Veteran’s Day
We graduated West Islip in 1965. A few of us went to Stony Brook University. A classmate recently asked: “Isn't it strange how other people at that time took similar experiences and became anti-war activists? Did you ever wonder why you didn't? What was different about your experience that kept you from joining the mainstream at Stony Brook who were protesting the war?”
Are you asking, "Why wasn't I an antiwar protester?" The direct answer to your question is, I believed in the individual’s right to freedom. I still do. And it is worth fighting for when you understand the alternate is totalitarianism in today’s guise of terrorism.
In the thirty years that have passed since I served in VN, there have been some good times. If I were able to talk to the boys I grew up with, played stickball and baseball with, and who are no longer here, I'd talk about those times. And I am sure we would talk about baseball.
I don't think I'd tell them that one newspaper columnist described VN veterans as "either suckers or psychos, victims or monsters." Nor would I tell them the secretary of defense they fought for back then has now declared that he was not a believer in the cause for which he assigned us to our destiny. I wouldn't tell them about a draft-age kid from Arkansas who hid out in England to dodge his duty while we were fighting and dying eventually became commander-in-chief. And I wouldn't tell them we lost that lousy war. I can't even tell them we were winning when I left.
My friend, who was the quarterback of our high school football team, has written about his visit to “the wall” in Washington. I too visited "the wall". I remember taking a step back and trying to view the entire work. I tried to wrap my mind around the violence, carnage and ruined lives that war represents. I didn't have that knowledge when we attended college. I doubt that those who protested, with all respect toward their idealism, knew. I believe they cared only about themselves.
I don't feel it necessary to justify to a newspaper columnist that VN veterans have been productive members of society since we left VN. I am proud that I answered the call, and I am proud of my friends - heroes who voluntarily, enthusiastically gave their all. They demonstrated no greater love to our nation. If I could communicate with them, I'd want them to know that God, Duty, Honor and Country will always remain the noblest calling. Revisionist historians and elite draft dodgers trying to justify their own actions will not change that.
Monday, November 11, 2002
Saturday, October 19, 2002
West Islip Rifle Range
West Islip Rifle Range
I am the West Islip rifle range. You never heard of me? I am part of the West Islip High School. When taxpayers voted to construct the high school, I was there and I still am. I am located southwest and at the same level as the indoor swimming pool. There is a locked door that can be opened. You travel down one flight of stairs make a left into a hall way and another door. It has been said that I am the best or at least the second best range in Suffolk County.
I was open for pistol clubs and boy scouts. You see anyone who is twelve years old can learn to shoot a rifle in New York State. Obviously, the adults who voted for the school including the swimming pool and rifle range thought it was wise to have their children learn to swim and to learn respect for the use of a .22 rifle with adult guidance and supervision.
Boy Scout Troop 118 met in the Higbie Lane elementary school during the 50’s and 60’s. The boys sold candy bars and raised money to purchase four- (4) bolt action open peep sight rifles. The rifles were kept in Scoutmaster James Badger’s house. The school had a representative who was present whenever the scouts met. Mr. Ed Guiffre and the adult scout leaders would open the range and instruct the lads in safety courses, shooting positions, firing and cleaning target rifles. Many of the adults spent their time with youth because they had been in World War II. They passed on their hard earned knowledge to these boys.
Mr. Guiffre coached the West Islip Rifle Club and the Rifle Teams for many years. Sometimes, he’d let the members of the rifle team come down at night to watch the pistol team shoot. The boys saw and learned that competitive pistol shooting is an adult sport. Sometimes the boys would get in some extra firing. It seemed that they were more relaxed at night than when they normally practiced after school.
The West Islip High School Rifle Clubs and teams were open for all students. One of the best was a girl named Barby MacNeil who went on to earn national honors on the college level. Of course, in those days, the school administration was wary of any coed sport and unfortunately Barby was not allowed to compete with the boys but she could still be a member of the rifle club.
The West Islip High School Rifle Team won a lot of matches against other schools. Principal John O’Donnell announced the scores the next morning on the school PA system. The 1964 – 1965 team was undefeated and the school received a trophy. These young men fired a Suffolk County record 919 and were led by Pete Pauwels who fired a Suffolk County and school record 191 out of a possible 200. He was hot that day! Some of these boys were drafted or volunteered and saw action a few years later in Viet Nam. I witnessed the skills that were taught and passed on to them and know that what they learned saved at least one of their lives.
Yes, I saw all of these events and many more. I saw the hallway used as a weight room. You see our football coach, Charles Skiptunas, wanted to change WI football from a bunch of kids who just wanted to have fun playing football into a program where a bunch of kids would learn what it takes to win.
