Operation Flak Jacket - We've Got Your Back

In World War II, military service was common, if not expected.  Americans fought the war and returned in large numbers to resume their lives with the support of a grateful nation.  Veterans of the Korean War returned to a nation less emotionally invested in a war that was viewed as distant and not widely understood.  Viet Nam veterans returned to a cynical nation that often failed to recognize the sacrifice of their service in a war that had seen waning support for years before its end.  In all cases, these troops returned with experiences and emotions that can be fully understood by very few.

With the transition from an active draft to a fully volunteer service in the mid 70’s, the percentage of the population who have served has declined sharply.  The following graph from the Gallup organization depicts the fact that military service is no longer a commonly shared experience.

During ten years of war in Iraq and Afghanistan, a very small percentage of the population has carried the load.  Unlike the Viet Nam era, these troops are returning to a supportive nation, but are faced with an isolation caused in part by the fact that they are the exceptional minority who exist in a population that by and large has no basis of understanding for some of what now shapes their emotions and perceptions. 

Dave Brooks, newly elected Commandant of the Shutt Detachment, has some sensitivity to what these troops may be feeling.  An Army reservist in the mid 60’s, Brooks enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1966 after a friend was wounded in Viet Nam.  After training as a Combat Engineer and going through jungle training, he arrived in Viet Nam on Mother’s Day in 1967.  Serving with the 11^th Engineer Battalion in Dong Ha, Con Thien, and the area around Khe Sanh, Brooks worked on building roads and infrastructure in an area that that was the scene of fierce fighting as the North Vietnamese Army mounted a strong offensive.

Ed Aucoin and Dave Brooks of the Shutt Detachment

Luck often comes in degrees.  Although he had the bad luck to be wounded in action, Dave Brooks had the good luck to receive wounds that were light enough that he was able to stay with his unit and finish his tour without severe physical injury.  After returning to Camp Lejeune for three months, Dave was back in Watertown where he was raised.  Shortly after his return, Dave married in 1969 and spent his honeymoon at Woodstock.  It is likely that few of the large numbers of attendees at Woodstock viewed the experience the same way that a recently returned, combat experienced Marine did.  Going forward with his life, using his skills and training from his Combat Engineer training, Dave built a career that spanned HVAC work and other aspects of contracting and construction.

Not long after returning to Watertown, Dave Brooks looked into joining the Marine Corps League.  Dave recalls that the reception he received at that time was not encouraging.  As many Viet Nam veterans found, they were not only faced with apathy or scorn from the general public, but sometimes from older veterans.  While large numbers of WWII veterans returned victorious to a welcoming public, Dave Brooks experience was different, but all too common.  It would be a number of years before he would return to the Marine Corps League at the urging of Rick Morrill, a peer who had been active in the Shutt Detachment. With a strong representation of Viet Nam era veterans, a number of whom had also been tested in combat, Dave found the welcome that was previously missing and took on an active role.  He has since progressed through all elective offices, now serving as Commandant, succeeding Ed Aucoin, another combat veteran who is also active in Operation Flak Jacket.

With a background that includes knowing what it feels like to be on active duty, to be sent overseas, to be involved in combat, to be wounded, and to return to a country that failed to appropriately acknowledge the service and sacrifice of the military, Dave Brooks is perhaps more attuned than many to what some currently returning veterans might be feeling.  With only a small percentage of the population serving in uniform, the veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan have fewer numbers of peers to turn to.  While public response is overall positive, some of the response does not take into account that there is an often invisible impact from long stretches of tension, intense fighting, and lengthy separation from families and support systems.  As he experienced himself, Dave knows that relatively few of today's’ veterans are turning to formal veterans groups for support.  A man of few words, Dave Brooks envisioned a very simple alternative.

Operation Flak Jacket was started four years ago by a small group of Shutt Detachment members and associates.  Using word of mouth and social media such as Meet Up announcements, the detachment invited veterans to just come by.  There is no format, no requirement, and no agenda.    If they don’t want to talk, they don’t have to.  If they choose to talk, there are other combat veterans there who are prepared to listen.  If the situation warrants, the volunteers will talk them through a problem.  They are equipped to help with interpreting VA procedures.  There is often a VA representative present to offer assistance.  Every other week, a meal is offered and veterans are welcome to bring their friends and family.  Attendees are free to participate to the degree that they are comfortable.  Numbers have ranged from one to over forty.  Operation Flak Jacket addresses the very basic need of returning veterans to be able to interact with someone who has been through what they have been through.  

Dave Brooks did not envision a complex program with multiple moving parts. Rather, he has created an unstructured and low key setting that lets the attending veteran grow into the comfort level that is needed to openly discuss what he or she is feeling. Operation Flak Jacket, exists on a very basic level.  As to motivation, Dave Brooks asks, “if we don’t do it, who will?”  Dave hopes to see other detachments and organizations get behind creating a network of Operation Flak Jacket sessions to address wider geography.  It is a simple, sincere, solution that requires little more investment than concern and desire to help.  Dave can be contacted via the Shutt Detachment for more information.  

