[.ca] The Vietnam Reader (ISBN 0415901278)

"A time to kill, A time to heal;":
William Broyles who was a Vietnam Marine and subsequently editor-in- chief of Newsweek wrote about his war experience in an essay called "Why Men Love War" contained in this collection. It is a refreshing antithesis to the poltically correct dogma of the academy. I wonder if he voices what others secretly feel. I wonder how many of us feel similar emotions when we "do battle" with our gleaming swords during historical re-enactments or when practicing our martial arts or when we become caught up in the "righteous anger" of a Charlie Bronson. Broyles writes: "Men love their weapons, not simply for helping to keep them alive, but for a deeper reason. They love their rifles and their knives for the same reason that the medieval warriors loved their armor and their swords: they are instruments of beauty...(and) War is beautiful". He continues: "And then perhaps gunships called Spooky come in and fire their incredible guns like huge hoses washing down from the sky, like something God would do when He was really ticked off...Many men loved napalm, loved its silent power...I preferred white phosphorous...I loved it more -- not less -- because of its function: to destroy, to kill...War is, in short, a turn-on". Finally: "It is no accident that men love war, as love and war are at the core of man. It is not only that we must love one another or die. We must love one another *and* die...War is the enduring condition of man". Obviously William Broyles feels no need to conceal his love of war, of killing. In another time, in another place, do you think we would be more likely to admit to that same blood lust?? Other, different perspectives are presented by Thomas Merton, Martin Luther King, Robert Bly, William Westmoreland, and others. A book that will make you reconsider your own heart's desires!