But I am closed now. The favorite excuses to keep me closed are the need to improve the ventilation system, while the next is to clean out the spent lead. Obviously, ventilation and lead removal were not problems when boy scouts, pistol teams, rifle clubs or teams used me for sport and recreation. Nor was ventilation considered an insurmountable problem for weight lifters. The board is just too afraid. I am afraid as well. I am afraid that some kid from WI could have had the opportunity to learn riflery in his own high school but was denied the chance and ends up dying in some foreign land when he could have been taught the basics right here at home.
I am the West Islip rifle range. You never heard of me? I am part of the West Islip High School. When taxpayers voted to construct the high school, I was there and I still am. I am located southwest and at the same level as the indoor swimming pool. There is a locked door that can be opened. You travel down one flight of stairs make a left into a hall way and another door. It has been said that I am the best or at least the second best range in Suffolk County.
I was open for pistol clubs and boy scouts. You see anyone who is twelve years old can learn to shoot a rifle in New York State. Obviously, the adults who voted for the school including the swimming pool and rifle range thought it was wise to have their children learn to swim and to learn respect for the use of a .22 rifle with adult guidance and supervision.
Boy Scout Troop 118 met in the Higbie Lane elementary school during the 50’s and 60’s. The boys sold candy bars and raised money to purchase four- (4) bolt action open peep sight rifles. The rifles were kept in Scoutmaster James Badger’s house. The school had a representative who was present whenever the scouts met. Mr. Ed Guiffre and the adult scout leaders would open the range and instruct the lads in safety courses, shooting positions, firing and cleaning target rifles. Many of the adults spent their time with youth because they had been in World War II. They passed on their hard earned knowledge to these boys.
Mr. Guiffre coached the West Islip Rifle Club and the Rifle Teams for many years. Sometimes, he’d let the members of the rifle team come down at night to watch the pistol team shoot. The boys saw and learned that competitive pistol shooting is an adult sport. Sometimes the boys would get in some extra firing. It seemed that they were more relaxed at night than when they normally practiced after school.
The West Islip High School Rifle Clubs and teams were open for all students. One of the best was a girl named Barby MacNeil who went on to earn national honors on the college level. Of course, in those days, the school administration was wary of any coed sport and unfortunately Barby was not allowed to compete with the boys but she could still be a member of the rifle club.
The West Islip High School Rifle Team won a lot of matches against other schools. Principal John O’Donnell announced the scores the next morning on the school PA system. The 1964 – 1965 team was undefeated and the school received a trophy. These young men fired a Suffolk County record 919 and were led by Pete Pauwels who fired a Suffolk County and school record 191 out of a possible 200. He was hot that day! Some of these boys were drafted or volunteered and saw action a few years later in Viet Nam. I witnessed the skills that were taught and passed on to them and know that what they learned saved at least one of their lives.
Yes, I saw all of these events and many more. I saw the hallway used as a weight room. You see our football coach, Charles Skiptunas, wanted to change WI football from a bunch of kids who just wanted to have fun playing football into a program where a bunch of kids would learn what it takes to win.
But I am closed now. The favorite excuses to keep me closed are the need to improve the ventilation system, while the next is to clean out the spent lead. Obviously, ventilation and lead removal were not problems when boy scouts, pistol teams, rifle clubs or teams used me for sport and recreation. Nor was ventilation considered an insurmountable problem for weight lifters. The board is just too afraid. I am afraid as well. I am afraid that some kid from WI could have had the opportunity to learn riflery in his own high school but was denied the chance and ends up dying in some foreign land when he could have been taught the basics right here at home.
Thursday, September 19, 2002
The Palestinian Election
The Palestinian Election
President Bush told the Palestinians, “You deserve democracy and the rule of law. You deserve an open society and a thriving economy.” The hope is that decent men and women in the Palestinian world can see an alternate to rule by martyrdom, suicide bombings and terror.
Can Palestinians do better than autocracy of the Maximum Leader in the Ramallah? Pollsters tell us that 60% of the Palestinian population approves of suicide attacks against Israeli civilians. President Bush has come to the conclusion that people who approve of suicide bombing need new leadership. Palestinians are taught from kindergarten to seek the extermination of Israelis and their Western, secular allies. These are the people who would be “voting” for new leadership.
It is irrelevant that President Bush may be asking the current crop of killers to step down. Palestinians widely endorse Arafat’s bloody campaign. His opposition comes from those who believe he is not militant enough in his terrorist tactics.
If elections were held, the leading candidates to reinvent Palestinian government would be The Joker and Sauron.
You may recall The Joker. He is a character out of Tim Burton’s “Batman.” The Joker cackled and used goofy weapons, but he was a serial killer and a heretic, not a clown. The Joker didn’t want to get rich. He went to museums just to defile artwork. He didn’t want to convert Batman to a life of crime. He tried to kill Batman and as many civilians as he could just for the joy it gave him. The Joker looked and sounded cartoonish. He had a black heart.
