White County, Arkansas
Old warriors support new servicemen
‘Never again will one generation of veterans abandon
another’
By Warren Watkins
The Daily Citizen
The Vietnam Veterans of Arkansas are trying to
reach out to Iraqi veterans, and Gary Trice of Ft. Smith, state council
president for Arkansas, was in Searcy Wednesday promoting the effort.
“We’re concerned about young veterans, from the Gulf War on,”
Trice said. “We’re finding more of the health issues are the same, but they have
DU problems.”
DU, or depleted uranium, refers to a heavy metal used in anti-tank shells
containing the extra-dense element. When shattered on impact, dust is created
which soldiers in the immediate area often breathe into their lungs. While the
uranium is depleted, or not as highly radioactive as before processing into
ammunition, it is not totally inert.
Soldiers younger than today’s gray-headed Vietnam veterans
suffer from a malady that is common to all wars.
“Post traumatic stress disorder was called combat fatigue in World War II,”
Trice said. “In World War I it was called shell shock, and in the Civil War it
was called melancholy. According to historians, it can even be traced all the
way back to the Roman army, in which soldiers returning from battle were not
allowed to return to their own people. They had to live in their own colonies.”
When young men around him began to be drafted for Vietnam,
Trice knew his number would come up soon.
“I didn’t want to drag a rifle through the rice paddies,” Trice said. “But I
found out later there were no fox holes in the sky.”
The former Air Force crew chief served two terms, one in Laos working with the
Royal Laotian Air Force, using T-28 fighter/bombers.
“Those people were about 50 years out of the Stone Age,” Trice said. “If they
got up in the morning and didn’t want to fight their war, they would see
something they considered a bad omen and go back home.”
An easier tour was in Thailand, where his crews manned Lockheed Super
Constellations outfitted with radar to observe Chinese aircraft coming across
the border.
Returning from southeast Asia, Trice found he and his fellow veterans were
reviled instead of honored.
“The Vietnam war was so unpopular,” Trice said, “the anger of the country was
taken out on individual veterans. We were not allowed to join the Veterans of
Foreign Wars. There was no veterans organization that wanted us, so we created
our own.”
Trice, who suffers from exposure to Agent Orange’s toxic dioxin, has also
experienced post traumatic stress disorder.
“It took 22 years to get any help from the Veteran’s Administration,” Trice said
of his own journey to healing. “I’ve been operated on twice to remove tumors.”
During his service, Trice’s plane once took ground fire on take-off, causing an
accident that left him with both wrists in casts. His eardrums were blown out in
another incident, and he wears hearing aids to this day.
“I was pretty fortunate,” Trice said of his injuries.
Chird Bobbitt, another Air Force Vietnam veteran, spoke with Trice about
his service. Bobbitt, who is the information systems manager for White County,
did one tour in which he set up computer operations in a Quonset hut which was
riddled with bullet holes during a battle.
Bobby Quattlebaum, who served in the Air Force in Thailand, agreed with
Trice that getting counseling for young veterans of Desert Storm and the war in
Iraq is essential.
“There are a lot of veterans in this area with post traumatic stress disorder,”
Quattlebaum said. “In the past, we older veterans would furnish counselors, and
the younger veterans wouldn’t come talk to them.”
After about 15 years, however, some of the veterans who needed support finally
realized they should get help, and started into therapy.
Trice said some of the Iraqi veterans want to talk to the Vietnam vets.
“The Veteran’s Administration was hard to get along with, and still is to some
point,” Quattlebaum said.
Trice’s work with the Vietnam Veterans of America includes support for the
“Traveling Wall,” a three-quarter scale reproduction of the Vietnam Memorial in
Washington, D.C. The portable monument, which is 240 feet long and eight feet
high, was last displayed in Arkansas two years ago in Ft. Smith.
The Vietnam Veterans of America is a family-oriented organization, with no
alcohol or Bingo.
“It’s hard to raise money because the clubs bring in big revenue,” Trice said.
“They are cash cows.”
For information about the White County chapter of the Vietnam Veterans of
America, call Larry Robinson at 279-62120. Robinson is the White County
veterans service officer.
“Our motto is, ‘Never again will one generation abandon another,” Trice said.