Golis: Keeping our promise to veterans

After a long flight from Southeast Asia, soldiers wounded in Vietnam are being transported to a military hospital in San Francisco. The bus carries men in litters stacked in three-high bunks. As the vehicle approaches the hospital, it is surrounded by war protesters who begin to rock the bus back and forth.

One of the wounded soldiers recalls peeking out the window from his top bunk: “So this bus was rocking - and I couldn’t walk at the time; I couldn’t stand. And I’m looking out the window, and these guys are pushing and yelling and rocking, and I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, I’ve made it all the way back, only to be a casualty of a bus rollover.’?”

The soldier’s name was (and is) Mike Thompson. Since 1999, he has represented these parts in the U.S. House of Representatives, and along the way, he has become a champion for the rights of veterans.

Thompson told this story a few days after Congress marked the 50th anniversary of the start of the Vietnam War. He used the occasion to talk about the importance of honoring and respecting the people who serve in the military, even if we disagree with the political decision to go to war.

One wonders if people born after Vietnam can comprehend the bitter divisions of that time. A friend told me he once walked down the street in his military uniform and a woman spat on him.

It never made sense to blame a 19-year-old barely out of high school for a political decision to go to war, but it happened because common sense was among the first casualties of the Vietnam War.

When it comes to separating the warrior from the war, we’ve learned our lesson, it seems.

And yet - veterans’ services continue to suffer from mismanagement and from budgets inadequate to the task.

It only takes a few moments to recognize service men and women at a sporting event. But it takes a lifetime of leadership, commitment and money to fulfill the promises made to them.

“We’ll be working to make this better for the rest of our lives,” said Thompson, who is now co-chair (and co-founder) of the Veterans Military Caucus in Congress.

During an “Evening with Congressman Mike Thompson,” sponsored by the Historical Society of Santa Rosa, the congressman talked about visiting with service men and women who suffered often disabling injuries.

“The (Department of Veterans Affairs) is already underfunded,” he said, “We need doctors. We need nurses. We need facilities. And it’s only going to get more expensive.”

If the July 8 anniversary of the Vietnam War passed with little fanfare, perhaps it’s because even identifying an anniversary date becomes an exercise in choosing a signpost in the murky buildup to the war. Congress timed its ceremony to the arrival of the first combat troops.

Now, 50-plus years later, we have Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump telling us that Arizona Sen. John McCain is no hero.

All McCain did was risk his life for his country. As a Navy fighter pilot, he was shot down over North Vietnam and then spent the next five years in prison, where he was starved and tortured.

As many of his generation did, Trump managed to avoid serving in Vietnam. He used his military deferments to make money and enjoy the good life in New York City. “He was fond of fancy dinners, beautiful women and outrageous clubs,” the Washington Post reported.

We could wish Trump would have the good sense to be more grateful and humble about his good fortune.

More than 58,000 young Americans were killed in Vietnam. It was a war that divided generations and left Americans distrustful of their government. The cynicism of our times began with Vietnam.

Years later, Thompson would return to Vietnam as part of a U.S. delegation and attend a ceremony in front of the presidential palace in Hanoi, not far from the house where Ho Chi Minh directed the North Vietnamese war effort. For anyone who remembers the bitterness of 50 years ago, it’s astonishing to consider that the ceremony began with a Vietnamese military band playing the Star Spangled Banner.

Congress last week approved a stopgap highway bill - yes, a highway bill - that included $3.4 billion to cover a shortfall caused by the rapid run up in demand for medical services for veterans. Without the money, VA officials said, they would be obliged to close hospitals.

In Washington, some blame mismanagement for failures at the Department of Veterans Affairs, and some blame Congress’ failure to provide adequate funding. A person not immersed in the partisanship inside the Beltway would conclude there’s enough blame to go around.

What’s not in doubt is that the Obama administration and Congress - together - need to fix this.

It may not be the same as rocking a bus full of wounded veterans during a Vietnam War protest, but Washington’s failure to provide for the men and women who fight our wars becomes it own demonstration of disrespect and ingratitude.

Pete Golis is a columnist for The Press Democrat. Email him at golispd@gmail.com.