I Remember the Night

A small break from photos. My written posts are starting to really back up and I need to start working them in.
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I Remember the Night

When Neil Armstrong quipped
"That's one small step for man"
"One giant leap for mankind"
I was crouched in a muddy ditch
In a steamy valley
In southeast asia
Trying not to get killed 
By small asian men
Who didn't give a crap
About the moon
Or Neil Armstrong

NASA photo

.

New Pages

I've created two new pages on my blog over the last few days. Under the main header (or just above this post) there are four links to pages, one of them is for Boot Camp and one is for Vietnam.

Most of you haven't seen or read the Vietnam posts. I promise that there is very little blood and gore. It's mostly just a continuation of the crazy things that happen to me.

The Boot Camp page contains links to my blog entries that relate to stories about USMC Boot Camp.

The Vietnam page contains 44 links to my blog entries that relate to stories and poems about Vietnam. Crazy stories in here.

Now if you are interested, you don't have to dig for them...

How Do I Remember All That Stuff

I am not this guy

"How in the (you fill in the blank) do you remember all that dialogue, from so many years ago?" That's a question I've heard more than a few times.  I don't want people thinking that I make this stuff up, so I'm going to tell you!

If you've read my blog for a while, you know that I break up a lot of my stories into parts, or chapters, because they are just too darn long. There were 38 consecutive entries relating to some of my experiences in Vietnam. Before that there was a 15 entry series on USMC Boot Camp.

So how do I remember so much? How can I possibly remember dialogue that old?

I cheated!

In boot camp we were usually given a short period of time in the evening, to clean our gear and write letters. While most recruits were writing their loved ones, I was sending letters to myself.  Well, not exactly letters, I was sending myself notes relating to what took place that day.

While in Vietnam, I did the same. The other guys were writing to their loved ones, while I was sending myself journal pages. If nothing happened on a particular day, I didn’t send anything home. I even did this as a kid. Of course I wasn’t sending myself letters, but I did take notes. I took notes and hid them.

For most of my life I could remember everything. If I was involved with it, I remembered it. If I heard it, I remembered it. So anyway, that’s how I do it…

Regrets of the Living

Regrets of the living

To escape unscathed

To defy death

To cheat mutilation

To have let them down, somehow

Envy of the dead and wounded

Death's Marionette

Death's Marionette

The explosion tossed him like a rag doll

He danced in the air

Like death’s marionette

Slow motion gravity

Settled him to the ground

His face a shredded bloody mask

Eyeless sockets gazing nowhere

Gray white flecks of brain and bone

Circled his head like a halo

Sometimes Bravery is Just Lifting Your Head

(photo credit: unknown)

sometimes bravery

is just lifting your head

high enough to aim

many don’t though

they just shoot

risk losing that head?

and for what?

lots did though, lots died

little metal pellet

turns brains to goo

Mortally Wounded

Mortally Wounded

To have been there

To have seen that

To hold his head up out of the mud

To tell him he’s going to be okay

To tell him he’s going home

To keep him distracted

To keep him from noticing that he’s open

And his intestines are unraveling into the ooze

The two of us teenagers

The two of us mortally wounded

The Mad Minute

The Mad Minute

Fight or flight, hammering you to do something

Bowel clinching terror telling you not to

Adrenaline threatening to explode your heart

Pushing you, demanding action

How can it be so hard just to lift your head?

Even though your very life may depend on it

A firefight is a dramatic and dynamic thing

Yet dreamlike

People out there are trying to kill you

Even your own chemicals are trying to stroke you out

When that mad minute, or five, or ten is over

Some guys haven’t even been able to fire their weapons

A scar to be carried forever

Military Related Entries Are Almost Over

To those of you who are bored to death, or just don't care about the recent subject matter,I apologize.
Only a few more military related entries and it will be over (for now anyway).

And then....

Back to the craziness of my life, that you miss.
Back to the insanity of my mother, that you crave.

Please check out my other site as well (photos). I'd really appreciate some critiques on my shots. I have thick skin, it's okay...