THE VIETNAM WAR

*** It is funny how some events are turning points in your life .The Vietnam war was a big one for me .

I did not have to go to Vietnam. I had a 2 - S deferment & a high lottery number. But it was the threat of going that put me in college.

My Dad made me go. Daddy said " Son I don't think they are crazy enough to let you have a loaded gun but we can't take the chance . If you go over there you won't last a week . We have got to get you in school." Daddy had lots of confidence in me.

So off to college I went . I would not have gone otherwise. I would not had an opportunity for a career in education or a coaching career. I don't know what would have become of me . There was nothing I could do career - wise around Medina.

I was a small time hustle guy who played cards & dominoes in the back room at the barber shop & played the games down at the pool room. Great future Huh!

After college & a boxing run, I had opportunities in coaching that in no way did I merit. I was among the worst players but ended up with the championships.

What would have happened if there had been no war & I had not gone to college ? I will never know.

Small as Medina is, we had 3 to die in the war . We had another come home dead but it was more than 30 years till we buried him.The person he was & the person he could have been died in that jungle . A friend lost a fiancée & a husband to the war.

I believe Richard Nixon prolonged the war to win re-election. I will always hold that against him . Our government played us for fools & lied to us the whole time . What we thought was right was wrong .This was the beginning of our distrust in government.

I don't know why the Lord moved things as he did . I wonder why those had to die & why not others like myself.

STILL I WONDER STILL I WONDER WHY