Response to Dr. Gutman
Contributed by Russ Vaughn
My recent listing of the symptoms of Chronic Warrior Syndrome on this site and American Thinker elicited a higher than usual number of responses, all favorable except for the Marine who chided me for not including a symptom that is becoming epidemic: the uncontrollable impulse to put a boot up the ass of any civilian who gives you a big friendly grin and says, “Hi, I’m a reporter for…”
One insightful response came from someone who knows syndromes and liberals well, Laura Gutman, MD, an associate clinical professor of pediatrics, who happens to be a Navy veteran of the Vietnam era and a present day conservative warrior operating behind enemy lines in the hostile environment of a major American university. Dr. Gutman had this to say: Dear Mr. Vaughn,
THANK you so much for your thoughts. As you say, how is it possible that such an obvious insight has been obscured for so long? It is an astounding reflection on our “therapeutic” culture that these Chronic Warrior Traits, traits which all sane civilizations recognize to be solid gold and the core of national strength, are instead mutated into a pathology.
I wonder if you served with my husband, Robert Gutman, who was at the Da Nang hospital intermittently from 1966 through 1968. I had the amazing good fortune to be able to serve at NAMRU-2 in Taipei at the same time, so we were much of the time together. As with all who serve in the military, it was life-transforming in every positive way. For me, that was not a surprise because I was/am an Army Brat, and always feel most at home when I happen to drive onto an Army base. The air is different, and everything is as it should be.
These days I occasionally try to explain to friends why I feel responsible for the future of the nation. Why am I a hawk? I live in an intensely academic town, maximally liberal, and descriptions fall flat when I mention that it is up to us to remember that nations can fail, that an active military defense is often preemptive, that patriotism is essential and has to be taught to our children, that being liked by other nations is not my highest aspiration for this nation, that civil rights are best when the accompanying responsibilities are accepted and very clear, that we need to strengthen our leaders, that defense of the nation is a core value, or that not all cultures are equal (I really do think that cannibalism is inferior). It is with the very greatest gratitude that I think of the time I had as a military child and with the Navy as an adult, and I have drawn on the habits of those years all my life. I wish my friends were as lucky, and believe that their lives are the lesser for not having the experiences of being responsible for, literally, the well-being of our nation.
Thank you again, Laura T. Gutman, M.D.
I responded to Dr. Gutman: Dr. Gutman, thanks for your response. I never made it as far north as Da Nang. However, I do very much share that feeling you describe upon entering a military installation. I have spent more than 30 years marketing medical products to the military nationwide and overseas, to the extent that I feel I am still very much a part of that community even though my own active duty ended forty years ago. I still do some occasional consulting and attend some military medical conferences and I always feel better when I'm among these young warriors we have today. I was at the special operations medical conference in Tampa back in December, and I can tell you, the young doctors, PA's, nurses, medics and corpsmen I met there are an incredible resource our nation can be very proud of. They are fit, sharp, smart and totally dedicated as are so many of our modern warrior class. Many old soldiers like to think that the troops of their time were superior to what we have now. Having visited places like Fort Bragg, Fort Benning, Fort Campbell, Fort Hood, Camp Lejeune, Camp Pendleton, San Diego and Pensacola in the past year, I can tell you, those old soldiers are badly mistaken. We are fielding the fittest, best-educated and best-trained warriors this country has ever produced. Every time I'm among them, I come away proud and impressed.
I also am very impressed with your comments. Thanks again for writing and thanks for serving. And thanks most of all for continuing to serve behind enemy lines. I'll bet you'd have made a great paratrooper.
Russ Vaughn
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