Memorial Day Muse

Yeah, I did Nam two tours and the purple hearts to prove it. A Marine on the DMZ "65-67. Today, I think back on those days and those who died or just got a fucked up life for it all. Granny, Frenchie, Tolley( hot girlfriend pic!), Sgt. Psycho( he was corporal), Ding Dong, the grumpy gunny, officers came and went, no nicknames. Some of those boys are gone now, lives snuffed in their early spring. I think too of Vietnamese like Lt Chao who introduced me to the talents of a very pretty Co Minh, to the VC POW I knew in a small prison compound, who etched tranquil scenes of Vietnames ladies and sampans on the Perfumed River, on metal ammo discs with a rusty nail. He earned his cigarettes. Wonder if anyone saved his art, sorry I didn't. The kid who was sleeping by a truck and had a dud mortar round roll off the hood on his chest. He wandered thru mortar fire holding the round like a baby, while we screamed for him to drop it and get to a hole. He finally tossed it and we pulled him down to safety, then the round went off. Wonder how that guys head is today, hope he can laugh at it, cause it sure was funny. There's a million Nam stories and most of em good. Its our legacy, our history, our pay for those years. It makes us special, a secret club.. WE KNOW. We know Sherman was right when he said war is hell, we know Robt. E.Lee was right when he said he was glad war didn't happen too often, he might get to enjoy it. We've seen shit ya'll can't imagine and the world looks different thru those glasses. To the ones that are gone, I say" Urrah! Semper Fi Muthafuckas ya'll was the SHIT!" I pause to remember those men and brothers today.
Then on the CNN website, I see that Karl Rove has cast his support with Rush Limbaugh in his "debate" with Gen. Colin Powell and it makes me wanna puke. Powell did 2 tours in Nam also. Rove, Limbaugh,Cheney Wolfowitz, Perle, Rumsfeld and the rest of the neocon nazis never served a day in war. And I suppose we should include other war criminals like NcNamara and the rest of Nam policy makers in that group. Never fought but gambled with lives of American boys for their own personal gain. Almost 60,000 dead in Nam, 4,000 in Iraq. Countless wounded, physically and mentally. Sacrificed! For what? "National security??" Bullshit. Today, when I read of Rove and Limbaugh, I shed a tear for the parents of those honored dead. Some of them must see how fucked up this whole thing is. That realization is going to be tough on them. Today, they deserve our thoughts,honor and prayers along with their brave sons and daughters.