THE DRAFT!

The United States left Viet Nam in 1975 after spending our youth and dollars, a little at a time, and promptly put an end to the Draft.  Oh, by the way, we won the war in Nam and lost it in the news papers.
But the point of this missive is to convey to all my belief in the "Draft", Universal Military Training, if you will.  Since we, as a nation, did away with the Draft in favor of an all volunteer army look at what has happened to our youth.
So many of our young people have no discipline, no direction, no drive to succeed and no pride in self.  I maintain that two years of service in the military will produce a much different citizen than we see on the streets of many of our cities today.  The services instill a sense of pride in self and purpose in life. 
There are many things they can do in service to their country that do not require them to carry a weapon.  In the years of the "Great Depression", the 30's, the Civilian Conservation Corps, better known as the CCC was formed to clean up public parks, build camp sites, build roads and many other public facilities.
The point of all this is to teach our young people that there is more to life than just "hanging around" or "shooting a few baskets" or "snorting coke".  What a waste!.....Medicineman!

1st AMMENDMENT TOOK ANOTHER HIT!

For several days now the President has been attacked by the networks journalists (so called) for what happened in Charlottesville even after he has made the same statement over and over.
Was it a bad thing that happened?  Yes!  Has he said so? Yes! Now let's see if we can make some sense out of it.
The city decided to move the statues.  Some citizens thought it was a bad idea.  A group made up of KKK, White Supermen and others who opposed the move got a permit to "Peacefully Assemble".  Another group (who had no permit) confronted them in the street and the fight began.  Oh, and by the way, that bunch carried clubs.
You may ask, "Where were the police?"  Out manned, or something like that, was the excuse used to explain their actions (or lack of).  The "Main stream" press missed most of what I just pointed out!....Medicineman!

PHYSICS, LAW OF!

You remember High School Physics.  Everybody took it and some even remembered the basics.  For instance; What goes up must come down; Objects fall at a fixed rate of speed; Every action has a reaction, etc.
Let's talk about the action and reaction. The City Council in Charlottesville, VA decided to move monuments to Confederate heroes from the dedicated ground where they had stood for about 150 years to some other place (perhaps out of the way).  While it may have been a sound decision at the time the results were not so sound.  Many of the folks took umbrage to the idea and the word spread.  We saw the results in the streets of Charlottesville the other night.
This country was torn by Civil War and nearly destroyed and Americans fought on both sides for what they believed.  Both were led by great men who deserve their place in history.
We must teach our children the true history of how this country came to be or we can never survive the kind of street war we are exposed to more and more frequently!........Medicineman!

KOREA-------AGAIN!

Here it is ---back again.  Perhaps it never left?
When WWII ended we owned all of Korea.  Taken from the Japs who had been there some 200 years with their boot heal on their throats.  What did we do? We gave half of it to Stalin along with Manchuria (after he declared war on Japan a week before the surrender) and put the divider at the 38th parallel.  It was right back there again in 1953 after we lost some 35,000 men and another 8,000 plus MIA.
Now we have the offspring of the madman who was there in the '50's blowing his fireworks for all the world to see and begging for a fight.  South Korea is in pretty good shape to handle that "Idiot" close in and if he sends one our way put his lights out---what few they have up there.  Don't send our team back in that "Hell-Hole"!..........Medicineman!I

"THE BOSTON TEA PARTY"

When asked about our American Revolution the student of our history will most often know about, "The Boston Massacre", "Bunker Hill", "Lexington and Concord".  And then that student might say, "Oh, and the, "Boston Tea Party". That is our subject today.
Of the four English ships that sailed into port with the tea shipment only three docked.  The fourth was held up because of an outbreak of smallpox and had to be cleansed and "smoked".
"The sons of Liberty" that raided the ships disguised as Mohawk Indians were not the "Mob" of "ruffians" often described, but, actually a well disciplined group of citizens.  Did they destroy private property?  Yes!  Because the tea was owned by someone other than those who dumped in in the harbor.  But, only the tea was harmed.  They worked carefully for three hours at the task of opening the crates, throwing the tea in the bay and, because of low tide leaving only three feet of water, scattering the heaps of tea that formed.  They took great care to make sure that other goods on the ship was kept from harm.  They even straightened up the cargo, repaired the lock they broke and swept and cleaned up the mess they made.  And Samuel Adams (only his enemies called him "Sam") was not in the crowd but watched from shore......Medicineman!

COFFEE WITH THE BOYS

When I take my morning walk I sometimes, (no, always) end up having coffee with the boys.  Who are the "Boys"?
First of all you must realize that they are not really "boys".  They are mostly retired, mostly old, mostly alone and mostly talkers.  We all like to talk.  The problem is finding a time when your thoughts will be heard and considered, even though you have concluded that they are the most important words spoken so far.
Are they truthful, these remarks?  Mostly.  But now and then somebody comes up with a wild story that happened fifty years ago (maybe more) and of course not disputable.  Most of the coffee drinkers are veterans of the various conflicts from Korea, Nam, Desert Storm and all the other"incidents" so all have stories to tell.  Most of them happened just the way they tell it.  They saw it that way!
You may ask, "What good does it do"?  Good question!  "What harm does it do"?  Another good question!  The thing to remember is that some of these "story  tellers" would be sitting alone at home slowing slipping into that dark spot called Depression if not for COFFEE WITH THE BOYS!......Medicineman!

LEONARD WOOD--DOCTOR, GENERAL, ADVISOR TO PRESIDENTS!

The 1st U.S. Volunteer Cavalry, the "Rough Riders" that Teddy Roosevelt became famous for during the Spanish American War in the late 19th century was under the command of General Leonard Wood.  Many a draftee walked through the gates of Fort Leonard Wood (often called "Lost in the Woods").  He became a close adviser to Roosevelt and would remain so throughout his life.
 Leonard Wood graduated Harvard Medical School and became a Army contract surgeon and was awarded the Medal of Honor in 1886 for carrying dispatches through enemy territory and leading hand-to-hand combat against the Apache in the last Geronimo campaign.
In 1890 in became the second head football coach of Georgia Tech.  He then served as personal physician to presidents Cleveland and McKinley.
He was military governor of Cuba and the U.S. commander in the Philippines and in 1910 , he was the Army Chief of Staff.  He was one of the first patients to undergo successful brain surgery to remove a tumor.
He served as the military governor of the Philippines in 1920's and died in 1927. ...Medicineman!