Commentary
Why you won't see more veterans at the fireworks show
by Ken KalishPark Rapids, Minn. — There was a time I used to love fireworks in the park. For me there's no piece of holiday music that compares to the 1812 Overture accompanied by artillery. It's the best ... so long as I'm watching it (and the fireworks) on TV.
Here's the problem. Somewhere between my adolescence and the birth of my first child, fireworks displays began to rely more and more heavily on an effect called "The Salute." "Salutes" are those shells that emit little in the way of light when they explode. Instead they produce an ear-splitting boom accompanied by a concussive wave that feels as though it could damage your organs.
Some people probably find it exhilarating. But not me ... because something else happened to me between adolescence and parenthood. In 1967, I went off to war. My first year in Vietnam was spent in almost daily combat -- 114 firefights in my first 116 patrols. I learned that B-40 rockets, hand grenades, mortar rounds, artillery and mines all make distinctive sounds. Anyone who's been in combat knows that almost every time we heard those sounds ... it was either because they were trying to kill us or because we were trying to kill them.
Those of us who've been in combat don't like to make a big deal out of it, but next time you're in the park watching fireworks, take a look around. A lot of veterans -- as patriotic as they come -- won't be there.
All of the pretty designs and crackling showers are fine. Most combat veterans can appreciate the beauty of a parachute flare dancing in the battlefield's night air, or the distant tracers spraying brilliant fountains of orange and green during a nighttime firefight. Those so-called "Salutes," though -- they're too much like the real thing.
I don't need to relive the terror of incoming shells, the hot blast of mines, the squeeze-the-breath-out-of-you concussion of a near miss. Those are sensations that used to come with a buddy's violent loss of life or limbs. I can do without the vivid reminders, thank you.
Please. If you're in charge of planning a fireworks display this 4th of July, please, please, please. Bring on the rockets' red glare. But give the combat veterans in your audience a real salute, and leave out bombs bursting in air.
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Ken Kalish, who served as a gunner on river patrol in Vietnam and as an announcer with American Forces Viet Nam Network, operates a llama rescue service in Park Rapids.
Comments (15)
Excellent commentary. Thank you Ken, for sharing your thoughts.
I served in the Mekong Delta from 1967 to 68. As bad as the controlled fireworks displays are for Ken Kalish and me, what I find worse are the unexpected eruptions of firecrackers, and loud "salutes" in neighborhoods--they leave me shaking. My world literally stops when I hear one. I'm not transported back to Vietnam as happens with some veterans. Instead, I am rendered momentarily numb. My world is briefly silenced. Nothing gets in. When I get my pieces together, I think in regard to the person who set it off, "You have no idea what you are doing." I can't speak for all veterans but the ones I know who have actually been in combat would just as soon have skipped the experience. It was neither fun nor glamorous and generally we try to leave it in the past. Our gift to America every year is to stand quietly and let the pain of our past bubble to the surface on the 4th while you take your pleasure watching fireworks in the park. There are a lot better ways to honor our country and our veterans than to mimic sounds of war, but if you must, please confine all of your fireworks to advertised community displays. Keep them out of our neighborhoods. Thank you.
I appreciate what all the veterans have done to preserve our country and I can't imagine what PTSD is like. From the description of your reaction to fireworks, PTSD is what you suffer from. It is a serious medical condition that you should seek help for. The 4th of July is not a holiday exclusively for veterans. It is a holiday for ALL AMERICANS to take pride in their country. There are more somber occasions like Veterans Day and Memorial Day for us all to pay tribute to those who have served our country. I for one LOVE fireworks displays, and the loud SALUTE is my favorite part. Asking the greater populous to go without something we greatly enjoy for the good of a few who suffer from this admittedly horrible condition seems to go against all that our country is based on. So while I appreciate your service to our country and sympathize with your medical condition, I have to disagree with the stance of the original essay and the subsequent post.
I don't know, Dwight. I'm with Ken and I have never served in the military nor do I have PTSD. I just don't care much for the loud booms. I go to a fireworks show to *watch* not *feel* the explosions.
I also agree with Don that I'd appreciate fewer "booms" and screaming bottle rockets in my MPLS neighborhood. They scare the daylights out of my pets, who sometimes pee on the floor! And it's not just on the 4th, it seems to go on all summer long, not to mention New Years and any other holiday you can think of. Last year someone was setting of fireworks for St. Patrick's Day!
On the other hand, I agree that the 4th is a holiday for everyone, and indeed even Ben Franklin predicted we'd be celebrating it throughout our history with fireworks. I don't think we should cancel fireworks displays, I just wonder if most of the audience actually likes those big booms. I know my family doesn't.
My buddy had just gotten out of the army after being in Viet Nam. As we were walking into the yard some one had lit off a fire cracker at which point he immediately hit the ground. Locally the salutes are used very little and I hope it's due to being sensitive about there effect on people.
