Doug Anderson’s review of Gary Rafferty’s Nothing Left to Drag Home, which Medic edited, was first published in CounterPunch on 4 July 2022. La vida es corta, pero amplia. Life is short but wide. – Spanish Proverb In writing about my own experience in Vietnam, and reading about that of others, I have become aware […]
During the winter of 2022, when Medic first proposed to edit Gary Rafferty’s war memoir “Nothing Left to Drag Home: The Siege of Lao Bao, Written by an Artillery Who Survived It, the work seemed simple enough. The project would take two weeks at most. Three months later the edits were completed. During that time […]
Medic met Gary Rafferty at a William Joiner Center Writer’s workshop in 2000. Recently Gary and Medic sat down to discuss his war memoir. What follows is an excerpt from “Nothing Left To Drag Home: The Siege at Lao Bao During Operation Dewey Canyon II–Lam Son 719, as Told by an Artilleryman Who Survived It,” […]
“Thank you for your service.” A half century after Vietnam retired firefighter Gary Rafferty manages to smile but his thoughts are elsewhere. His service? Clearly not his descent into a tropic hell. Most civilians prefer not to know about that. Why else would they trot out the worn cliche? But for a moment let Gary […]
In 1997 Medic met Bruce Weigl at a William Joiner Center Writer’s Workshop held at U Mass Boston. Bruce is the author of several books of poetry and prose. He has returned to Vietnam many times, speaks the lingo and knows Bao Ninh. To help with a story he’s writing Bruce recently asked me what […]
Medic asked his grunt and Arty friends if they smoked weed in Vietnam. Officers and NCOs were asked how they handled men who did pot. Here are the replies: Arlan Ervasti Bravo 1/7 Cav ’69 I was in Vietnam from April till late Oct 1970. I can’t recall anyone smoking dope or getting high in […]
Lao Bao: A Blast From the Past, by Gary Rafferty
In 2022 Medic edited Gary Rafferty’s memoir Nothing Left to Drag Home: The Siege at Lao Bao During Operation Dewey Canyon II-Lam Son 719, as Told by an Artilleryman Who Survived It. Three years later I sent Gary the above photo, found on the internet, and vaguely captioned “U.S. artillerymen relax under a crudely made […]