The fullest and best depiction of evil comes from the villain, Sauron, in the “Lord of the Rings.” Sauron wants to conquer Middle Earth, enslave its inhabitants and ruin everything of beauty. To accomplish this, he pours his malice and cruelty into a ring of power, which controls and corrupts all who touch it. Sauron is not the equivalent of communism or fascism. He is a totalitarian of the first order. His think tank is evilness. Sauron’s evil is real.
Both candidates promise “on a certain day, everything will be obliterated and instantaneously reconstructed. The new inhabitants will leave as if by magic carpet. The land they despoiled will be returned to the true believers. Justice will be dispensed to the victims. On that day, the presence of God shall again make itself felt.”
These candidates show us things that are rooted in basic moral precepts. Palestinians are at a crossroads. Are they eager to embrace The Joker or Sauron and see real evil? Do they wish a starring role on the broadcasts of al-Jazeera? When the dust settles the stark choice will be, shall the Palestinians repeat the past or commence a new sober society? Will they step back from the brink and walk away from terror and war? Will they take the chance to return to the world and the work of real nations?
Henry W. Hessing
President Bush told the Palestinians, “You deserve democracy and the rule of law. You deserve an open society and a thriving economy.” The hope is that decent men and women in the Palestinian world can see an alternate to rule by martyrdom, suicide bombings and terror.
Can Palestinians do better than autocracy of the Maximum Leader in the Ramallah? Pollsters tell us that 60% of the Palestinian population approves of suicide attacks against Israeli civilians. President Bush has come to the conclusion that people who approve of suicide bombing need new leadership. Palestinians are taught from kindergarten to seek the extermination of Israelis and their Western, secular allies. These are the people who would be “voting” for new leadership.
It is irrelevant that President Bush may be asking the current crop of killers to step down. Palestinians widely endorse Arafat’s bloody campaign. His opposition comes from those who believe he is not militant enough in his terrorist tactics.
If elections were held, the leading candidates to reinvent Palestinian government would be The Joker and Sauron.
You may recall The Joker. He is a character out of Tim Burton’s “Batman.” The Joker cackled and used goofy weapons, but he was a serial killer and a heretic, not a clown. The Joker didn’t want to get rich. He went to museums just to defile artwork. He didn’t want to convert Batman to a life of crime. He tried to kill Batman and as many civilians as he could just for the joy it gave him. The Joker looked and sounded cartoonish. He had a black heart.
The fullest and best depiction of evil comes from the villain, Sauron, in the “Lord of the Rings.” Sauron wants to conquer Middle Earth, enslave its inhabitants and ruin everything of beauty. To accomplish this, he pours his malice and cruelty into a ring of power, which controls and corrupts all who touch it. Sauron is not the equivalent of communism or fascism. He is a totalitarian of the first order. His think tank is evilness. Sauron’s evil is real.
Both candidates promise “on a certain day, everything will be obliterated and instantaneously reconstructed. The new inhabitants will leave as if by magic carpet. The land they despoiled will be returned to the true believers. Justice will be dispensed to the victims. On that day, the presence of God shall again make itself felt.”
These candidates show us things that are rooted in basic moral precepts. Palestinians are at a crossroads. Are they eager to embrace The Joker or Sauron and see real evil? Do they wish a starring role on the broadcasts of al-Jazeera? When the dust settles the stark choice will be, shall the Palestinians repeat the past or commence a new sober society? Will they step back from the brink and walk away from terror and war? Will they take the chance to return to the world and the work of real nations?
Henry W. Hessing
Tuesday, September 17, 2002
Rebuilding the World Trade Center
Rebuilding the WTC
The American public has been led by our government and the media to believe that the perpetrators of the evil act of 911 was organized and well financed by those who would strike again. Yes, they are capable, but not because they are well organized, or because they have unlimited funds. They are capable because we are allowing them to be so.
The evildoers are thugs. They deal in fear and terror, and they got our attention by murdering innocent civilians while destroying the most famous symbol of our capitalist society, the World Trade Center’s “Twin Towers”. The monsters that conceived, planned and carried out this affront to all humans got lucky, in the most perverse sense of the word. The buildings collapsed into a pile of rubble, changing the “skyline” known throughout the world. They gloat and celebrate death, destruction, and the elimination of our proud symbol.
Current plans for the former site of the World Trade Center Towers are a capitulation to terrorism, as none of the proposals matches the height and grandeur of the original buildings. We appear to be giving up, and this is why the murderers feel they are capable of another horrific event. We are telling them they have won. We are allowing them to think like victors. This is a mistake of monumental scale on our part, and we will pay for it with the lives of more of our citizens. Our course of action is clear. We should set aside some of the area as a memorial, and then use the remainder of the 16 acre site to construct a larger, more beautiful structure than the ones we lost.