Thanks Ken for reminding us another of the things we unwittingly ask of our servicemembers. I'm guessing its not disclosed at the recruiting centers (much less the draft boards of the past) that 'By the way, you just might never enjoy a fireworks display again.'
Re Dwight Gorden's comments. Sorry that combat vets PTSD inconveniences your enjoyment of explosions. I hope that you never develop "exaggerated startle response" from the experiences that triggered ours.
I have no problem avoiding managed fireworks displays that most towns offer on the 4th. I can't abide the large "bombs" set off by my neighbors. They're illegal, and every year people are treated for burns and worse after having "fun" at home with these explosives.
Vets aren't always placid when sudden bursts of powder thunder near them. I've seen resulting uncontrolled rage ofter enough to worry about buddies' reactions.
Enjoy yourself. Dwight, you are a most understanding and forebearing person and I'm happy that you won't have to make any sacrifices for your country. We've already done that for you.
4th of July fireworks are disturbing to combat veterans. Period. I am the wife of a combat veteran, writing here to say that the veteran does not "get over" the combat experience. PTSD is a condition with which the veteran lives. It is not a condition from which one "recovers." It is instead an ongoing sacrifice the veteran pays for our freedoms.
I do not have problems with the explosions when I am watching a fireworks display. I expect the noise and salutes(?). What I have problems with is the sound of the rockets which are reminiscent of illumination flares used to light up the night. I also have problems, though not serious, with unexpected explosions.
I agree with you Ken . . .
I used to love watching, listening and yes, even firing off my own fireworks when I was younger; and like you, I was in combat almost daily during my tour of duty in Vietnam during 1969 as a Marine platoon corpsman.
I can watch and listen to fireworks from a distance or watch the display on television, but in person it is NOT going to happen for me ever again.
I live with the constant reminder of what combat is like, the sights, the sounds, the smells and wish everyday that the human race could live peaceably with one another, so that our present and future military personnel do NOT have to experience combat like I did.
God Bless America and Semper Fi Marines and Corpsmen!
Kent Hill, Hospital Corpsman
3rd Platoon D Company
1st Battalion 26th Marines
RVN 1969
I happen to know Ken personally. He is your typical, modest, soft spoken, nice, seriously intelligent, real life American hero. Except his description would be "just another river rat".
The main point was missed. Ken himself, out of modesty, left it out. The point being what the Fourth of July and other holidays should be about. Enjoy your hot dogs, ribs, chicken, beer and fireworks. This is not about Ken, nor about PTSD. This is about spending just one minute appreciating the sacrifices made by so many in order for us to enjoy this and every day.
Did anybody go see the fireworks tonight? Which ones got the biggest reaction? The biggest and the loudest were enjoyed by everybody in attendance at the display that I was at. It is interesting that only Vietnam Veterans are posting responses to this article. I feel really sorry for these fellas who were suckered into fighting a war that had nothing to do with the USA. It's too bad that they were used as pawns by our government in a useless effort to ward off the Red Scare. Guess what Vietnam is still not a free country and Communist China is still a world leader. I'm not saying that going to war didn't suck for you guys BUT in hindsight wasn't it really all in vain? I don't doubt that you sacrificed for your country as you were directed to do BUT a real American Hero? I think not! More like another poor sucker who fell prey to the real big business behind the red white and blue. The Vietnam war just as the wars of today are exclusively based on preserving the disparity of wealth in this country and the world at large! So unless you are some fat cat oil baron or land magnate the wars that the USA has been involved with for the last 50 years have done nothing to preserve your rights but only preserve your position Under the Thumb of THE MAN! So don't try getting up on some soap box to whine about how the loud firecrackers make you feel bad. Listen to the 1812 overture on full volume and go berzerk! Get MAD and GET EVEN!
It's never occurred to me to watch my husband's reaction to the "salute." He was a child in the Budapest ghetto in WWII, spending untold hours in a bomb shelter with his grandmother. How many other more recent refugees or immigrants have similar experiences? Thank you, Ken, I will be watchful.
I came home from Iraq on bereavement leave to Belle Plaine for my mother's funeral. She had been ill for some time, but it was still rough losing her and I do still miss her. After the funeral, the family congrated at the farm to chat and relive good memories. My brother decided to help Dad out by using the tractor with the snow blower to clear off the drive and make a path to the house. I was sitting against a corner wall in the kitchen when the snow blower started pelting snow against the side of the house. I instantly reacted, got low and bolted into an interior room away from the "machine gun fire". My non-military background family got a terrific laugh out of it. I smiled too after my heart rate slowed back down and I regained awareness of where I was.
Hello Ken; I still have one more photo of you leaning over the the bow, starboard side of a SWIFT w/M-16
Dude, you really needed a hair cut.
TGOSSATTBOD
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