Ron Kovic on war

This is a video of activist Ron Kovic by MoveOn.Org speaking about war, the disability it causes and the cost to Americans. Thanks to Trinity for the link.



Description: Visually, it is a close-up of Kovic speaking. He's a genial-looking, balding white man with a trim white beard and mustache, wearing wire-rimmed glasses. He's wearing a button-down white dress shirt, unbuttoned at the collar, and a black vest. Preceding his speaking is a black screen with the words "Video Vets interview with Ron Kovic" and then a cover of his autobiographical book Born on the Fourth of July. And following his speech is another black screen and the web address MoveOn.org

Audio: "My name is Ron Kovic. And I joined the United States Marine Corps out of high school in 1964 inspired by President Kennedy's "Ask not what your country can do for you, but ask what you can do for your country." I asked what I could do for my country. I volunteered for two tours of duty in Vietnam. I was ready to- I was willing to risk my life and I was willing to die for my country. I so- I trusted- I trusted my leaders, I trusted this government. And all of that was shattered after Vietnam.

"On January 20th, 1968, while leading my scout team across an open area. Leading an attack on a village, I was shot in the right foot, the first bullet went through my foot and blew out the back of my heel. The second bullet- I continued to return fire in a prone position. The second bullet hit my right shoulder, went through my lung and severed my spine from my mid-chest down. I became paralyzed for the rest of my life. Vietnam changed my life and that wound changed me forever.

"I'd seen the cost of war, the human cost of war at the intensive care ward in Danang. I'd seen it at the Bronx VA. I'd lived amongst the rats and the overcrowded conditions. Patients pushing call buttons, aides never coming to their- men lying in their own excretement. And a government- a government that could pay for the most- the most technologically-advanced weaponry, the most lethal weapons you could imagine. Millions of dollars, billions of dollars, and yet could not care for their own wounded when they came home.

"Over the last month and a half, I found myself amongst the wounded once again at the Long Beach Veterans Hospital. I was told that there were two young men in the room next to mine. They were in their early twenties. They were Iraq veterans who'd just been paralyzed in the Iraq war. And it just touched me very deeply.

"I spent that month and a half in the Bronx VA. I met some of the most wonderful people, very dedicated people, very caring human beings. But there were the same overcrowded conditions. There was- there was the equipment that broke down, the equipment that did not work, the need for more funding, the need for more caregivers, more aides. And there were patients who continued to have to wait for assistance, same as the Bronx in 1968. There was a shortage of nurses.

"How can you send young men like myself and those of this generation to Vietnam and to Iraq? How can you send them and spend billions of dollars on a war that is lost, a war that cannot be won? A senseless war. A wasteful war. How can you do that? How can you put their lives at risk? How can you put them through that emotional trauma and not care for them when they come home? This is- this is unacceptable. I love this country. I was willing to risk my life. I gave three-quarters of my body to this country in Vietnam. And I'm watching this same thing happen all over again.

"What is it gonna take? How many more have to die? How many more have to come home wounded and maimed like myself?"