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Fraggin'

By Bill Shunas

ITEM: During the Vietnam War about 400 officers or lifers were shot or fragged by their own men because they were too gung ho or just plain stupid.

ITEM: When Jimmy Carter became President, he appointed former Captain Max Cleland as head of the Veterans Administration. Knowing that vets are pissed off at the V.A., he wanted to clean up the image. So he hired Max—one of "us." After all, Max had lost tow legs and an arm in Vietnam!

But is Max one of us? What do these two items have in common? Well, the story of how Max lost his limbs has begun to creep out. It seems that a grenade rolled off a supply truck (or according to some sources, a helicopter) and got him! I know that people like Cleland or Carter are sure that were stupid, but we aren't —and weren't—that stupid. It sure sounds to me like Max got himself fragged. Max was never one of "us." And some one knew that all the way back in the 'Nam.

An ad for McDonnell Douglas (the airplane builders) says: "The F-15 Eagle. The Peace Keeper, America's Air Ace!" Peacekeeper? I though the F-15 was used to fire rockets at ships or bullets at soldiers (or sometimes peasants or water buffalos).

The V.A. says that it gives out a lot of information about pensions, educational payments, retirement pay and many other items of great importance to many vets. Yet, a lot of vets are in the dark about all of these things. Why is this? The General Accounting Office provides an answer. They did a study on the V.A. and found that sensitive information about vets and their families is given out to federal and state agencies, hospitals, school, lawyers and even foreign governments, but not to veterans!

So, fellow veterans, you want to know about your benefits? I wouldn't recommend going to a state or federal agency. If you have to go downtown to sift through bureaucratic red tap, you might as well go to the V.A. Hospitals? I don't know. What do you see there? A bone specialist? Schools are a possibility, but that's only if you're in school and have a good vets' counselor who'll spend extra hours digging our information. That leaves lawyers and foreign governments as places to find out about your benefits. It's a hard choice. I'd recommend against the lawyer. Everyone know that there are a lot of shyster lawyers. If you just picked one out of the phone book you might get robbed. What I recommend is that you take some of that money you earned from that good job you got because you learned a skill in the Army just like the recruiter said you would. Take that money and travel to Greece. That way you can get information on your benefits and have a Greek vacation at the same time.

The Internal Revenue Service has denied tax deductions for contributions to a war veterans group which claimed it was organized to "sponsor and participate in acts of a patriotic nature." The IRS found that about half of the groups' income was derived from the sale of liquor and that its "principal activities are limited to operating a bar to promote the recreation and association of its members." Will the real VFW please stand up? Or is it the American Legion?

General Omar Bradley was paid about $400,000 for allowing actor Karl Malden to play Bradley in the movie "Patton." The Soldiers of World War II who kicked the Nazi's ass all over France got nothing. But that's the way it is in this great country of ours. Hell, they even get you when you die.

A PFC's widow gets $293 a month, but any officer's gets a whole lot more. However, for most of the higher level officers, there isn't much chance of leaving a widow. In Vietnam their average combat time was half that of enlisted men and officer casualties were much lower than any previous time in history. That's only justice, I suppose, because they need those officers to come back and run the V.A. for them.