For one, who thinks about making a new entry in his blog a lot more often that he actually does, I guess it is most appropriate to make an entry on my 65th birthday. I have also been mildly embarrassed into being more diligent to make entries by persons, who make references to previous entries in the course of casual conversation. It is as if they want me to know that they have read the existing entries and would like to see some fresh stuff. Although, they are too polite to come right out and say that. Well, that is what I assume they mean. Maybe the unspoken second half really is "enough already." I'm going with the positive affirmation and will try to provide folks with what they desire or with simply more of the same.

My daughter shared with me her copy of Jon Krakauer's book "Where Men Win Glory" (the Pat Tillman story) with the instruction that I ought to read it. We both appreciate the works of Jon K. He writes these meticulously researched works, where he establishes a case for an alternative narrative. It is as if he takes an event of which there is considerable common knowledge and plumbs its depths bringing to light an intriguingly fascinating set of details, which never see the light of day in the popular press. The Pat Tillman story is one such example, where everyone knows about the professional football player turned Army Ranger post 9/11 killed by friendly fire in Afghanistan. Ah, but that is just the tip of the iceberg seen on the distant horizon. Previously I have read "Into the Wild" and "Into Thin Air". This afternoon I picked up "In the Land of White Death" at our local library. There are two more "Eiger Dreams" and "Under the Banner of Heaven." I will look for "Eiger Dreams" as a future read, but I think I will take a pass on "Under the Banner of Heaven."

But let's turn back to "Where Men Win Glory." It is a tough read. Having served in the US Army as a conscientious objector with a tour of duty in Vietnam 1970 - 1971, when morale in the service was reportedly at its lowest, I was expected a much different accounting of the military experience in 2003 and 2004. With an all volunteer force as distinct from draftees filling the ranks during a very unpopular war and more than two decades for the powers-that-be to make the transition, I expected at least a more professional approach.

The real story in this book is the administration's blatant self-serving use of Pat's enlistment and his tragic death for personal and political gain with almost total disregard for the clearly evident facts, any sense of moral integrity, and one's responsibility to the law. Many of the participants had freely accepted the last of that list as their solemn duty attested to by a sworn oath. The author draws a clear parallel between the Pat Tillman story and the prosecution of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, which is only a further indictment of the alleged War on Terror, from the perspectives of both purpose and execution.


How does this relate to turning 65? Forty years ago today, I was spending my 25th birthday working as a lab tech at the 3rd Surgical Hospital, Can Tho, Vietnam. If anything, I was hopeful that the geopolitical world would be a different place forty years into the future. Now that I am in this place forty years into that future with a detailed portrayal of a substantive piece of the contemporary American experience provided by J. Krakauer, I don't see the change that I hoped for and I question what I have been doing for forty years that the current situation is much as it was then.

You know what I think Pat Tillman might say? "It was a helluva situation; it still is a helluva situation. But did you make an honest effort to be a decent human being in face of that?"

In addition to "In The Land of White Death," I also picked up Noam Chomsky's book "Hegemony or Survival" (subtitle: "America's Quest for Global Dominance") this afternoon. I am sure Pat would approve.

I am also heartened by what appears to be another velvet revolution; this time it is Tunisia's opportunity.