See other Editorial Articles
Title: The Things They Carried ....
Source:
Old Memories
URL Source: http://somewherebackintime.com
Published: May 27, 1998
Author: Unk
Post Date: 2010-05-27 20:47:37 by boonie rat
Keywords: None
Views: 328
Comments: 14
The Things They Carried .... They carried P-38 can openers and heat tabs, watches and dog tags, insect repellent, gum, cigarettes, Zippo lighters, salt tablets, compress bandages, ponchos, Kool-Aid, two or three canteens of water, iodine tablets, sterno, LRRP-rations, and C-rations stuffed in socks. The carried standard fatigues, jungle boots, bush hats, flak jackets and steel pots. They carried the M-16 assault rifle. They carried trip flares and Claymore mines, M-60 machine guns, the M-70 grenade launcher, M-14's, CAR-15's, Stoners, Swedish K's, shotguns, .45 caliber pistols, silencers, the sound of bullets, rockets, and choppers, and sometimes the sound of silence. They carried C-4 plastic explosives, an assortment of hand grenades, PRC-25 radios, knives and machetes. Some carried napalm, CBU's and large bombs; some risked their lives to rescue others. Some escaped the fear, but dealt with the death and damage. Some made very hard decisions, and some just tried to survive. They carried malaria, dysentery, ringworms and leaches. They carried the land itself as it hardened on their boots. They carried stationery, pencils, and pictures of their loved ones - real and imagined. They carried love for people in the real world and love for one another. And sometimes... ...they disguised that love: "Don't mean nothin'!" They carried memories for the most part, they carried themselves with poise and a kind of dignity. Now and then, there were times when panic set in, and people screamed or wanted to, but couldn't; when they twitched and trembled and covered their heads and said "Dear God" and hugged the earth and fired their weapons blindly and cringed and begged for the noise to stop and went wild and made stupid promises to themselves and God and their parents, hoping not to die. They carried the traditions of the United States military, and memories and images of those who served before them. They carried grief, terror, longing and their reputations. They carried the soldier's greatest fear: the embarrassment of dishonor. They crawled into tunnels, walked point, and advanced under fire, so as not to die of embarrassment. They were afraid of dying, but too afraid to show it. They carried the emotional baggage of men and women who might die at any moment. They carried the weight of the world. They carried each other. Remember them this Memorial Day, May 31th. MACV SOCOM, PhuBai/Hue '65-'66
Boonie Rat
Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest
#1. To: boonie rat, 4 (#0)
deleted
The relationship between morality and liberty is a directly proportional one. "You've got to put right and wrong above legal and illegal. Because when tyranny becomes law, rebellion becomes duty; and it is not rebellion at all, it is submission to the higher law that our government is in rebellion to. We're not the rebels, they're the rebels."
No.
_________________________________________________________________________ They surely could be - they would be from 60 - 80 years old.
If they did come back, would you be able to look them in the eye?
Yes, with tears. I'm sorry that fed.gov. f##ked you guys over.
Home Sweet Home for 11 months and a day !!!
"The smallest of frauds such as Santa Claus are perpetrated upon children by criminals in order that the largest of frauds such as the FEDERAL RESERVE may be had upon them as adults."
Rescue Jolly Green style !!! Watch those spads clear the viet cong !!!
"The smallest of frauds such as Santa Claus are perpetrated upon children by criminals in order that the largest of frauds such as the FEDERAL RESERVE may be had upon them as adults."
What floors me, and sickens me is how we celebrate the lives of so many who died for not their country, but for the lies told to them by their country. After reading about Smedley Butler, and his treatise on war being nothing more than a racket, I cannot actually celebrate Memorial Day. I cannot in good conscience celebrate the lives and sacrifices made by men and women for half truths and greed of people who sent those who were poor to die in wars of their creation. I'd rather have a memorial day where we just missed people who weren't here, instead of why they're not here. Every war, every skirmish, every battle, for a lie. Lies told by one side or the other, and the worst part, is that these people, these wonderful people followed blindly and never questioned the lies. I hope that when the next great war comes, that the rank and file rise up against those who make the wars, instead of fighting their brethren on the other side who have been fed just as many lies as they have.
It is better to be hated for what you are, than loved for what you are not. - Tommy The Mad Artist.
deleted
The relationship between morality and liberty is a directly proportional one. "You've got to put right and wrong above legal and illegal. Because when tyranny becomes law, rebellion becomes duty; and it is not rebellion at all, it is submission to the higher law that our government is in rebellion to. We're not the rebels, they're the rebels."
------- "They're on our left, they're on our right, they're in front of us, they're behind us...they can't get away this time." -- Col. Puller, USMC
------- "They're on our left, they're on our right, they're in front of us, they're behind us...they can't get away this time." -- Col. Puller, USMC
That's the point, we did not do anything. We let motherfuckers like McCain sit in a nice leather chair in the senate, while our men sat at the bottom of latrines, while the VC took shits on them.
deleted
The relationship between morality and liberty is a directly proportional one. "You've got to put right and wrong above legal and illegal. Because when tyranny becomes law, rebellion becomes duty; and it is not rebellion at all, it is submission to the higher law that our government is in rebellion to. We're not the rebels, they're the rebels."
#2. To: Lod (#1)
#3. To: Eric Stratton (#2)
Obama is the miscegenated bastard of a white communist whore. True story.
-Schweizerische Schuetzenzeitung (Swiss Shooting Federation) April, 1941
#4. To: Eric Stratton (#2)
#5. To: Eric Stratton (#2)
I wonder if any are still alive over there.
#6. To: echo5sierra (#5)
#7. To: boonie rat (#0)
#8. To: boonie rat (#0)
#9. To: boonie rat (#0)
#10. To: echo5sierra (#5)
#11. To: boonie rat (#0)
(Edited)
#12. To: boonie rat (#0)
Remember them
#13. To: Eric Stratton (#10)
I could, I didn't do anything. If I were a politician I wouldn't be able to. Then again, I wouldn't be a politician.
#14. To: echo5sierra (#13)
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest