EVERY WAR FILLS OUR JAILS AND PRISON WITH OUR HEROES
HOMELESS, SUBSTANCE ABUSE, CRIME, PRISON: AMERICA THANKS ITS VETS
By Gordon Duff STAFF WRITER
Over 30 years ago I was asked to arrange security for Charles “Chuckie” Coulson, ex-con, ex-lawyer and recently awarded the Presidential Freedom Medal by President George “Katrina” Bush. “Chuckie” had just been released from prison for Watergate crimes and was touring America’s prisons to help instill inmates with the values that put him behind bars. Coulson, in his handmade Italian shoes, $2000 dollar suit and stage makeup, though a parolee himself, “deserved” security due a president or rock star.
Prisons and jails, then as now, were run by corrupt bureaucracies with garbage food, corrupt or brutal guards and gang rape a daily occurrence. It was almost as though the real “veterans preference” was the criminal justice system. Reviewing case files and trial transcripts showed a combination of violent criminals and victims of a corrupt legal system capable of jailing anyone for anything any time. Vets seems to be a high profile target. We have no reason to believe any of this has changed whatsoever.
Vietnam had only ended a few years earlier and the prisons visited were loaded to capacity with Vietnam veterans. While trudging, nearly hand in hand with the angelic Coulson, I spotted a familiar face in a cell in 4 block of Jackson Prison. It was Marine sniper and Vietnam war hero, “the Sandman,” Lance Corporal Daniel K. Staggs.
Every bit the Vietnam celeb that Carlos Hathcock was, Staggs was only one of dozens of combat vets in that cell block. In prison after prison, jail after jail, the story was the same, vets, combat vets, Marines, Rangers, Special Forces, “Brown Water” Navy guys, the guys who saw the most fighting in Vietnam were doing time, many “life without parole”.
Staggs was murdered in prison after being written up in one of those books about “Stolen Valor.” Thousands of Vietnam veterans died in prison, some serious criminals and some jailed for simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time or perhaps even the wrong color.
Hollywood has produced endless films depicting veterans, be it Oceans Eleven (the original), The Enforcers, or any number of 30’s gangster films or 40s-50s “Noir” cinema where veterans turn to violence and crime due to inability to adjust to civilian life. The themes were the same then and, in one of the few cases where movies and reality meet, vets really do end up in jail, be it non-payment of child support, domestic violence, drug offenses, vagrancy or murder.
With recent revelations showing one in four homeless people in the US to be veterans and no count being made of jail and prison populations, it is worth noting that the endless scandals of denied treatment, compensation and benefits at the VA are as likely to push veterans into a prison cell as a cardboard box.
With an economy “tanked” by 8 years of “gross misconduct” in Washington, wars with veterans victimized by endless deployments and military and veterans governmental agencies functioning at their usual standards of abuse, our massive prison population, perhaps the world’s largest, is likely to be filling to capacity again with vets.
With many veterans rejoining society jobless, homeless and with serious adjustment problems, our “business as usual” crooked criminal justice system and rampantly corrupt corrections systems will be creating more human tragedy. One good thing is that, once in prison, vets are “out of sight and out of mind.”
Not a second is spent thinking about what has gone wrong or how to fix it, only on how to cut off their benefits while they are incarcerated. Not a thought is given to the fact that incarceration may be a direct result of heroic service. How judgmental a people we are!
If any of you didn’t know or have forgotten, you have been reminded. You are now responsible for doing something about it.
Gordon Duff is a Marine Vietnam veteran and regular contributor on political and social issues.
Gordon Duff posted articles on VT from 2008 to 2022. He is a Marine combat veteran of the Vietnam War. A disabled veteran, he worked on veterans and POW issues for decades.
Gordon is an accredited diplomat and is generally accepted as one of the top global intelligence specialists. He manages the world’s largest private intelligence organization and regularly consults with governments challenged by security issues.
Duff has traveled extensively, is published around the world, and is a regular guest on TV and radio in more than “several” countries. He is also a trained chef, wine enthusiast, avid motorcyclist, and gunsmith specializing in historical weapons and restoration. Business experience and interests are in energy and defense technology.
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