#vietnam vet

[esonetwork]

'Back To The Dirt' Book Review By Ron Fortier

New Post has been published on https://esonetwork.com/back-to-the-dirt-book-review-by-ron-fortier/

'Back To The Dirt' Book Review By Ron Fortier

BACK TO THE DIRT By Frank Bill FSG Originals 307 pgs

In his afterword, author Frank Bill tells us his father served in Vietnam from December of 1967 to Jan of 1969 as a Marine. We mention this reviewer was in-country between the summer of 67 and summer of 68. We were one of thousands of American that served there. For reasons we won’t get into, we generally don’t read books involving that war. Why we opted to look at this one was the slant it employed dealing primarily with the lasting affects of that conflict on the book’s protagonist thirty years later.

Miles Knox is a pragmatic middle aged veteran working a tough, dirty factory job. Since his days his Vietnam, his life has been filled with drugs, booze and merely finding a way to get by day by day. Eventually, he becomes involved with a beautiful young stripper working at a local men’s club. Though young enough to be his daughter, Shelby has suffered own hardship being abandoned by the mother and raised by an abusive father who is also a vet, but one totally twisted by his combat experience. Somehow Miles and Shelby find mutual solace together.

When her younger brother, Wylie, while strung out on drugs, murders his suppliers, a young married couple, all hell breaks loose. The couple’s young son, Shadrack, escapes and flees to the safety of his uncle, Nathaniel Timberlake, a former police officer. Enraged by the death of his brother and sister-in-law, Nathaniel, with the boy in tow, sets out to find Wylie and deliver his own vengeful justice. At the same time, Miles can’t find Shelby and becomes worried something bad has befallen her.

As the night wears on, both he and Nathaniel’s paths crisscross. When they finally meet and join forces, the true horror of what they uncover far surpasses even their worst imaginings.

Frank Bill is a terrific writer with so much courage and integrity he portrays the fragility of life with all its blessings and curses. His sensitivity is palpable in his characters and by then story’s conclusion, one is left emotional spent. “Back to the Dirt” is a brilliant work of reality…disguised as fiction. Don’t miss it.

[icarusredwings]

Thinking about them watching a 'Nam documentary and Wade keeps pointing out guys like "Do you know him?"

"No."

"What about him?"

"No wade."

"Oh! What about that guy? He looks important."

Until eventually Logan DOES recognize someone and perks up like an adopted senior dog seeing it's past owner.

"Oh.. Oh my god.. That's fucking Boot!"

Wade gets excited and is like "Yeah!! Boot- wait whos boot? Tell me about Boot you old beautiful beast of a man."

He starts talking about this bunkie he had while Wades kicking his feet and litsening bc no duh he loves hearing these weird stories and suddenly he stops and is like "Holy shit- that's ME" and sure enough on the screen is Boot and Logan in the back of a truck, reloading a very large gun.

"Why's he called boot?"

"Because he was an amputee so he only ever needed one boot."

"That's.. really sad actually."

"It was hilarious at the time... Anyway.. dosn't matter. He's probably super dead by now anyway."

Afterwards, seeing how bummed out this made him, Wade uses that big brain of his and his annoying mouth to actually FIND Boot (Whos real name is Carl) and as a suprise takes Logan to a nursing home to see a really old Boot.

As great as the gesture is and how happy Logan was for those first couple of days, It soon dawns on Wade that Oh shit... Boots going to die eventually and its going to break Logans heart. What has he done? So now hes emotionally conflicted because yes, Logan was ecstatic to see him but Logan isn't dumb. The mans 83 for god sake.

To be continued..

[iscariotapologist]

i will say one thing that frustrated me when i tried out that church yesterday was that they made a deal out of veterans day and had them all come up front and say what they did and the priest said something like "we couldn't be doing what we do today if you hadn't done what you did then" and like i fail to see how some bastard killing people from missile control in missouri 40 years ago or ruining vietnam 60 years ago or what the fuck ever is currently having any effect whatsoever on us going to church (because it's not). and this on the day we were all shitting our pants over republicans controlling the government again like do we actually have a moral backbone concerning the united states of america or only when they're being obvious about their evil war machine woman hating agenda. rhetorical question i would never expect a white as snow episcopalian congregation with an average age circa 75 to be anything but bland ass liberal but cmon

[lesbianshepard]

removing the username bc I think they might just be a kid, but it's kind of funny that this person points out a very common phrase used in media that deals with trauma and then goes "how have I never seen this outside of minecraft youtubers" Like, bestie, I think it's because you only consume minecraft youtuber videos.

[finalgirlsamwinchester]

was meaning to write a serious and thoughtful meta on this shot as the show's first use of metatextual framing (a story within a story) linking its premise to the war movie as a genre (the show as a fascist gothic work) but yknow what. scratch all of that lmao. the only thought that matters is: the moment you really start thinking about the show as a reactionary post 9/11 power fantasy, you can't stop.

