the Right wingers think that 1000x magnified, questionably sourced photos of dismenbered fetuses, I think that photos and descriptions of the fatalities of school shootings might be worth sharing with them.