Russ Martin

Fatal Reactions Russ Martin

War is a prolonged set of collisions between two subjects. As in any interaction, every impact results in a force being experienced by the two colliding parties. The America in Southeast Asia series acknowledges the Newtonian principles that size of the force of the first subject equals the size of the force on the second subject. The direction of the force on the first subject is opposite to the direction of the force on the second subject. Forces always come in pairs - equal and opposite action-reaction force pairs. The social determinants of health and wellbeing in the wakes of war too often represent a partially recorded story, neglecting the domains of force-pairings. Historians, such as The Vietnam War video series, often sweep the time-values of war under the lying rugs of partial histories recording only deaths and destruction as the measurements of damage. Each story within this tome focuses on the unclear, often blurred, and seldom shared aspects of combat: war cruelly, crudely, and in many cases criminally shortens the health, wellbeing, and qualities of life facing millions of innocent survivors, soldiers, and non-combatants alike. Military statistics report official deaths - such as the sacred 58,220 - while failing to account for the road to perdition for innocent non-combatants who were broken by war and left with shortened, shattered healthspans. The storytelling within Fatal Reactions conveys ten thousand words in one-hundred stories. The very concept of TIME-VALUE, whether applied to money or music, combat or chaos, options or guarantees inherently involves the potentialities of continuance and decay. Fatal Reactions searches beyond the apparent caaused by combative clashes and collisions investigating the treacherous jungle of yesterday's actions and the dynamic reactions shaping the tomorrows of millions of Southeast Asians. The keynote contest which continues unabated is America's use of dioxin-without-borders. Conclusion? Understanding America in Southeast Asia is far from over, and is closer to "...we've only just begun..."