[trashbag-baby666]

Vietnam war vets au

me and @skyyguy have been cooking...

mota masterlist!

~~~~~~~~~~~~

•John enlists into the airfare as soon as he's old enough in 1963. Thing's had been stirring in Vietnam and John wanted the honor as to his late father who served in WWII.

•Gale enlists to get away from his dad. He ends up moving to Washington D.C. before he's deployed in 1965.

•Both see a great deal of just how disgusting and cruel the world can be. John's C-130 goes down over enemy territory and John's taken as a POW for two years.

•Gale ends up losing his leg from an enemy grenade in 1968 and he's shipped back to D.C.

•Luckily he has his grandfathers house he inherited waiting for him and his best friend Marge. Oh and his dog Nebula.

•John ends up in D.C. after a long time of drinking and not going back to Wisconsin after he's discharged. He feels disconnected from all reality. Half the time he can't tell whether he's back stateside or in a camp in some unheard part of the jungle.

•Unfortunately, for John he just becomes a statistic of displaced and homeless vet's returning.

•Gale finds a new purpose in the local homeless vet shelter. He volunteers there nearly everyday, he helps a lot in the kitchen. But he also takes delight in talking to the vet's there, though he doesn't do much talking.

•Consequently, that's how he meets John, quickly figuring him out to be one of their more challenging cases. John preferred the streets and Gale didn't like him on the streets. From the few times he had met and spoke with John he knew just how unpredictable this man's psyche is.

•It's after John causes a bit of a scene in the shelter that Gale takes him in like some lost puppy.

•John's pacing the communal area during lunch time, he's asking for some guy's to go play ball with him. The guys brush John off, he's known around already for his insistent pleas of people to come play ball with him. He shoves this guy, Gale sees and gets in the middle of the two.

•Much to John's surprise, Gale's up out of his chair and has John on the ground and pinned in moments.

•So, Gale offers John a place to stay when he feels himself really over coming in sympathy for the man. He has more than enough bedrooms and having some help around the house would be nice. He had Marge but she was busy with her own things too.

•Much to John's surprise, he likes it a lot at Gales. The house sits on top a hill at the end of a coldisack, they're the only ones in that specific spot too. The house is a nice two story white with black trimmed property. There was also a picket fence John could pace too.

•He felt a little off getting excited about that part.

~ taglist: @austeenbootler @coastiewife465 @executethyself35 @slowsweetlove

[yourmomlikesstarwars]

this edible AINT shi-

[slashthrashandcrash]

I'm having Thoughts about Daddy Johnson Sr. and I need to know concretely if he was a literal serial killer in the forest teaching his kid to follow in his footsteps or if he was a war vet who liked guerilla warfare a little too much and couldn't cope when he got back home

[hotvampireadjacent]

i don't know if hes reallyy expecting something from me but he should know better.I called my dad and he asked me to tell him happy memorial day and I said "ill be 6 feet under dead in the ground before I thank anyone for killing all the Vietnamese." I said I could come over and see him monday if he wanted but i'll be dead in the ground before i thank an american soldier for their service. My father included

[champagnemoon]

The way conservatives are pro-life is the same way they’re pro-veteran lmao a lot of mouth service on why baby’s should be here and why young men should serve but after they’re born or come back from wars with issues it’s radio silence on help and care

[phantom-of-the-keurig]

“are you saying you don’t care if people ship-”

Lemme stop you right there, I’m almost 27 years old. I’m almost $200K in student debt with at least another $100K to go. I have greying hair. I cannot sleep through the night without having to take a piss at least once. I have a mortgage and life insurance and retirement account. I’m married and face the horrors of adulthood on the daily.

So no, my dude, I don’t give a fuck who wants to fuck who or when or why or where if it’s legal and the FBI doesn’t give a fuck neither do I let me suffer under a capitalist society and rot away in peace smh I don’t have the capacity or time to give a single spare shit

“What about-”

NAH-AHH. Stop it. Don’t make me get the spray bottle.

Is someone being murdered? Is a crime being committed? Would a jury of your peers find the situation worthy of a guilty verdict? No? Fuck off.

[kaijuno]

Look at what Pops at my old job gave me 🥺

[100gayicons]

In September 1975, Sara Jane Moore attempted to assasination President Gerald Ford while he made a public appearance in in San Francisco. Oliver Sipple (Bill to his friends) was a member of the crowd and he saw Moore pull out a gun. Instinctively he grabbed her arm as she pulled the trigger on her gun. The bullet hit the pavement instead of the president.

Originally from Detroit, Sipple was an ex-marine who served 2 tours in Vietnam. After he was discharged, he returned to home. Sipple was Gay and felt he needed to hid his orientation in Detroit, so he moved to New York City. There he met Harvey Milk who would later become a symbol for Gay Rights.

By 1975, Sipple had migrated to San Francisco where he became active in the Gay Community, including campaigning for Harvey Milk. Although Sipple was Out in San Francisco, back home his family did not know he was Gay.

