Kellie Pickler is in Afghanistan for Christmas, again.\u00a0 This is her seventh USO tour.\u00a0 It is quite clear that Kellie Pickler is a very special person.\u00a0 So I have decided to award her the \u201cGolden Pickler Award.\u201d\u00a0 <\/b>God Bless Kellie Pickler.\u00a0 We need more like her.<\/p>\n
Kellie Pickle reminded me of another singer.\u00a0 It was Christmas Day, 1969, Pleiku AB.\u00a0 My day started, just like any other day, with a 0400 takeoff on a combat mission. It ended with a rocket attack.\u00a0 \u00a0It wasn\u2019t a particularly good day.\u00a0 But that night, in a crowded club full of enlisted men, I witnessed a miracle.\u00a0 There was a female singer from Australia.\u00a0 She had entertained for the troops in World War II, so she looked pretty old to us.\u00a0 We weren\u2019t expecting much.\u00a0 Then she started singing the same songs she had performed so many years before.\u00a0 The room fell into hushed silence.\u00a0\u00a0 By the time she was done there wasn\u2019t a dry eye in the room.\u00a0 Her voice was incredible, but it was a lot more than that.\u00a0 Every man in that room would have preferred to be somewhere else.\u00a0 \u00a0The most popular song in that club on any other night was \u201cI Wanna Go Home.\u201d<\/b>\u00a0 We felt more than a little abandoned by the American people.\u00a0 By singing those old songs this woman reminded of us a time when troops actually were supported back home.\u00a0 She reminded us of the way it was and the way it should have been.\u00a0 It touched my soul.<\/p>\n
This was the year of Woodstock.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know what Woodstock meant to you, but to me it was about a million people, stoned on sex, drugs and alcohol having a great time bad mouthing those of us fighting for them in Vietnam.\u00a0 The World War II vets got Bing Crosby singing \u201cWhite Christmas.\u201d<\/span><\/strong> \u00a0We got Country Joe McDonald and \u201cFeel Like I\u2019m Fixin To Die:\u201d<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Well come on all of you big strong men,\u00a0<\/i> And its 1,2,3 what are we fighting for? Well come on generals let’s move fast, And its 1,2,3 what are we fighting for? Well come on wall street don’t be slow, And its 1,2,3 what are we fighting for? Well come on mothers across the land, And its 1,2,3 what are we fighting for? <\/p>\n Our own generation had turned on us.\u00a0 At best, we were considered losers.\u00a0 At worse, war criminals. \u00a0The contrast with those songs from World War II could not have been starker.<\/p>\n When we did get home, it was even worse.\u00a0 World War II movies are about heroes and great battles.\u00a0 Vietnam movies are about drug crazed psychotic murderers. \u00a0\u00a0The heroes chosen by our generation were veterans of the anti-war movement like Bill Clinton and John Kerry. \u00a0They got it very wrong. \u00a0The real heroes of our generation have their names etched in Granite on the Vietnam Memorial Wall.<\/p>\n It has gotten better.\u00a0 At least the liberal left now blames everything on George Bush instead of the troops.\u00a0 In addition, even Vietnam Veterans are getting more recognition. It is no longer unusual for me to have someone thank me for my service.\u00a0 \u00a0When Vietnam veterans greet one another we often say: \u201cwelcome home\u201d<\/i><\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0<\/b>instead of \u00a0\u201cthank you for your service.\u201d<\/i><\/strong> Now you know why.<\/p>\n I now realize, after all those years, that the Australian woman singing for us in Pleiku understood all along. \u00a0I don’t even know her name, but I will always be grateful.<\/p>\n TDM<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Kellie Pickler is in Afghanistan for Christmas, again.\u00a0 This is her seventh USO tour.\u00a0 It is quite clear that Kellie Pickler is a very special person.\u00a0 So I have decided to award her the \u201cGolden Pickler Award.\u201d\u00a0 God Bless Kellie … Continue reading
\nUncle Sam needs your help again,
\nHe got himself in a terrible jam,
\nWay down yonder in Vietnam,
\nPut down your books and pick up a gun,
\nWe’re gonna have a whole lotta fun<\/p>\n
\nDon’t ask me I don’t give a damn,
\nThe next stop is Vietnam,
\nAnd its 5,6,7 open up the pearly gates,
\nWell there ain’t no time to wonder why,
\nWHOOPEE we’re all gonna die<\/p>\n
\nYour big chance is come at last,
\nGotta go out and get those reds,
\nThe only good commie is one that’s dead,
\nAnd you know that peace can only be won,
\nWhen you blow them all to kingdom come<\/p>\n
\nDon’t ask me I don’t give a damn,
\nThe next stop is Vietnam,
\nAnd its 5,6,7 open up the pearly gates,
\nWell there ain’t no time to wonder why,
\nWHOOPEE we’re all gonna die<\/p>\n
\nWhy man this is war go go go,
\nThere’s plenty good money to be made,
\nBy supplying the army with the tools of the trade,
\nJust hope and pray that if they drop the bomb
\nThey drop it on the Vietcong.<\/p>\n
\nDon’t ask me I don’t give a damn,
\nThe next stop is Vietnam,
\nAnd its 5,6,7 open up the pearly gates,
\nWell there ain’t no time to wonder why,
\nWHOOPEE we’re all gonna die<\/p>\n
\nPack your boys off to Vietnam,
\nCome on fathers don’t hesitate,
\nSend your sons off before its too late,
\nBe the first one on your block,
\nTo have your boy come home in a box<\/p>\n
\nDon’t ask me I don’t give a damn,
\nThe next stop is Vietnam,
\nAnd its 5,6,7 open up the pearly gates,
\nWell there ain’t no time to wonder why,
\nWHOOPEE we’re all gonna die<\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n