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The Vietnam War

I call it a "war" because that's what it was, damn it, and I feel like people who insist on calling it a "police action", or who don't support the men and women who were over there, or who call those men and women "Veterans of the Vietnam Era", like it's some kind of sanitized time period you learned about in Geology Class, are wimps who weren't there, and shouldn't open their mouth to disrespect something that would've had them changing their shorts and crying for their mommies.

No, I wasn't there, but I have some friends who were, and from what they tell me, it wasn't pretty. War never is. I hope I never have to see what they saw -- every day of their lives.

IN MEMORIAM

26 June 2001: One of my best friends, Harry Edward Keith, died in his sleep early this morning of complications from his kidneys. He was a Vietnam Veteran, and a true American. He once got very angry with me when I forgot to call him on Veterans' Day. I never made that mistake again, and that will always be his day for me. He had a very hard life, and it was fitting that he had a quick death. Go easy, Harry. A grateful country thanks you.

Harry Edward Keith
16 April 1942 - 26 June 2001