It’s good to hear from the experts: you two must have served in combat to have such well-formed opinions.
On the other hand, there’s my experience. I served for 17 months in direct combat in Vietnam and I hated fireworks displays, at least the ones that included those damn aerial bombs.
You see what your lives would be like if, for a significant period of your lives you had to stare at the ground ahead of you intently to try to avoid getting blown apart or had to dread that first steel-door slam of a mortar round hitting near you. Worse, try to imagine what it would be like to be able to hear the screams mixed into the bang when someone near you was caught in the blast.
You spend decades diving under things when a blast catches you by surprise, ducking your head down into your shoulders if you’re more prepared.
I voluntarily committed myself to more combat even after being hit badly and nearly a year in the hospital rebuilding my body.
I never cheated my family out of their 4th of July fireworks but I hated how it felt.
But I’m sure that your experience was better than mine.
I volunteered Army, volunteered Infantry, volunteered Airborne and never saw combat. I at not point slandered you, or those who have seen combat. If you can't see the agenda driving this article then I can't help you.
I can remember first reading about this in an article about Bob Kalsu (the Buffalo Bills player who served and died in Vietnam about 1970). The last time he was on leave, he went to meet his wife in Hawaii and this took place around July 4th. Apparently, they were sitting somewhere minding their own business when someone set off fireworks nearby and the noise really unnerved and upset Kalsu, so as a result I do not doubt this sort of thing and what you have written about from that personal perspective.
There was a 23 y.o. camp counselor recently back from a tour in Viet Nam. Rumor had it that in response to loud noises he could be made to "hit the deck" and the other cruel kids and I wanted to see. I don't remember if we used fire crackers or just banged the side of the tent platform in which slept, but we did something and it worked. He rolled out of bed and under his cot more than once that summer.
We felt like powerful little 14 year olds after that. I'm ashamed to have been a part of that.
Thank you Chainmail.
I was about to send them a reply similar to yours.
I served 24 months in combat in Vietnam. I never experienced shell shock, but I saw some of my buddies come back with it. It’s odd, the event I think about the most was during a firefight when I shot a young VC woman, took away her AK47 and then got her to a MASH so that she wouldn’t die. People who’ve never been in combat cannot possibly know what it’s like.