Opinion Forum

Iraq and Vietnam

March 20th, 2013

By Jan Barry Nearly 6 years ago, I shared these thoughts as part of a panel discussion at The New School university in New York City, on May 10, 2007… Much of it still applies as Americans mark the 10th anniversary of invading Iraq. They are two different countries in different parts of the world. […]

Articles written by Jan Barry
Tags: critics, foreign policy, Iraq, lessons, strategy, veterans, Vietnam, war
Categories: History, Military, Politics | Comments (0) | Home

Teaching (and Learning) in Vietnam

March 13th, 2013

By Jan Barry Three decades after the end of the Vietnam War, Americans are welcome visitors and even classroom teachers in Vietnam. Before launching a career as a teacher in Texas, John Davin, a native of Rockland County, NY, decided to broaden his experience by teaching in Vietnam for a year. Armed with a degree […]

Articles written by Jan Barry
Tags: English, language, teachers for vietnam, Vietnam, volunteer, war zones
Categories: Education, Life, News | Comments (0) | Home

Moral Injury: Another Hidden Wound of War

February 24th, 2013

By Jan Barry Often lost in the translation of war, for soldiers as well as folks back home, is that much of what goes on in a war is a moral outrage. After a decade and more of warfare by American military forces in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and elsewhere in hot pursuit of elusive bands […]

Articles written by Jan Barry
Tags: Afghanistan, Iraq, moral injury, PTSD, suicide, VA, veterans, Vietnam
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Update: Agent Orange’s Toxic Trail

January 28th, 2013

By Jan Barry In the seaside city of Da Nang, Vietnam, a clean-up is underway to remove dioxin-contaminated soil at a former U.S. military air base. Some 8,500 miles to the east, another clean-up is underway to remove dioxin hot spots along the Passaic River in Newark, NJ and upstream, where tides and floods have […]

Articles written by Jan Barry
Tags: Agent Orange, birth defects, clean-up, illness, U.S., veterans, Vietnam
Categories: History, Military, Science | Comments (0) | Home

Winning Hearts and Minds

January 27th, 2013

By Jan Barry Fifty years ago, I turned 20 in Saigon, a very drunk and slap happy soldier in the service of the US Military Assistance Command Vietnam. We were making war, when we weren’t doing Happy Hours in every bar from Soc Trang to Da Nang, under slick counter-insurgency slogans like “Winning Hearts and […]

Articles written by Jan Barry
Tags: Agent Orange, anniversary, poetry, PTSD, suicide, veterans, war, WHAM
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