You could be here today
in the next few hours you could be gone!

So you did not get too tight with anyone
to avoid heart ache.

We all had fear, but you had to function,
in spite of the fear.
If you did not have fear either
you were dead or insane!

Wars are all the same,
Death does not care who he take,
young, or old,
and in war,death is seldom pretty
in fact it is quite nasty.

My opinion of the war change,
after we started to lose men to mines
and endless stupid operations
Where all we did was walk around in the sun.
Then when we lost the M14, it started to sink in that we were just there so some sorry butt holes back home could make some money.
All we were doing was dying,

So all you did was try to survive as best you could.
You did not take too many chances.

On clearing air space on our departure
from Vietnam;
All hell broke loose, because we knew we were never going to come back to that hellhole, but Vietnamese knew that our bodies were leaving but our minds would always be there.

I had started to drink to excess
so I could go to sleep.
I had started to fight and argue with those
that did not understand what we had done or seen.
There was really no one that I could speak to about my experiences in Vietnam,
so I drank to forget.

Effects;
Good and Bad?
Those would be hard to answer.

We cherish everything that we now have.

I think would be a good effect
from when we had very little.

Re-acting to loud noises
and the smell of fireworks
because they make me thinking of the night
that young Lance Corporal died
and I had to call a medevac to take his body out
and we started to receive incoming fire
and I answered with mortars and machine gun fire
that got me in trouble.

Productive time since Vietnam?
You try to live your life as best you can,
because you have seen the worst.
So all now is gravy!

A few words from me to you
All that was written years past
and on reading them now.
Reminds me
that I served with many outstanding young men
that did what they were asked to do.

Many have came back with their physical and mental state forever changed
by their service in Vietnam.

They seek no monetary or personal rewards
but a few words of Thanks from kin and folk.

That we did not receive when we came home.

I only ask a favor of you...
take a moment of every week or month
to REMEMBER those that are listed
as Prisoner Of War/Missing In Action,
Killed In Action and Wounded In Action

From a time that many of us
cannot ever break out from.

Our minds are still back in Vietnam.

These memories were answers to questions a friend gave me to answer when I was being treated for my PTSD...

Would I do things different knowing the outcome of my service?
I don't believe I would...would I caution any of the hazards of serving...than we would have none served and we would lose the Nation... sacrifice comes in many shapes and forms...

I placed these here to show you
what many endured
for I'm only a copy of many that served in Vietnam...regardless of where you served...
your mental state was forever changed...

Semper Fidelis
Ricardo aka The Dusty Footer "ALL THE WAY!!!"
The 5th Marines lead the 1st Marine Divison
"The Old Breed"