 In prior editions, we have featured Marines and Corpsmen who have been selected as their detachment Marine of the Year.  In this edition, we feature outgoing Marine Corps League Department of Massachusetts Commandant Warren Griffin on the completion of two years of service at the helm of the organization.

Change of Command 

Outgoing MCL Department of Massachusetts Commandant Warren Griffin

Change of Command

Current Massachusetts State Commandant Warren Griffin has completed two years of service in the top post at the state level.  As he prepares to depart this role, we want to highlight some of Warren’s background as many members may not know him well. 

Born in Boston. Warren attended the Boston Public Schools until fourth grade, when he transferred to a parochial school. When his family moved to Natick, Warren completed his education in the Natick Schools, graduating from Natick High School in 1967.  His first stab at attending college at Framingham State was inauspicious.  As Warren puts it, he attend Framingham State in 67 and 68 “without honors”

1968 was a tumultuous time in the United States, particularly if you were a healthy male of draft age.  The Tet Offensive had altered the direction of the war in Viet Nam and many young men had to make decisions.  Student deferment was one way to deal with it, taking the bull by the horns and joining the service was another way.   Having had a childhood interest in the Marine Corps, Warren enlisted and reported to active duty in October.  As 1968 ended, Warren was graduating from Parris Island and heading to Naval Gunfire School at Naval Amphibious Base, Little Creek, Virginia.  In this training, enlisted Marines took the same course as Naval Officers in learning to coordinate close air support for ground forces and direct fire support from artillery units and Naval vessels. 

 On completion of training, Warren was assigned to the 2^nd ANGLICO  (Air Naval Gunfire Liaison Company) at Camp Lejeune.  Recognizing that the Viet Nam war was where he was likely needed most, Warren volunteered for deployment in country.  Travel to Viet Nam was briefly deferred as he was sent to Jungle Warfare Training at Camp Pendleton and then Monterey , California for Vietnamese Language training.  Initially assigned to 4^th Marines in Dong Ha, Warren arrived at a point when the Third Marine Division was reducing its presence in Viet Nam .   He and a small group of peers volunteered to transfer to 1^st ANGLICO  for the duration of their tour.   It is often the nature of ANGLICO service that assignment is to an allied unit and Warren was assigned to support the 21^st ARVN (Army of the Republic of Viet Nam) with responsibility for calling in naval gun fire throughout the Mekong Delta.    Throughout this assignment, Warren was one of fewer than a dozen Marines in the Delta.

Within two weeks after returning from Viet Nam, Warren was back on campus at Framingham State.  With the perspective of a recently returned veteran and the added motivation of a new spouse. Warren got down to business, working as a custodian in the Boston Public Schools and completing his studies.    In 1973, freshly graduated with a Baccalaureate Degree, Warren began teaching in the schools that he had been cleaning as a college student.  Using the GI Bill, he obtained a graduate degree and went on to complete a 33 year career teaching at the middle school level in the Boston Public Schools. Warren and Cheryl ultimately settled in Holliston where they currently reside.

In 1999, a group of Marines in the western suburbs began exploring the potential of forming a Marine Corps League Detachment in the area.  In early 2000, Metrowest Detachment #1037 was created with the initial cadre being sworn in on the USS Constitution in January 2000.  Warren Griffin was a member of the detachment that was one of the first to be created in the new century.    At the detachment level,  he served in a progression of each of the local elected officer roles.  Concurrently, Warren became active at the state level, also progressing through elected offices, culminating in his current term as Commandant. 

 Having retired from teaching in 2006, Warren had time to take on new challenges.  In addition to his active involvement as an elected officer in the Marine Corps League, Warren has served as the Department Legislative Officer.  With his personal experience as a returning Viet Nam veteran as a backdrop, Warren has endeavored to represent the interests of veterans by keeping veterans issues in the forefront of legislators’ minds.  Having seen first-hand the impact of minimizing the service experience, he puts active effort into championing veterans issues and pushing for progress.  

As Commandant, Warren has focused on continuing the Marine Corps League mission of service to veterans and the community.   VA visitations, Toys for Tots, and providing services to veterans in need are all examples that he raises.  Another focal point has been to work on increasing the visibility of the Marine Corps League.  The general public and often Marines are frequently not familiar with the Marine Corps League and all that it does.  Warren has enjoyed his tenure as Commandant, having found that the membership is very welcoming to him, his spouse Cheryl, and their granddaughter Autum Rose.  He has had opportunity to work with committed and energetic colleagues, and make a personal contribution to furthering veterans’ services throughout the state.  As his term comes to a close, we join the membership throughout the state in thanking Warren and acknowledging a job well done.