http://www.dailytexanonline.com/medi...exanonline.com
A letter to the U TX newspaper:
A word on war parties
Just north of campus on San Jacinto lies the Delta Tau Delta Fraternity, currently extensively decorated in bamboo, sandbags and barbed wire. In front a sign proclaims "Mekong." Oh, I get it. The Delta Tau Delta's are going to party like they're U.S. GI's in the Mekong Delta. How quaint!
Am I to imagine that they'll dress in fatigues and ask their female guests to re-enact a scene from Full-Metal Jacket (a prostitute saying "Me love you long time")? Perhaps they'll invite Southeast Asian students to the party? Why not? They wouldn't find it offensive, would they?
In fact, it turns out that it's a tradition of the national fraternity that each year the chapters hold a Vietnam War-themed party. The TCU DTD Web page explains that this is a cherished tradition, "thrown in honor of former Delts who suffered in the Vietnam War at the Mekong Delta."
Just asking, but is decorating a frat house in bamboo and barbed wire, running around in fatigues, and drinking beer an authentic show of support to Vietnam Vets? The yellow ribbon on their wall says "Support Our Troops." Were they serious, they could give their time to the VA (
http://www1.va.gov/volunteer/) or give their decorations fund to wounded vets (
http://www.americasupportsyou.mil/).
If only there were a way to support the troops that didn't make me lift a finger. ... How about this: Show your solidarity with the troops by spending the weekend sober and celibate. See, servicemembers in Iraq and Afghanistan have General Orders prohibiting alcohol and extra-marital sex. Not much of a party, huh?
Here's the rub: I take offense that they're celebrating a war. Will there be My Lai Massacre Mai Tais? It does sound tasteless and offensive, right?
Dressing up in cammies and prancing around behind sandbags tells me how little they understand what war means. There are consequences; people die or are mutilated, there are physical and psychological scars. And they're having a party about it? You celebrate the end of a war, the end of the destruction, but I see these being overlooked and instead a mockery made of what veterans experienced and the hell that was visited upon Southeast Asia.
If this is their way of saluting the troops for their sacrifices, as a combat veteran (of a current war) I feel justified in returning their salute with one finger.
Tim Riley
Public Affairs graduate student
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