Research - Rehabilitation - Re-Employment

Sgt. Shaft 01/12/2004

Dear Sgt Shaft
Now that Sadam Hussein has been captured one of the first questions he should have been asked is "Where is Captain Scott Speicher." The Intelligence reports on Speicher before the 2003 Iraqi invasion stated that Speicher was held by Iraqi Intelligence, and that only Sadam Hussein and the head of Iraqi Intelligence had access to him. The head of Iraqi Intelligence "TAHIR JALIL HABBUSH AL-TIKRITI" is still at large. Speicher was also previously observed being moved during the "Shock and Awe" bombing. Speicher must be given a priority in the Sadam Hussein interrogation. The Vietnam era POW/MIAs must be given a renewed priority -- their plight has been put into the background due to 9/11 and the Iraqi invasion. quite a few American POW/MIAs still survive in South East Asia and other communist countries.

Roger H.
AOL.com

Dear Roger
I am confident that the Bush administration and the boots on the ground have the return of Capt Speicher as their highest priority. Watching Sadam, the mother of all cowards, crawl out his spider hole, one must wonder what kind of hellhole Captain Speicher is currently calling home. I am also confident that the search is still going on for any other POW’s and MIA’s or their remains from the Vietnam conflict

Shaft Kudos
A high five to Northern Virginia residents Taylor B. Kiland the writer and Jamie Howren Quinn the photographer for their emotional tribute entitled “Open Doors: Vietnam POW’s thirty years later. This moving tribute highlights the lives of thirty airmen who became some of the longest surviving prisoners of the Vietnam conflict since their return three decades ago. This stirring exhibit is on display until January 25, 2004 at the Decatur House in Washington DC.

A fund raising diner will be held to recoup production and traveling costs associated with Open Doors on Thursday, January 22, 2004, 6-9 p.m. at the Decatur House. Tickets will be $200 per person and are a fully tax-deductible charitable donation.

The event is sponsored by CACI International Inc as the title sponsor and Northrop-Grumman as a supporting sponsor. The dinner will feature a distinguished panel of speakers, including former POWs, POW wives who were active in a national and international campaign to secure their husbands' release, medical experts who have studied PTSD and tracked the physical and emotional health of the POWs over the last 30 years -- as well as a well-known wartime reporter who made a movie about Vietnam starring Mel Gibson.

The panel moderated by: Mr. Joe Galloway - Knight-Ridder syndicated columnist, and author of We Were Soldiers Once … and Young will include:

The Honorable Everett Alvarez, Jr. - former Vietnam POW (longest-held aviator - held 8 ½ years), President and Founder of Conwal, Inc., retired Navy Commander, chair of the VA's CARES Commission

Doris Day - wife of former Vietnam POW Colonel George E. "Bud" Day, USAF (Ret.), single mother of four children while her husband was in captivity for more than five years and early POW-MIA activist

Phyllis Galanti - wife of former Vietnam POW Commander Paul Galanti, USN (Ret.), early POW-MIA activist

Captain Robert E. Hain, Medical Corps, USN, (Ret.) - Director of the Robert E. Mitchell Center for Prisoner of War Studies, Pensacola, Florida

Hal Kushner, MD, FACS - former POW held in South Vietnam for more than five years, ophthalmologist, retired Army Colonel

The Honorable Orson Swindle - former Vietnam POW, Federal Trade Commissioner, retired Marine Lieutenant Colonel

Robert J. Ursano, MD - Professor and Chair of the Department of Psychiatry at the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences, renowned expert in PTSD

Additional information regarding the exhibit and dinner can be obtained by contacting

Taylor Kiland at TaylorBKiland@aol.com or by phone at 415-290-3598

For many years, I have been mesmerized by the heroism of good buddy Everett Alvarez and his fellow POW’s. Everett was recently quoted as saying, “ The best thing I did was just be there. The stories go that [my cell mates] used to say, 'I used to feel sorry for myself, but then I’d look at you” The fact that he was still surviving, still fighting and still sane boosted the spirits of the others who were captured after him. “ In their minds, I was still making it. It wasn’t anything prophetic I said or heroic I did. I was just..there…and still playing the game. And as Commander Paul Galanti, USN (Ret.) eloquently stated

“There’s no such thing as a bad day when you have a door knob on the inside of the door.”

Taylor also provided a good summary when she wrote in her introduction to the exhibit

"For these men were not given celebrity treatment by today’s standards. They weren’t given book deals or movie deals or publicists or a million dollars. Rather, they were asked to resume their roles as husbands and fathers and to salvage their careers. Some families survived; others broke apart. But the men didn’t. Most flourished. None of them would claim to be perfect, but they refuse to be bitter and they take great pride in their individual accomplishments. Most relish life, for they know that God understands them intimately – and that life always presents new doors of opportunity to open. Peel away the layers of masculinity and you’ll find strong fiber at their core. They don’t want pity; they don’t want help. Take a look at where life has taken them … or, more appropriately, where they’ve taken their lives. "

Send letters to Sgt. Shaft, c/o John Fales, P.O. Box 65900, Washington, D.C. 20035-5900; fax to 301-622-3330; call 202-462-4430 or email sgtshaft@bavf.org.

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