I saw a pickup today that obviously belonged to a marine as it had a Simper Fi and a few other markings on it. However, the one that really caught my attention was the one “If you haven’t been there, shut your mouth.”

Well, I was a marine too. however, I repaired airplanes. I very likely was never where he was but I still have an idea of what he means. I have been close enough that my garments were partially singed so I do have something of an idea of what he was saying and why.

People all the time like to “play” expert, as if they are smarter than those who have been there. No one, not even me is smart enough to know until they have been there. It is a strange place. It makes cowards out of the brave and it makes heroes out of boys. I have seen both. A man does not know until he’s been there which one he is. When the bullets start flying and the rockets start falling, it is a different world.

First, it is loud. Have you ever shot a weapon? Do you have any idea how loud they are. After a year in Vietnam, I still flinch when I hear a loud noise and that was over fifty years ago. Second, it is a world of death. That men with which you go through training just might end up with a bullet through him. Those bullets are very impersonal. It could have gone through you just as easily and when you’re there you suddenly realize it to a point you never knew before.

It is a world where you, that’s right, you pull a trigger as you look at the man coming at you. Then he falls in front of you none too soon. It is a place you didn’t want to go and you never want to go again. Yet, some men do. It is a scary, bloody place, many times a place of confusion. One minute, your convinced that the enemy is in front of you. Then suddenly, you hear shooting at you from the right or from behind.

When the marines landed at Da Nang, the Viet Cong hid in holes and let the marines by. Then they popped up and fired on the marines from behind them. How would you like to face a surprise such as that. The problem is that every war is different. The methods used in the last war just might not work.

I can’t tell you what it was really like because I’ve never really been there. Maybe I should shut my mouth but for one more thing. I did know what it was like to wake 2, 3 times at night to the horrendous, loud sound of rockets exploding. The only reason I lived through it was because they missed me. Some were not so fortunate. I arrived a little after the Tet offensive. Fortunately, I got all my education from that second hand. That was more than enough for me.

Then I come home and I hear what the experts say about the military, experts who have never been there. They say we should allow women at the front. I am no expert, but I have seen enough of it to say that’s not right. Putting women at the front lines should be a last resort, not SOP. I know it Mr. Expert because I have seen women close to combat situations and I know the problems it creates. When you are in a fight for your life, problems are one thing you don’t need.

The experts say that women are at the front now and just fine. Well, I would argue that point twice over. First, no women have ever been in a real battlefield condition. We have always had to superior forces by far. Secondly, every time they have been close, they have caused problems. The experts don’t want to believe it because they are all wrapped up in their cause of equality for women. “If they aren’t treated equally, they will not have the opportunity to advance in rank.” By the way, my best guess, if there were problems, they were covered over. The experts don’t like to admit failure.

Let me put this on you. When you are at war, the object is to win the war quickly with as few casualties as possible. The concept of equality for women’s rights is the furthest thing from my mind, or at least it should be. The job of an officer is military tactics, not social engineering.

The word I am thinking of when we turn officers and generals into social engineers is DISASTER. And all will know it if we send women into a real shooting war.

I know the experts disagree with me. However, most of the experts have never been there. Until they have been, they need to keep their mouths shut.