A 60-year reunion, and promise for the future

“Off the grid!” Yep your editor called it correctly. I had the column written and with me on a flash drive but my laptop was out of juice so I couldn’t send it. Oh but it is a new world and we are all tied up electronically now. The new normal.

A good part of my intended column last week was a tribute to recently departed former Gazette editor Gene O. Morris. I found his funeral well done and was impressed that former Governor Ben Nelson attended in honor of Gene. We had a short and friendly visit. Both agreed that Mr. Morris was an excellent writer that almost never revealed his own political bias when reporting the area news. My fellow columnist Mike Hendricks also paid Gene a nice tribute in his Mike at Night column.

Grannie and this old soldier were in Colorado Springs attending a class reunion of my Academy college classmates. Sixty years. Good people five retired general officers among them.

At the Air Force Academy we were privileged to watch the new cadets, 1200+ of them, march back from the area where they had been roughing for a week on a bivouac. Quite a group of highly intelligent and confident young men and women. I searched out Marc Allerheiligen, grandson of Judy and Doctor Dave that served in this community some years ago. Prayers for Marc that he will do as well as his father Nate who graduated from that institution and is now a Bird Colonel in charge of an ROTC unit in Pennsylvania

Part of the reason for my classmates to meet at this time was to participate in a heritage orientation for all the new cadets. I was privileged to stand by a large brass plaque dedicated to the aircrews who flew the KC-135 in the Vietnam War. Proudly I pointed to my name which is on that plaque. Speaking to groups of about twenty of the aspiring young officers, I noted that 64 years ago that day I too was in their shoes and I didn’t like the experience that they were going through in their basic training any better than they were “enjoying” it. However if a young farm kid from Western Nebraska could make it through that tough school then there was no doubt that they could too. I may be a bit prejudiced in favor of those who choose to serve in our Air Force.

Far too often of late I have noticed an advertisement urging persons to get involved in a lawsuit against the makers of Roundup. The hope is that some (fuzzheaded) jury somewhere will force the makers of Roundup to cough up an award of multi-$$$$ to a person/group caused great physical harm (allegedly) by exposure to Roundup. Conveniently omitted is that lawyers involved will rake off a big percentage (80%?) of that hoped for settlement hence the search for ever more victims.

The whole scheme is a rip-off and has the potential to cause great harm to agriculture in this part of the country. Roundup is the popular trade name of the herbicide known to farmers as glyphosate. A herbicide it kills weeds in about every crop grown in this area as well in our lawns. Scientists have developed crop varieties that are “Roundup Ready” meaning that they can be sprayed with glyphosate to kill the weeds and not affect the desired crop. It is cheaper and preserves essential moisture for the growing crop than mechanically cultivating the soil. Especially important in raising crops with low profit margins as exist today.

Read the label. There are instructions for the herbicide applicator to wear gloves and protective clothing when using Roundup and I suspect that nearly all commercial applicators adhere to those instructions but I also doubt individuals spraying our own lawns pay any attention. In actuality the herbicide is essentially very safe to use.

These lawsuits in search of ill-informed juries and liberal/green judges will only needlessly raise the price of these chemicals essential to our agriculture today and cause great financial harm to your local farmer friends.

I’m reminded of the Agent Orange fiasco where all sorts of maladies affecting military veterans of Vietnam are blamed on spraying of Agent Orange.

It is interesting that the same chemicals used in the U.S. agricultural industry at that time had no effect on the death/disease rate for those persons applying the same chemical as used in Vietnam when used domestically.

At our reunion I visited with a friend who had flown the C-123s equipped with spray booms doing the Ranch Hand mission for a year defoliating the jungle with “Agent Orange”. He participated in all those studies and experiences none of the maladies supposedly attributed to Agent Orange. Those studies revealed no differences in the disease rate of a control group that flew similar aircraft on different missions. In Wayne’s opinion, and in agreement with mine it is a hoax a money making scheme for crooked lawyers.

It is a total hoax and yes this old Vietnam Vet is qualified to collect those Agent Orange “benefits” had I shown any of the symptoms of the listed diseases. Still I refuse to participate. A terrible waste of taxpayer money in my opinion.

That is the way I saw it.

__ Dick Trail