In honor of Veterans’ Day, I am going to use the next couple
of entries for a couple of my war-related poems. Many of the emotions that I
felt in Vietnam are the same things impacting veterans no matter when or where
they served.
The military is a place where you grow up fast. You learn
about how politics impacts senior leadership and how bureaucracies basically
don’t care about anything except covering their ass. But you also build strong
relationships with a lot of the people with whom you serve. Most of us also
have periods when we would rather be anywhere else.
I wrote Vietnam Daydreams-1968
(Daydreams, 2004) when we
were on patrol about thirty miles off of Haiphong, there were 300 aircraft
flying over North Vietnam and I Corps, and the politicians were making up
insane rules of engagement that were driving us all crazy. We worked closely
with the pilots who were putting their lives on the line every day, and feeling
the frustration that comes from a mainstream media and political leadership that
had no clue what was happening in the real world.
I get the feeling that some of that is going on right now in
Afghanistan. Some things never change.
Glenn K. Currie
Vietnam Daydreams-1968
I
want a house in Georgia,
With
a big screen porch out back,
A
squeaking double rocker,
And
a friendly mongrel cat.
Where
rain falls in gentle cadence,
Tapping
code upon the roof,
Messages
with food for thought,
Washed
down with 100 proof.
Hank
and the Braves on radio,
Played
with a love for the game,
Evening
news a weather debate,
Between sunny
skies and rain.
The
darkness only a stage,
To
frame a million stars,
Crickets
playing background,
To
Jupiter and Mars.
No
thunder in the distance,
No
glow along the hills,
No
tracers lighting chaos,
No
counting up the kills.
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