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#1
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03-08-2009, 11:02 PM
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 My Rank: LANCE CORPORAL Poster Rank:1835 Join Date: Feb 2009 Posts: 279 Mentioned: 0 Post(s) Quoted: 5 Post(s)
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Napalm - The Smell of Victory
“You smell that? Do you smell that? Napalm, son. Nothing else in the world smells like that. I love the smell of napalm in the morning. You know, one time we had a hill bombed, for twelve hours. When it was all over I walked up. We didn’t find one of ‘em, not one stinkin’ dink body. The smell, you know that gasoline smell, the whole hill. Smelled like - victory” Apocalypse now (1979) Napalm is any of a number of flammable liquids used in warfare, often jellied gasoline. Napalm is actually the thickener in such liquids, which when mixed with gasoline makes a sticky gel. The name is a combination of the names of ingredients, naphthenic and palmitic acids. These were added to the flammable substance to cause it to gel. There are many types of napalm, many different compositions of this crap are around and have been for many years and many wars. Napalm is a powder that is mixed with gasoline to set fire and instill fear. It is a gel or thick solution to make it adhere to surfaces. Napalm will kill or wound by immolation and by asphyxiation. It burns the victims in various degrees. The asphyxiation comes from the carbon monoxide produced, it makes it hard to breathe causing the victims to pass out. A tiny percent of this in the air is fatal within less than an hour because it replaces the oxygen with carbon monoxide. A large amount of carbon monoxide is produced once a napalm bomb is set off, which makes it hard for people to breathe, causing them to pass out and burn. When Napalm ignites, it rapidly deoxygenates the available air. Oxygen is replaced with carbon monoxide (CO) as a result of incomplete combustion. As little as 0.4 percent CO is fatal in one hour because of the high affinity between carbon monoxide and hemoglobin. Napalm creates a localized atmosphere of at least 20 percent carbon monoxide.  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  · |
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#2
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03-08-2009, 11:04 PM
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 My Rank: SERGEANT Poster Rank:942 Join Date: Dec 2008 Posts: 773 Mentioned: 0 Post(s) Quoted: 5 Post(s)
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Re: Napalm - The Smell of Victory
My dad is a Vietnam Vet. He RARELY talks about what went on over there and he WILL NOT talk about Napalm. Useless trivia. Just in case I am a Jeopardy category one day.
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#3
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03-08-2009, 11:33 PM
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| My Rank: LANCE CORPORAL Poster Rank:1835 Join Date: Feb 2009 Posts: 279 Mentioned: 0 Post(s) Quoted: 5 Post(s)
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Re: Napalm - The Smell of Victory
Natarella, God bless your Dad. They were all young innocent men and women who were thrown into a war where they had no information to go on. They came back to a Country where they were just ignored and pushed aside and told to "forget about it". Have you gone with him to the Vietnam Memorial in Washington DC? It is one of the most powerful and emotional places you will ever see. You feel the tears in your stomach, they are working their way up your throat, you try to swallow them back down but they come back up and pour out of your eyes. If you go, bring a can of Spam as an offering. Your dad will know exactly what I mean. Again, God bless your dad and all the Vietnam Vets. |
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#5
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03-09-2009, 12:01 AM
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 My Rank: GUNNERY SERGEANT Poster Rank:667 male Join Date: Feb 2009 Posts: 1,294 Mentioned: 0 Post(s) Quoted: 9 Post(s)
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Re: Napalm - The Smell of Victory
god is imaginary so "it" doesnt exists why "it" would bless that vietnam veterans and didnt blessed and helped those ppl who died in vain ?? |
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#6
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03-09-2009, 06:57 PM
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| My Rank: SERGEANT Poster Rank:942 Join Date: Dec 2008 Posts: 773 Mentioned: 0 Post(s) Quoted: 5 Post(s)
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Re: Napalm - The Smell of Victory
Thank you so much for your words of encouragement! My dad is truly a great man, although he is now suffering from Post Tramatic Stress. (He has always suffered, it's just come to head now that he has retired) My mother and father took a vacation to the "yankee" states a while back and went to see the Vietnam Wall in DC. Dad had horrible nightmares that night from the memories. Years ago, they had the traveling wall and that stopped in my area, so we went to see it. I was only about 11 or 12 then, so while I didn't completely understand I do now. I understand a lot more now. My heart breaks for the men like my father who fought for their country and come home to be spit on. The day my father came home, he got off the plane in the town where his base was at. As he got off the plane, there was a group of hippies at the end of the area. Before my father saw my mother one hippie decided it would be a good idea to walk up to my 6'5" father and spit in his face. After all the gore and horrible acts my father had just seen and done he was able to just walk away. I couldn't have walked away. Just goes to show that some people can bend and not break. My father is older now and its getting to where he is starting to break. I am rambling. I better stop this before I start crying. I use to wake up late at night and hear my father crying in his sleep. A man who would rather die then to shed a tear awake, crying and screaming in his sleep. You never truly know the impact until it's all done and over with. |
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#7
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03-09-2009, 07:01 PM
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 My Rank: PRIVATE Poster Rank:8379 male of course! Join Date: Feb 2009 Posts: 20 Mentioned: 0 Post(s) Quoted: 0 Post(s)
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Re: Napalm - The Smell of Victory
my gramps was in that war.i ve really wanted to ask him about it but never could. i remember him being full of life and happy before he left. when he came back he totally changed. my grandmother died not seeing him back to normal. its pretty messed up.
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#9
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03-09-2009, 07:51 PM
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| My Rank: LANCE CORPORAL Poster Rank:1835 Join Date: Feb 2009 Posts: 279 Mentioned: 0 Post(s) Quoted: 5 Post(s)
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Re: Napalm - The Smell of Victory
Natarella, I almost cried reading your post. A close family friend (so close we called him 'uncle') was in Vietnam. A straight laced, hard working young man left for war and came back unable to hold a job or relationship. No Vietnam vet got any help at all when they came back, and on top of everything, their own country ignored them. It's pretty typical that after 30-35 years, the emotions are as raw as if it happened yesterday. WWII vets came back as heros. They were the defenders and protectors of the American way of life from the evils of fascism, Nazis, and those damn 'Pearl Harbor bombing' Japanese. Although they had no "therapy" to speak of, they were embraced by the American people. Ticker tape parades, homecoming parades, GI bills for free college or trade school, very low cost mortgages for homes in the new suburbia. Vietnam vets had none of that. I was a young girl when "The Deer Hunter" came out. My parents went to see it. People had to be carried out, crying and shaking hysterically. It was the FIRST movie about Vietnam and one of the first movies that did not glamorize war. I hope your dad somehow finds some comfort in this life. He is lucky to have a daughter like you. |
