How many "military brats" are DU-ers today and anti-war?

[NVMojo]

I'm an Army brat and I'm anti-war. Dad served in Korean War and Viet Nam ...

[NMDemDist2]

1. Air Force here, Dad with the same creds n/t

[don954]

2. navy brat here

I oppose the Iraq war. My Dad served in Viet Nam, grandfather in WW-I and WW-2. I was to join the navy (started ROTC under Clinton in college) but didn’t trust Bush, and decided not to. Luckily I never signed the binding enlistment contract.

[sweettater]

3. Military family

Dad, Air Force WWII Brother, Army Vietnam, killed in action and brother served in Marines. very much anti-war BTW I hate * for his non-service among other things.

[Straight Shooter]

4. Army brat. Father served in Korea, Vietnam. Brother served in Vietnam.

More or less grew up in Fort Bragg.

I have nothing but contempt for those who initiated the war on Iraq. War is senseless by its nature, but this particular war is absolutely insane. I am anti Iraq War down to the marrow of my bones. Always have been, always will be.

[oregonindy]

5. army brat

dad marine ww2
brother infantry vietnam
brother navy gunboat vietnam

tried to join but got 4fd due to eyesight.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

6. Air Force brat here - my father was a career officer

He also flew in Vietnam. That's him in my icon and his B-17 crew in a photo taken just before he was shot down over Germany and became a POW. He's on the extreme right and was the co-pilot.

I'm not anti-war in totality. I'm against the Iraq war and the way we got in there. The U.S. does not engage in wars of aggression.

[kestrel91316]

7. Air Force brat here.............

My dad was career USAF, served 23 years, served a year in Vietnam (Thailand) flying reconnaissance. Navigator, EWO. Possibly an early victim of Agent Orange, died in 1980 of lung cancer, age 47.

My mom's dad was drafted in to the Army during WWII when he was 36 yrs old with a wife and young child; lucky for him and us they dropped the bomb on Japan and instead of dying in the invasion of Japan he guarded POWs in the Philippines for a year.

Had two or three uncles in the Navy in WWII. Had countless ancestors in the Revolution, but strangely, none in the Civil War.

RWer's better never question my patriotism.

[Greylyn58]

8. Father was a 30 year Marine Vet

Brothers and I were all born in military hospitals. Dad served in Korea, and during Vietnam. My family has a long history of military service. Both grandfathers served in WWI. My dad lost one of his younger brothers in Korea. One of my brothers served in the Marines.

Even though I was raised around the military, I've been anti-war my whole life. I despise war and have always believed there has to be a better way to solve conflicts.

[KarenS]

9. Air Force brat here,,,,

my Dad was never in a War Zone although he was in the AF during Viet Nam.

I'm not 100% anti-war but I am certainly anti- illegal, immoral & unjustified wars

[Smoke Screen]

10. Military/ Anti-war

My grandpa was a Prisoner of War during WW2. Thankfully he came back home after the war. He became a chronic alcoholic and died before I was born (1970). Two of my dad's brothers were drafted during Vietnam. My dad was the youngest and actually enlisted which, at the time, worked out well for him. He a couple short tours and came home when the war ended.

Most of my family are liberals and anti-war. We are totally against the Iraq Quagmire and Bu$h's policies.

[w8liftinglady]

11. Military brat,mom,and (ex) wife

[datadiva]

12. Army brat

Old army brat, dad served in WWII. Injured in artillery accident. He was very anti war before he passed away. But he was a true patriot. :patriot: :patriot:

[Dudley_DUright]

13. Nell is an Army brat

She was born in Germany while her father was stationed there. He was killed in Vietnam during the Tet offensive. She is very antiwar and protested the Iraq war many times (as did I).

[Maestro]

14. Dad was career Navy.

Served in Vietnam. I was 14 when he retired after 21 years of service. I am against any unjustified war.

[NoPasaran]

15. I'm an Army brat against this idiotic war

My father enlisted during World War 2 and retired in 1971. He hates Bush as much as I do.

[shanti]

16. air force brat

1955-1967. dad was korean war only, thankfully. i've lived in ca, wa, ny, and japan, and i'm VERY antiwar!

me and dad have come to verbal blows and longtime silent treatments (no longer) over our political views. as a vet, he feels that he should never say anything negative about the pResident and doesn't want to hear it from me, although he's a lifelong dem too (only time i saw him cry was when jfk died). so we have agreed to disagree.

my two siblings also hold the same beliefs, but not as vociferous as i:)

[Buddyblazon]

17. Army brat here...

Dad served 2 tours in Vietnam. 20 years. Retired as a Major out of Fort Carson. He did his the hard way. Enlisted and went to Vietnam. Went through OCS when he got back.

