A Final Salute

I just found out that Col. David Hackworth, one of the military's most-decorated soldiers ever, died Wednesday at the age of 74. He died in Mexico from cancer believed to have been caused by Agent Blue and/or Agent Orange, the defoliants used extensively in Vietnam. Col. Hackworth was long a champion of the everyday soldier, and over the past ten or twenty years had become one of the most strident critics of career brass he labeled "Perfumed Princes." He called Vietnam a "bad war," and said we should have gotten out of there long before we did. He was also highly critical of the US invasion of Iraq, and wrote many times about the Bush administration's illegal use of the military and shameful treatment of America's veterans.

I always enjoyed reading his no-nonsense articles, coming as they did from a perspective of someone who had witnessed combat first-hand on many occasions and who did not suffer fools (or chickenhawks, like most members of the current administration) gladly. He will be greatly missed.