WHY?
by One Pissed-off Vietnam Vet
Shadows lengthening with the setting sun;
A bugle is heard as another cross is planted.
A soldier has come home, adulthood barely begun,
Two and twenty, a young life abated.
Parents and friends mourn, and each asks “Why?”
Who ordered this young man whisked away?
America is burning yet he was sent yonder to die;
Wasn‘t needed over there, he should have stayed.
Our enemy is within our gates: it’s no secret
who flew the planes into our towers.
And they tell us they are kind and benevolent,
but truth we know and will not cower.
When the call is sounded, church bells will ring.
Our troops will help set the record straight,
The Battle Hymn of the Republic veterans will sing.
It’ll be a time of reckoning: heed the call of Fate.
Some will die, some will be maimed,
but the real Patriots will all be on the same side.
When the shooting is over, no one will be the same,
But such is war, no place for misplaced pride.
Government employees either stand aside,
Or suffer the consequences..
Excuses and posturing won’t disguise your lies
“Only following orders” won’t mend fences.
They bit off more than they can chew,
Now I’m telling you what we’re going to do:
Uncle Sam may be slow to anger,
But the end result is in the hands of the Avenger.
We will search under every rock to find our enemies,
And when we do they‘ll feel the hand of Liberty.
[A note here: for what it’s worth, after I was separated from active service I had nightmares for seventeen years. I don’t remember the first one, but I do remember the when and where of the last one. My service cost me two wives and, yes, I could’ve handled it better, I’m sure, but I didn’t know how. But I’m not the only serviceman who came back with scars, even though you couldn’t see them. It goes back thousands of years, how war changes people. I was “volunteered” for a “humanitarian” mission while in a transit barracks in the Philippines and aged one-hundred years in three days. The point is you can’t fool me, and I wouldn’t waste my time doing it to you.]