Army Blue
Page 44
“And the other part of you?” Cathy Joice asked.
“The other part of me knows differently. Something happened out here that no one wanted to see come to light, and my son saw it, and he suffered for having seen it. The verdict of that court-martial confirms this. It's a sad day. A damn sad day for our Army, and it's a damn sad day for our country and what we're supposed to be doing here.”
“General Blue, what is your reaction to what has happened?”
“I feel the same way my son feels. It's a damn sad day for this Army and this country. If this nation of ours has to become involved in the illicit traffic in narcotics in order to fight this war, then we're fighting on the wrong goddamned side. If they're sending our boys out on operations like Iron Fist One to protect this narcotics trade, then we don't deserve to win this war. This war is destroying our credibility in the world, and it's destroying our Army. What happened in this field of grass was criminal. This war is being fought as a criminal enterprise. And when my grandson was court-martialed, the truth about it came out. We have seen the truth told in the courtroom, but I wonder if we've learned enough to save ourselves, to end this war before it ends us.”
“Lieutenant Blue, what is your reaction to what your father and your grandfather have said?”
The camera found the Lieutenant's face. He was still looking at the ground.
“One of our guys killed another one of our guys right here,” said the Lieutenant. “Nothing will change that. Not ending the war. Nothing. Strosher died for no good reason at all.”
He looked up at Cathy Joice, and the sadness on his face was visible even behind the dark glasses.
“Ever since I was a little boy, I wanted to be an officer in the Army like my father and my grandfather. When I was growing up, my father and my grandfather were who I wanted to be. Their friends were my ideals. I wanted to be just like them.”
“And now?”
“Now I don't know if it's possible anymore. After what happened . . .” His voice trailed off, and he looked down at the ground.
“After what happened here, I just don't know. I mean, I stood up and called out to them and they turned and shot Strosher dead, right at my feet. Who would have thought? Americans smuggling drugs to fight this war? Americans killing other Americans? Jesus. They just killed him, then they tried to cover it up. It's too much.”
He shuffled his feet in the grass and looked away and took a few steps and then spoke again, quietly, off camera.
“He's dead. Strosher's dead for no good reason at all. That's what's happened to the Army. And that's all I know. Every day they send guys out here. Every day, guys are dying out here. And it should never happen again.”
Cathy Joice turned to her cameraman and said, “Cut.” He dropped the 16mm camera to his side. She watched as Lieutenant Blue and Colonel Blue and General Blue walked together across the grassy clearing in Laos, heading toward the woodline where the Lieutenant had hidden with his men that night.
“What's going to happen now, Dad?” the Lieutenant asked.
“I don't know, son. I just don't know.” He wrapped his arm around his son's shoulders and hugged him to his side as they walked.
“I did the right thing, didn't I? I mean, what else could I have done?” The Lieutenant stopped and looked at his father and his grandfather imploringly.
“You did the right thing, son,” said the Colonel.
“You're goddamned right you did the right thing, boy,” said the General. “And you don't need the verdict of that goddamned court-martial to certify your actions as honorable.”
“Then why did it have to turn out this way? Why did Strosher have to die? Why did they have to court-martial me? Why, Dad? Why?”
His father stopped walking and turned to look across the grassy strip of Laotian wilderness. Then he turned and looked at his son and his father.
“Some men might say, and you might hear, that what happened in this field was the fortunes of war, that in a war zone the rules are different, that men behave differently in combat from the way they do in life. But that's wrong. The rules are the same. A man's a man, no matter where he is. A soldier's a soldier, in peacetime or in war. You can't forget that, son. We've forgotten that here in Vietnam. That's why we've lost this war. We've told so many lies for so many years, to ourselves and to each other, that it took a general from the enemy to march into the room in order for the court-martial to hear the truth.”
The Colonel paused for a moment, then he turned to his father and said, “How about you, Dad? What do you think?”
The General spat in the dirt at his feet and squinted into the distance, into the sun. Then he looked at the Colonel and the Lieutenant.
“What I think is, I'm pretty goddamned lucky to have the son and the grandson I have. Pretty damn lucky, and just proud as hell. A man couldn't ask for better troops than those I see standing here in this field right now. You wonder what's going to happen? Well, you don't have a worry in the world, boy. You stood up for what you knew was right. You're a Blue, goddammit. And you're a soldier. That's all you'll ever need.”
All rights reserved, including without limitation the right to reproduce this ebook or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 1989 by Lucian K. Truscott IV
ISBN: 978-1-4976-6349-7
This edition published in 2014 by Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.
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