Read Online Odysseus in America by Jonathan Shay - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Jonathan Shay
Ads: Link
about something that no one has an easy answer to. There are many encouraging developments in todayâs U.S. military services in the form of alcohol awareness, the availability of treatment for alcoholism, reduction of the semiofficial practice of using alcohol as a reward for a unitâs doing well at some challenge, considerable institutional discouragement of drunkennessâall of these may result in a future veteran population less inclined to alcoholism. What about the major role I advocated in the last chapter for unit associations in easing the transition back into civilian life? Were not American Legion and VFW posts mostly cut-rate bars and drinking clubs? I shall not address this prejudicial stereotype of these mass membership veterans service organizations, but rather describe my personal experience with one unit association with which I had a brief, but informative, contact.
In 1996, Lieutenant General John H. Cushman, U.S. Army, retired, invited me to attend the reunion of the 101st Airborne Division Association at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, after reading
Achilles in Vietnam.
He had commanded the 2d Brigade of the 101st in Vietnam, and had subsequently commanded the whole division. At the time of this invitation he was president of the 2d Brigade Association, which appeared to nest comfortably inside the larger 101st Airborne Division Association. I went with expectations based on the unexamined stereotypes of boozy, loud, and argumentative local VFW posts. When I arrived, somewhat late because of the vagaries of air travel, the banquet was already in progress in the Enlisted Menâs Club. On a large-screen closed-circuit TV another event was in progress, a full-dress affair at the Officersâ Club, which few seemed to be watching. What impressed me were the comfortable hum of conversationand an almost palpable atmosphere of mutual love. Yes, there were pitchers of beer on the tables, but the noise level was so quiet that I doubt that much of the beer had been consumed. People shout when theyâre drunk, in part because they themselves are somewhat deafened from the neurological effects of alcohol.
I found General Cushman among enlisted veterans from his brigade. He took me over to one of his aviation company commanders, who immediately wanted me to know about a former trooper who had been having a rough time with his memories and with alcohol. The local chapter of the 101st Airborne Association had recovered contact with him after many years of not knowing where he was or how he was doing. They had drawn him into their circle and persuaded him to join Alcoholics Anonymous, and were immensely proud of their continued ability to be a âBand of Brothers.â Unit associations appear more capable of fostering this sense of mutual support and obligation than the mass-oriented veterans service organizations.
There are many other military unit associationsâlarge, such as the First Marine Division Association, and small, comprising former members of a single company or even platoon. Prior to the twentieth century, each American military unit was raised from a specific geographic area, and usually bore the name of the place it was raised. This resulted almost automatically in every local veterans association, both formal and informal, being a unit association. The spectacular political power of the main mass membership veterans association in the nineteenth century, the Grand Army of the Republic, has obscured this history. The GAR was accused of raiding the U.S. Treasury for Civil War veteransâ pensions.
Today, because of a conscious policy of both promoting national unity and protecting any single town from being bereaved of a whole generation of its young men, every unit is made up of recruits from anywhere in the country. However, modern technology, starting with the telephone, and now with the Internet, permits scattered veterans to form and maintain unit associations that are
In 1996, Lieutenant General John H. Cushman, U.S. Army, retired, invited me to attend the reunion of the 101st Airborne Division Association at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, after reading
Achilles in Vietnam.
He had commanded the 2d Brigade of the 101st in Vietnam, and had subsequently commanded the whole division. At the time of this invitation he was president of the 2d Brigade Association, which appeared to nest comfortably inside the larger 101st Airborne Division Association. I went with expectations based on the unexamined stereotypes of boozy, loud, and argumentative local VFW posts. When I arrived, somewhat late because of the vagaries of air travel, the banquet was already in progress in the Enlisted Menâs Club. On a large-screen closed-circuit TV another event was in progress, a full-dress affair at the Officersâ Club, which few seemed to be watching. What impressed me were the comfortable hum of conversationand an almost palpable atmosphere of mutual love. Yes, there were pitchers of beer on the tables, but the noise level was so quiet that I doubt that much of the beer had been consumed. People shout when theyâre drunk, in part because they themselves are somewhat deafened from the neurological effects of alcohol.
I found General Cushman among enlisted veterans from his brigade. He took me over to one of his aviation company commanders, who immediately wanted me to know about a former trooper who had been having a rough time with his memories and with alcohol. The local chapter of the 101st Airborne Association had recovered contact with him after many years of not knowing where he was or how he was doing. They had drawn him into their circle and persuaded him to join Alcoholics Anonymous, and were immensely proud of their continued ability to be a âBand of Brothers.â Unit associations appear more capable of fostering this sense of mutual support and obligation than the mass-oriented veterans service organizations.
There are many other military unit associationsâlarge, such as the First Marine Division Association, and small, comprising former members of a single company or even platoon. Prior to the twentieth century, each American military unit was raised from a specific geographic area, and usually bore the name of the place it was raised. This resulted almost automatically in every local veterans association, both formal and informal, being a unit association. The spectacular political power of the main mass membership veterans association in the nineteenth century, the Grand Army of the Republic, has obscured this history. The GAR was accused of raiding the U.S. Treasury for Civil War veteransâ pensions.
Today, because of a conscious policy of both promoting national unity and protecting any single town from being bereaved of a whole generation of its young men, every unit is made up of recruits from anywhere in the country. However, modern technology, starting with the telephone, and now with the Internet, permits scattered veterans to form and maintain unit associations that are
Similar Books
