...especially if R. Lee Ermey is the one barking at you every day. I watched "Full Metal Jacket" again the other night. It's one of my favorite movies and I've seen it so many times I can recite much of the dialog, like a lot of people do with the Wizard of Oz. I'm not sure what it is about this move that grabs me. I've seen a lot of war movies, but it's not really my favorite genre and in general if I'm going to watch something war-related, I'd just as soon see a documentary (BTW, the miniseries Vietnam in HD that was on the History Channel not too long ago was excellent. I learned SO much it was astounding).Maybe my fascination stems from the fact that I never learned anything about the Vietnam war in school. I was just a little kid when the war was going on, and it was never mentioned at home that I can recall....which is not surprising, what would you tell a preschooler about something so horrible? I was ignorant of all the protests, the Kent State massacre, everything. I remember very clearly my first exposure as a child to anything relating to the war. I was watching the 4th of July parade, sitting on the lawn of the Peace Dale public library. As the bands, floats, and various military and police units went by, the crowds cheered and waved. Then, here came a group of Vietnam vets, looking ragged like they had just trudged off the battlefield and carrying POW/MIA flags and what I assumed even at that age were the boots of their fallen comrades. The crowd grew silent and every one of them stood and just clapped as the vets went by. To this day the memory chokes me up. I remember thinking that must have been a war that had been fought a long time ago. I had no idea that they HAD just trudged off the battlefield.
And that was it, nothing was ever taught in school, nothing in the history classes I ever took. Looking back now, I wonder why. Was it too controversial? Wonder what they're telling the school kids now about the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Anything?
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