When Harvey Milk realized Sipple had saved the President, he thought this was an opportunity to champion Gay Rights. He felt Sipple’s orientation should be publicized. According to Wikipedia, Milk wanted to portray Sipple as a "gay hero" to help "break the stereotype of homosexuals [as] timid, weak and unheroic figures.”

Without consulting Sipple, Milk leaked the information to The Chronicle, a local newspaper. Soon, a columnist outed Sipple and his connection to Milk. It became national news.

Soon Sipple was inundated by reporters wanting to interviews him. His parents in Detroit were also besieged and locals hounded and teased them about their gay son.

Oliver became convinced he was outed due to anti-gay sentiment by the newspaper. He sued for invasion of privacy. The case dragging on for 5 years. He ultimately lost but the stress of his experience resulted in him drinking more heavily. He developed mental health issues, gained weight and needed a pacemaker. Sadly, Sipple died alone in his apartment at the age of 48, fifteen years after the incident.

[x22817]

Hekate is not a military dog. I am not former military. Everyone assumes we are military.

I dont mind it. People give us space. It means we are rocking the scary dog vibe with a calm, cool, and collected nature.

It takes a real veteran to tell we are certainly not associated with the military in any way.

[liesmyth]

What is wheel of time and should I start it tomorrow?

you SHOULD.

Wheel of Time is an epic fantasy series by the late Robert Jordan. It's epic in scope, in length, and in its insanely large cast of characters. It's fascinating. The worldbuilding is insane, but also familiar (partly because it relies on widespread fantasy tropes, partly because it made many of those tropes popular for many books published later). The characters are exasperating but deeply human; I love SO many of them and appreciate so many others. It's very Of Its Time in some regards, especially re: its handling of gender roles and sexuality, but it's also surprisingly progressive and queer in intent even when the execution falters, and I really appreciate a lot that it even tried to Go There, because it was Very formative for me as a young teen. It's also one of those books where you can see the author's kinks all over the place (both narrative and otherwise) and tbh? it's a bit cringe but lots of fun. Also it’s very well written; the plot is as Epic as epic fantasy gets but it’s really the character moments that make the reader invested in the story. I just love it a lot, ngl.

Fun fact: I am now today on tumblr dot com, blogging in english, because sometimes around age 15 even though I fucking hated english class in school I just couldn’t wait for the latest books to come out in my country so I had to become fluent enough to read a 700-pages novel by myself. THAT is the grip this series had on me.

Some things I am now into because of reading WoT starting at age eleven.

codependent magical bonds with loyalty kink thrown in (if you’re familiar with TLT, think necro/cav but usually f/m. Not always though :) )

femdom. both F/f and F/m varieties

Propesized Savior trying to kill their humanity to become a figure larger than history (before realizing that's bullshit)

what if monastic(ish) order of sole women but also we had sex about it

unfortunately. a lot of weird kinks. I will elaborate on request but it’s better if I don’t right off the bat.

no, I lied. It wasn’t unfortunate. I appreciate it when authors are brave enough to let the banner of their id fly high

ruined civilizations and newer, less advanced civilizations rising from the wreckage. the collective understanding that you live in a post-apocalypse world. old scientific principles becoming magic

confronting your alternate dimension self, as a treat

dream sex

devil-may-care rogues who actually care a lot

alien morality, or cultural differences so big that they fundamentally are the same thing

people who are SO Wrong about everything but are 100% committed to their own personal moral code

whatever the fuck Mat’s luck had going on

“I know what my destiny is but I say: fuck you”

I can’t stress enough how many of my kinks (narrative; sexy in fiction only; sexy in RL) came directly from this series. Like, I know I’ve already said that but putting together this list made me think and. Oh my god.

SWORD MAIDENS

More practical information: there are 14 books. Yes, I know. The first book is The Eye of the World - it's fun and probably not exceptional even though you can feel the hints of how grand and insane the greater worldbuilding will be, and some characters really shine (Nynaeve!). The second book is where it really gets original, the third book is where I went from "books I like" to "series OF ALL TIME". If you don’t like it by book 4 then give up. If you like book 4 as much as I did you will never ever want to give up.

There's also an Amazon Prime show, currently S1 has been released! I haven't watched it beyond the first ep, but plan to do it soon; it's a lot more f/f than the books and the back half had some pacing issues (partly due to COVID fucking with the production) but definitely very iddy from what I've heard, and I’m very excited to check it out in time for S2.

tldr PLEASE read wheel of time!

[theupfish]

There is hope!

A few notable Republicans refusing to join Trump's cult include:

Dick Cheney, of all people

Liz Cheney

The Govornator, Arnold Schwarzenegger

Dubya (former President Bush)

The late war hero John McCain

Both attempted assassins so far--not that this blog condones political violence.

Hank Hill and Red Foreman also strike me as reasonable-type Conservatives who by now at least would be joining the RVAT.