64 - Love Letters from Vietnam: Tim installs the Colonel's Stereo

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17 May 70 (Sunday)

Dearest Kate,
Hello my wife, guess what? Your husband loves you very, very much. I pray that the love we share has in some way made your day easier, Kate.

Tim Installs Colonel's Stereo and asks Kate to "Forgive" Him

I'm sorry, Kate, that I wasn't able to write to you last night. The colonel pretentiously invited me to dinner so that I could hook up his new stereo set. I don't know a damn thing about stereo equipment, but fortunately, when I finished fumbling around, it worked. At any rater, I got a pretty good meal out of the deal. Will you forgive me? (editing note: Tim makes this comment because he is aware of Kate's negative feelings toward the military, especially in regard to the Vietnam War. Tim had convinced her that enlisting was the only way to ensure that he would be safer since it allowed him to get an MOS - military occupational status - which meant he wouldn't be carrying a rifle, but Kate was still struggling with the fact that her husband, and by extension she herself, were contributing to this war and not protesting it by Tim's deployment.)

Church During War

It's a pleasant Sunday afternoon now, my Love. It's been raining pretty steadily for the past three days which seems to have cooled things off. With the exception of going to Mass this morning, I haven't done a thing all day. Your husband's been bumming it today, wife. The Masses here are very close and warm and very informal. There's a feeling of participation that its often difficult to experience in the states. Communion is received under both forms, and a general absolution is given for everyone present just before the Communion. It's strange how readily the church can adjust to war.

Please Kate, don't worry every time you hear Quang Tri mentioned in the news. Quang Tri is not so much a city in Vietnam (although there is a village name Quang Tri)) as it is a county or province. And Quang Tri Province covers quite a bit of territory In your letters you made mention of fighting somewhere in Quang Tri; there has been none here, Kate. So promise me that you won't flinch at the mention of Quang Tri, of wife?

Thank you, Kate for wanting to be with me, even her in Quang Tri.If the world has as much love as you do in your heart, there would be no need for such wishes. Thank you, my wife, for your faith, trust, and love. With God's help, I hope always to be worthy of them My bunk is kind of small for both of us; we would have to sleep vertically! Do you think that would be alright, wife?

Well, I'd better close now, Kate. Please, please take care of us, my life. I need you. God give you peace always.

Love,
Tim

Do I feel comfortable in my anti-war stance since Vietnam and comfortable in adding comments to these letters I'm posting. I feel justified in my anti-war views when I listen to talks given by Veterans of the Iraq War as posted here. When I understand that young people have given their lives for a cause they truly, truly believed in, especially after 9/11, "no" I don't feel comfortable, nor rightous, nor possibly even correct. My ONLY conclusion is that when we are young, we enter war or protest war for a whole host of reasons, many of which have nothing to do with knowing what we are doing. There is a line In Tim O'Brien's novel, "The Things They Carried," where the main character says, before deciding whether or not to enlist, something to the effect that 'I was embarrassed not to...' To read more quotes from Tim O'Brien's novel, click here.