LETTER TO THE EDITOR

I enjoy reading the Echo’s Op Ed columns by the FU Manchued writer.  He reminds me of characters I’d forgotten.  Like Jane Fonda seated on the North Vietnamese anti-aircraft gun. (How many Americans did that gun put into the Hanoi Hilton?) 

When I was going through basic training as a Washington National Guardsman at Fort Lewis, I was pulled aside by a very PO’d full bird colonel.  I had asked a question from the bleachers in a class on army weaponry.  (Returning vets from Vietnam had told me about the use of shotguns in combat).  I had asked about shotguns in Vietnam.  He was enraged.  Wanted to know where I’d heard about the use of shotguns by our troops.  Afraid of being *re-cycled, he literally had me quaking in my boots.  After a long chewing out, he let me know shotguns were banned by the Geneva Convention.  I felt lucky to salute and walk away.

*Re-cycled – Being sent back to start training over again.

Joe Bissonnette

Cashmere