Enemies Are Created By Governments Not By Soldiers

By Dave Rabbit – ATS Press Corps.

Dallas, Texas. I just had a brief communication with one of my Mod Squad friends who shared a very touching e-mail from a marine. Having received numerous e-mails over the past few years from soldiers, I passed on to him a very unusual one that really smacks me in the head and responded to him with the story I am about to relate here.

It is not unusual for me to receive e-mails and correspondence from soldiers around the world. I have been getting them through Will Snyder since he first started accumulating them back in 1995. What is unusual, however, is receiving any type of correspondence from someone who, at the time, was considered to be ”My Enemy”.

It is 2006 sometime. I remember how shocked I was when I first started reading the e-mail. Ironically, this soldier’s last name was Nguyen, which is pronounced as Wynn, unlike the name associated with the only female of our Saigon show. As I began to read it he talks about how he is living in the United States and has for twenty years with his wife and children. He goes on to tell me that he found my show one day and could really relate to what I was telling the soldiers in Vietnam back then. Then he drops the bombshell, he was a member of the NVA, the North Vietnamese Army. I have to admit, at that point, not only was I shocked that I am getting correspondence from a “former enemy” of mine, but that what he is saying is actually making sense to me.

I really had mixed emotions about responding to this guy. His people killed my roommate Jim Brookshire, and I was still carrying the burden of that day. After a few days reflection, I decided to respond. Without going into a long, drawn out Down Memory Lane thing, I talked about things from my perspective and he did the same. We communicated for almost a month. In that time, it became crystal clear to me that all the things I had experienced and those who served with me were experienced just the same way by those we fought and killed. The only difference was we were on opposite sides of the fence.

We initially believed what we were doing was just and right...... they were doing what they thought was just and right, defending their country. And although, until today, I had not thought about that, it brings up a very interesting and debatable conclusion I have come to realize.... that had it not been for Our Governments, he and I very could have been friends today, just as I have become friends with several Vietnamese Americans.

This can be said for every war that has ever been waged by any country you care to name.... Germany, Russia, China, the list is endless. Because the bottom line is that Politicians and their own Secret Agendas have always been and always will be the reason countries go to war, regardless of which side throws the first stone. It is very easy to sit in a command post, pushing around figurines indicating what one’s strategy of war is going to be.... except for the fact that the figurines represent real live people, Soldiers. As for me, I stand as a Soldier For Humanity, to always fight for a person’s right to enjoy their time while they are alive, to enjoy one’s family, friends and country... as long as they inhabit the earth.

If anyone is naïve enough to believe that the stupidity of the leadership of North Korea is really endorsed by its people then you might want to review the Vietnam War.

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Hi, Dave. I remember my German class professor from college in the early 70's. Someone asked if he had been a German soldier in WW2. He said yes, and he had been a pow but had been treated humanely and when the war was over, he just went back to being a German citizen. He had no hatred or animosity toward Americans. The war was over and he had to get on with his life, which at some point led to moving to the United States to teach university German.

In the 1980's I stayed at the home of an uncle of some Japanese-America friends. The uncle had been a soldier in the Japanese army in WW2. As an American, I thought I would be in for a lecture on the atrocities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. To my surprise, he simply stated that what was done was done in time of war, and the war was over. Things are done in times of war that are not done in times of peace. There was no anger.

An American (as in many other cultures) soldier must be trained to be able to kill, something that is not natural. An enemy must not only be created but turned into something, if not inhuman/de-person-alized (gook, raghead), than at least made to become something that will cause death to loved ones/fellow citizens (the mushroom cloud of Saddam).

I think that Americans (soldier as well as civilian) would have been psychologically better off if they had been allowed to "get over" VietNam. Instead, we were subjected to years of the POW/MIA campaign, encouraged by national leaders, as well as politicians and their supporters who felt a need to do away with the "Viet Nam Syndrome" (which was supposedly put to rest in the Gulf War). While the Vietnamese, like the Germans and Japanese, were willing to get on with their lives without anger or animosity, Americans were not allowed to do so. Hatred of the "enemy" was still going strong years after the war ended.

The American soldier serves at the behest of an elected leader. If that leader deems another human being an "enemy", then it is so, and both soldier and citizen are prepared by their leaders for a fight. I cannot imagine this any different in other nations. As much as Americans would like to have other countries' citizens overturn their leaders' war stance, we have only to look at ourselves to see how well we have done so here. I think you are correct in your assessment that the average NK citizen is not being belligerent, but their leaders are.

Interesting post Dave.

For a long time my signature read: Freinds among people, enemies by government. And your post describes exactly what I meant.

But since at the core of this is greed, I have changed it to reflect that.

reply to post by Dave Rabbit


Just ran across this. What a great story,perspective and insight of the reality of war. My understanding is that Dave has passed away and in my brief moment of coming across his post I can see he was one of the good ones who will surely be missed.

I'm truly surprised of the few flags this thread has gotten as its message is still, if not more relevant today than back in 09.