Unfortunately...20 years of indoctrination have taken his ability to think and he drinks the kool-aid every day.

But I love him just the same. I am anti-war. And he knows it. I blame the Vietnam war on the break-up of our family. He went from being a passive guy...to being extremely violent. It took him 20 years of therapy to get beyond the anger. He has found peace again but he still has trouble talking about his time over there.

That's how I explained to him why there is no way I could ever support war. And he respects that. But he's still a Bush lover. Unfortunately.

[tsuki]

18. MB and proud of it. When I told my father that I was against the

war in VietNam, he said that he raised me to think for myself.

[radio4progressives]

19. I'm one - Dad Served Two Tours in Viet Nam, Laos, Okinawa

he wanted to go to Korea but he was a tad too young..

I became firmly against the Viet Nam war in my senior year in High School - 1968. Then i got active with Viet Nam veterans just returning who became very active on and off the base.

All to the great displeasure of my family.

on edit: should have mentioned that my father was a Marine and he died just after returning from his second tour.

[demgurl]

20. Dad worked in conjunction with the military...

he was not enrolled but he did contracts with them and we lived on base. First hubby was military. I am very much anti-war. demgurl

[Sgent]

21. Army / Public Health Service brat

Mother was in PHS, brother a Marine in Bosnia, brother2 a marine and currently in USAF in MD.

[Generic Other]

22. Air Force brat and anti-war

"Peace is our profession." I actually read the sign in front of the base.

:)

[Spangle]

23. Dad~ Navy 20 years

Going all the way back to at least the Rev War.

I'm not anti-war. In no way am I anti-military. I don't believe it was intended for our military to be the Rich Man's police/security force for over seas investments.

[AspenRose]

24. Army brat here

Born in Germany :patriot:

[Minimus]

25. Dad in Navy 25 yrs,Nephew a SeaBee in Iraq, Niece in Navy (ship in Italy)

Youngest nephew graduated 2005 and joined Navy. He leaves for training in a few weeks. Other nephew (radical, had to be different)joined Marines right out of high school; served 6 years, now out.

Nephew currently in Iraq (2nd deployment)married high school sweetheart, she was in Navy until last June, now in reserves.

I'm a proud Navy brat(and proud Aunt) in a very anti-war family.

My bumper stickers have made quite a few people (I live in very republican area) comment to me that as a "leftie" I do not support the troops and I'm not patriotic. I laugh at their ignorance.

[DELUSIONAL]

26. Navy brat here -- anti war -- even Vietnam

My father joined the Navy shortly after WWII started (Pearl Harbor), he married at the end of the war and thus I'm a boomer.

He was Navy air -- and he retired after carrier duty off the coast of Vietnam. He served for nearly 30 years.

I remember during the Vietnam war I went to high school right next to a Navy air base -- and lived on base AND was anti war. At the time I was the only student who was outspoken about the war -- now others seem to have gotten the anti-war bug.

My father returned from Vietnam with his eyes wide open -- about the lies of the politicians and what was really happening in Vietnam. But he quickly forgot and forgave the politicians and is now a hard core GOP supporter. I've not had contact with him for nearly 20 years -- I'm too liberal for him.

Those of us who opposed the Vietnam war were correct -- and we are also correct in our opposition against the invasion of Iraq.

I believe that the book by and about Military brats says that many (perhaps a majority) of military brats were against the Vietnam war. I don't know of any research about our attitudes toward the Iraq Invasion.

Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
For her first book, Wertsch (daughter of an Army officer) interviewed 80 "military brats" born between 1932 and 1964, and found that many of their childhood experiences were held in common: extreme mobility, for example, frequent absence of the father and isolation/alienation from the civilian community. Almost without exception, the dominant figure in the tales collected here is the godlike father--often a super-macho warrior type who made impossible demands on sons, ignored daughters and tried to run the family as though it were a military unit. Some of the most painful stories deal with alcoholic fathers and those whose attempts to discipline their children crossed over into child abuse. Wertsch's deeply felt book has much to say about the fragility of the family and about the dark side of human nature.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal
Operation Desert Storm will increase interest in all things military, so the topic of the services' children is timely. Journalist Wertsch, daughter of an Army colonel, inspired by Pat Conroy's The Great Santini (LJ 6/1/76--Conroy contributes an introduction here), interviewed 80 adult "brats" to record their childhood recollections. Longer and more analytical than Mary Truscott's Brats (LJ 11/15/89), and with greater attention paid to dark themes, Wertsch describes a mixed legacy of alcoholism, abuse, rootlessness, and rigidity; yet also loyalty, achievement, resilience, and idealism. Had her account of growing up "inside the Fortress," as Wertsch somewhat tiresomely puts it throughout, focused more upon concrete detail and less upon her subjects' psyches and her own psychological outpourings, the book would have been of wider interest to readers raised civilian. Still, this is a good choice for many public libraries and for any library serving a military population.
- Robert F. Nardini, North Chichester, N.H.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.


