Vietnam war reenactments

Bill in DC sends us Vietnam Buffs Bring Jungle to Va. with this comment: "I'm not sure whether this is merely deluded or outright obscene." I think it's probably a little of both.

Leaves rustled, and Robby Gouge, sweating in his jungle boots and Army fatigues, clutched his semiautomatic rifle tighter. He walked slightly crouched and listened intently, just as he thought his father might have done.

The 30-year-old son had come to the oak forests of central Virginia to relive his old man's war in Vietnam.

Walking behind Gouge on this hazy summer morning were a dozen men, toting gear culled from military surplus stores. Another team had fanned across the other side of the woods. A few men and women, dressed in the black pajamas of enemy fighters, waited in ambush.

Most war reenactments are staged to make history come alive for generations who know it only dimly from books. Vietnam, though, isn't quite history. To many people, it's a painfully current event.

Bill and I were both in the military during the debacle in the jungles of Vietnam. Although we were lucky enough to avoid Vietnam we knew and still know many who were not so fortunate. I imagine that the perceived glories of any war only come after the horrors are forgotten but the horrors of Vietnam are not forgotten by many. This is indeed deluded and sick. I have to wonder if their reenactment included burning human waste in 55 gallon drums.