Wether you have been in real combat or not you have an idea of what the sounds of war are like. If not from first hand experience then for sure everyone has seen war movies or listened to the news. The news brought the war to us via embedded correspondents until recently. That news had the sounds as well as the video of whatever the reporters could cover. That all changed with the modern tech world that we are living in. Ukraine has brought us all closer to the sense of being “IN” the battles right from our living room. There are a lot of sounds that never make the news. Let me explain.

Every citizen of any country at war experiences some effects and sounds of war. From the G.I. in the fox hole to the house wife at the grocery store, everyone will hear that to them represents war. Me too.

I was in the Navy in the 60’s. I was on board ship from 1962 thru most of 1965. My ship was a destroyer tender and it was equipped with every kind of shop you can think of from a foundry, a boiler repair shop, sail shop, optical shop, and on and on. I was a machinist on active duty after which I went on temp active duty in Grand Rapids as a recruiter for the SeeBees at the reserve center. This span covered the Cuban Crisis, The Viet Nam War, and the Detroit riots. I got to witness a LOT of the sounds of war, but nothing that sounded like a live battle. I was a machinist for crying out loud.

The first sounds of battle I heard during the Cuban crisis I was in California but when we went to high alert the sounds on board, even a tender, changed. The feeling was that a Nuclear attack was imminent, but it wasn’t, thankfully. The next was Viet Nam. The Gulf of Tonkin happened shortly before my discharge date. We were in Long Beach at the time. We knew that we had a presence in Viet Nam via special forces for some time, but again I was a machinist not involved with what that presence involved. An attack on one of our ships was felt on all of our ships. The angry words and calls for retaliation from my shipmates were indeed sounds of war (we had no idea that the Gulf of Tonkin was a lie). My ship was scheduled to deploy, but I was discharged early just because of timing. Returning to Grand Rapids, I took a temporary active duty post at the reserve center, a long way from S.E. Asia, but not as far away from the sounds of war as you might think. My duties took me to color guard duty for funerals for the return of the fallen. Dealing with their families not only brought different sounds of war. As many years as it has been I can still see the face of the sister of the 18 year old boy that just received his final salute. I can still heat her sounds of war as she threw the folded flag back at the officer that presented it to her. My duties also included ongoing training at the Great Lakes Naval Training Center. On my two weeks there I visited a childhood friend that was in the Naval hospital. He was in a rice patty part of a squad of marines, (10 men I believe) that came under heavy automatic arms fire. All I know about the event is that he took a round through both hips, (almost castrating him). After the shooting stopped and he became aware of his condition he had no idea that he was the only survivor nor did he know if he even still had legs left. He did not think that he would make it out alive. On my visit he told me that it was by the grace of God he survived, but he was not sure he was glad that he did. I heard some sounds of war that do not make the news, but believe me they are real. He was told that he would most likely never walk again. They were wrong! He did and does walk, but he still hears sounds of his war. There are others that carry not only physical scars, but also the recurring sounds that come at night. Those sounds are not 50 years away for them, they are reliving then each time they arrive. My wife’s father served in New Guinea WW ll. My wife says that he relived his battles at night with all the horrors and sounds of war that the Red Arrow Division suffered through.

Civil riots,(is that an oxymoron), bring a different kind of battle. I was in Long Beach when the Watts riots broke out. A friend of mine and I just happen to be driving thru Watts at the onset of the rioting. The sounds of these battles are very different because they are sounds of hatred, not just battle, but sounds none the less. Citizen against citizen…….. they were real ugly sounds of war.

While on duty at the reserve center the Detroit riots broke out. A lot of disruption broke out in a lot of locations besides Detroit. Our Naval district was concerned about the arsenal being a target for the rioters. Orders were issued for us to be prepared with automatic weapons to defend our location. We never did have any issues with security, thankfully, but we did deal with different sounds of war. War is ugly, and it carries with it as many different casualties, and sounds, as there are people that go through it.

The latest sounds of war are screaming at us now every day on television live. The innocent people of Ukraine are going through an unjust and illegal war right now. Putin is openly and blatantly committing CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY in complete defiance of international law. The surrounding countries are starting to come to their aid I pray that it will be enough. We here at home are in sad need of a LEADER!!! One that is able to show some strength instead of sending Putin our plans.

This is still a battle of good vs evil. Pray for good and pass the ammo to its defenders.

Dave of the Woods