History is our teacher. Persia attacked Athens 2500 years ago and destroyed the original Parthenon. After repelling the invaders and soundly defeating them, the Greeks decided to replace the ruined temple on a grander scale. Originally made of limestone, the leaders decreed that white marble, the finest building material available, would be used for the new structure. Artists immortalized Grecian heroes in magnificent sculptures, and these were incorporated into the finished product. The Parthenon became the greatest Greek temple ever constructed, generally accepted as the marker for the beginning of the Athenian Golden Age. The Greeks replaced grand with grander, and created a symbol to the rest of the world that they would survive and thrive.
The War of 1812 brought British warships to our shores. Enemy soldiers were successful in burning the Presidential Mansion. Our leaders repaired and enlarged the charred building, painted it, and today, The White House stands at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave as a symbol of American pride.
A fire burned our nation’s Capitol Building in 1850. Shortly thereafter, the country was torn by the Civil War. Yet, during this war, with limited funds, The Capitol was rebuilt and enlarged. President Lincoln’s resolve to rebuild the Capitol demonstrated confidence that the Union would be preserved.
The Athenians didn’t decide they were guilty of offending their enemy. They didn’t make a smaller temple. They didn’t leave a barren site to commemorate the men whom died fighting Persians. Our ancestors who rebuilt the White House and the Capitol didn’t either.
We must declare to the world that we, the American people, have chosen to keep building. We have not given up. Our culture shall achieve even greater heights, and our society will prosper and thrive. Our symbols will be rebuilt larger, stronger, and grander. Like the Athenians, we will use the attack of would-be conquerors to usher in a new Golden Age.
Robert W. Chalich
Henry W. Hessing
The American public has been led by our government and the media to believe that the perpetrators of the evil act of 911 was organized and well financed by those who would strike again. Yes, they are capable, but not because they are well organized, or because they have unlimited funds. They are capable because we are allowing them to be so.
The evildoers are thugs. They deal in fear and terror, and they got our attention by murdering innocent civilians while destroying the most famous symbol of our capitalist society, the World Trade Center’s “Twin Towers”. The monsters that conceived, planned and carried out this affront to all humans got lucky, in the most perverse sense of the word. The buildings collapsed into a pile of rubble, changing the “skyline” known throughout the world. They gloat and celebrate death, destruction, and the elimination of our proud symbol.
Current plans for the former site of the World Trade Center Towers are a capitulation to terrorism, as none of the proposals matches the height and grandeur of the original buildings. We appear to be giving up, and this is why the murderers feel they are capable of another horrific event. We are telling them they have won. We are allowing them to think like victors. This is a mistake of monumental scale on our part, and we will pay for it with the lives of more of our citizens. Our course of action is clear. We should set aside some of the area as a memorial, and then use the remainder of the 16 acre site to construct a larger, more beautiful structure than the ones we lost.
History is our teacher. Persia attacked Athens 2500 years ago and destroyed the original Parthenon. After repelling the invaders and soundly defeating them, the Greeks decided to replace the ruined temple on a grander scale. Originally made of limestone, the leaders decreed that white marble, the finest building material available, would be used for the new structure. Artists immortalized Grecian heroes in magnificent sculptures, and these were incorporated into the finished product. The Parthenon became the greatest Greek temple ever constructed, generally accepted as the marker for the beginning of the Athenian Golden Age. The Greeks replaced grand with grander, and created a symbol to the rest of the world that they would survive and thrive.
The War of 1812 brought British warships to our shores. Enemy soldiers were successful in burning the Presidential Mansion. Our leaders repaired and enlarged the charred building, painted it, and today, The White House stands at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave as a symbol of American pride.
A fire burned our nation’s Capitol Building in 1850. Shortly thereafter, the country was torn by the Civil War. Yet, during this war, with limited funds, The Capitol was rebuilt and enlarged. President Lincoln’s resolve to rebuild the Capitol demonstrated confidence that the Union would be preserved.
The Athenians didn’t decide they were guilty of offending their enemy. They didn’t make a smaller temple. They didn’t leave a barren site to commemorate the men whom died fighting Persians. Our ancestors who rebuilt the White House and the Capitol didn’t either.
We must declare to the world that we, the American people, have chosen to keep building. We have not given up. Our culture shall achieve even greater heights, and our society will prosper and thrive. Our symbols will be rebuilt larger, stronger, and grander. Like the Athenians, we will use the attack of would-be conquerors to usher in a new Golden Age.
Robert W. Chalich
Henry W. Hessing
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)