Military Brats: Legacies of Childhood Inside the Fortress (Paperback)
by Mary Edwards Wertsch

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0963926039/102-1522498-5860958?v=glance&n=283155&v=glance

[Aristus]

27. Army brat and former Army myself.

Anti-war to the bone. My father served in Vietnam and saw things he still tears up to talk about. I served in Gulf War I, and that was it for me.

[OneBlueSky]

28. Army brat here . . .

grew up on military bases . . . my dad, now deceased, flew aerial reconaissence and directed artillery fire during the Battle of the Bulge in WWII . . . he was awarded the Air Medal with five Oak Leaf Clusters (equivilant of receiving the award six times) . . . by the end of the Vietnam War, he had turned against it and was even tolerant of us peaceniks . . .

[clyrc]

29. I was born an army brat and brought up an air force brat

my dad flew helicopters in Viet Nam, got out, went to school, and became a pilot in the Air Force. His dad was in the Army during WWII, as was my mom's dad for a short while. I'm not anti-military but I am absolutely anti-Iraq war.

[driver8]

30. Navy brat and I also served in the Navy...

I am against this criminal action called a "war".

My father served 20 years in the Navy and he hates George Bush and this war, too.

[Splatter Phoenix]

31. AF brat here.

Way way anti-war. Father is now too, just left after 20 years of loyal service - never saw combat, but it was dangerously close a couple of times.

Waaar, what is it gooood fooooor...














Absolutely nuttin'.

[Skittles]

32. right here, NVMojo

Air Force brat, Air Force veteran

[JesterCS]

33. Me!

My dad was Air force and serviced Titan II ICBM's at Arkansas and Vandenburg during the Cold War. Joined Nasa after his 4 year stint and worked on Space shuttle until Challenger blew up.

I had the buzz cut and the Air Force brat attitude up until the first Gulf War.. i was 12 when the first Gulf War happened.. i still have the trading cards with pictures of generals, battleships, and jets on em from the first war.


Now I'm Anti-war and DU'r =D

[free_spirit82]

34. Army Brat and an Air Force wife=anti-war and anti-Bush n/t

[SSX]

35. Air Force brat

Dad went to Nam right after Tet to teach english to S. Viet pilots. Got there and his school had been blown up. Spent 9 mo. drinking. Came home an alcoholic and 2 years later stuck a gun in his mouth. I'm not real keen on wars.

[AirmensMom]

36. I'm an Army brat and I'm anti-war.

Dad served in Vietnam. He came back with PTSD.

:hi:

[Pharlo]

37. Navy brat.

Dad was a lifer. Served during Korean and Vietnam conflicts.

[Caretha]

38. Army/Air Force Brat

Dad was in Intelligence Div. and was spying on the "Commies". I was born in Salzburg, Austria in base hospital in '52. Mom's real proud that the bill was only $7.

The whole family is "Yellow Dog" democrats - and opposed the VN war and opposed & still oppose the war in Iraq.

[cassiepriam]

39. AF brat. Was against the VN war too. Lived in SE Asia during the war.

Bad scene.

[Phentex]

40. Air Force. Same wars as yours.

My mom has always been a pacifist so I have no idea why she married him....

[cinci_democrat]

41. Air Force brat here

Dad was army infantry in WWII. Air Force pilot during Korea and Viet Nam. Flew in Viet Nam. I believe he would be outraged at the situation in Iraq. We discussed Viet Nam quite a bit over the years and he always said we should never again make the mistakes we made in Viet Nam. I can't believe we've done just that.

[alittlelark]

42. AF Brat here!

[BlueStateGirl]

43. Navy Brat and anti war.

[Zhade]

44. Right here.

Dad did 24 years in the USAF, Special Operations Command. As a result, he was involved in the first Gulf War massacre, the illegal brutalizations of Grenada and Panama, and assorted other things I'll likely never know.

Thankfully, he was a flight engineer, not a gunner. After watching The Panama Deception, I wouldn't have been able to handle him being a gunner.

I'm anti-war mostly, but do believe in necessary defense. The wars we are fighting are not.