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Lifers & Dead GI's: Reagan Takes the Blame, So What?

By VVAW

When we were in the service there was something called dereliction of duty. If you came back late from pass, if you fell asleep on guard, if your weapon was not properly maintained, your reward was discipline. The military constantly reminded you that YOU were responsible for your actions and equipment. If you screwed up, there were article 15'2 or captains' masts, or even time in the stockade.

It seems as if the military, and the Marines in particular, have decided to change all that, at least if you are a general or colonel (not, or course, for the privates or sergeants).

Marines died in Lebanon because officers charged with their command were derelict in setting up the defense for the Marine positions. As GI's we know what a few claymores could have done to that truck filled with explosives; we recall how to build a barricade not so easily broken; or even that you don't put quite so many men in one unprotected building.

If a private had gone to sleep allowing the truck to get through, you can bet that the President would not have taken the blame. If the sergeant of the guard had forgotten to post a guard at the gate allowing the truck to get through there would have been a mammoth court martial.

But if you happen to be a general making $75,000 a year plus fringe benefits and then you don't set up an adequate defense, you aren't even barred from the officer's club for a week. There are thousands who would be glad to "suffer" like those derelict lifers!