In case you have never sat down with a veteran and talked about what happens on the battlefield, I want to tell you a secret: War sucks.
Over there…
No one can refute fox holes are nasty business. Yes, they protect from some projectiles and shrapnel, but they are also deadly, nearly inescapable targets.
No one denies the hours stink, the conditions are rotten and the pay non-existent. The training is grueling, the hours bite and a social life is lacking.
Meanwhile, back on the ranch…
The conditions are only better in terms of shelter and creature comforts. In the empty bed where your soldier should lie, fear, longing and loneliness are huddled stealing the blankets.
The masses who would not volunteer for such patriotic jobs toss unappreciative japes, snide remarks and pejorative epithets.
Image by Kordite via Flickr
Until one day…
A yellowed envelope in my hand
from another time, a total other life,
but it seems like only yesterday.
His brown hair was short.
His shirt had a patch: Western Union.
Mother knew why he had come that Thursday.
I held her skirt hem between my fingers,
as her trembling hands fumbled
with her change purse to tip the young man.
Her mouth moved, but no words came out.
He said, “You’re welcome, and ma’am,
I’m sorry.” Mother took my hand.
She slumped against the door. A
tear slid down her cheek and splashed
on the front of her blouse. I did not understand.
Mother stood up tall and tried to smile at me.
She asked me to go to the kitchen
to get her a glass of water to drink.
I stopped, turned and watched
as Mother touched Father’s picture in a silver frame
beside the sofa. He smiled at her, I think.
She stared at the envelope she held at her knees,
so I went to the fridge to pour some water.
I sat beside her and took her hand.
Image via Wikipedia
“Sweetheart, I know how much you love your father,
but I have to tell you something.
Do you know President Truman?”
“Yes, Mother, the President of the United States.”
I could not understand what he had to do
with Father or the young man.
“President Truman sent Father to Korea to be a soldier,
so that we can be free. He sent me this telegram today,
with bad news, I’m afraid.
“Father is not coming home. He was in a battle over there,
and he was killed. That is what
the President’s telegram said.”
Image via Wikipedia
“But Mother, you haven’t opened it.
How do you know?” She tried again to smile and
took me in her arms. “I don’t understand.”
Today my daughter called, “Can I come over, Mom?”
The silence of her tears was loud in her voice;
its timbre very plain.
I put on the coffee and pulled out my treasure chest,
filled with memories, some very sweet,
yet others filled with pain.
Her keys clattered on the kitchen counter
by the back door. The flash of paper in her hand
brought back my image of Mother.
She saw what I had in my hand, too.
“Mom, I can’t open it. I know what it says.”
One tear slid down her cheek, onto her collar.
Mother never opened hers.
I took my daughter’s.
Telegrams never change.
020520071816
If this touched you, please tell me how.
Show gratitude to members of the armed forces.
awarewriter
/ November 22, 2011“War, what is it good for?
absolutely nothing… (Edwin Starr)
I always cranked up the volume when this song came on. I wanted everyone to hear it. War truly sucks big time.
I remember that poem Red. You shared it with me once before. Reaction? Words don’t work here — tears do.
I remember the night I got ‘volunteered’ with a couple other guys to drag the dead VC bodies out of the brush. I had a hard time with my end because one foot was hanging by a piece of skin. We threw him into a muddy ditch like a piece of meat. War dehumanizes us, all of us. Yeah Red, war sucks.
John
annmariedwyer
/ November 22, 2011McD, thank you for sharing that. You know I have always had a soft spot for the war, the soldiers and the widows. We pass around jokes, we fight with words over the “right and wrong” of it, but in the end, it still just sucks. Thank you for your service, John. Red. PS I still crank the song…
suehelms
/ November 22, 2011Yes, I have sat down with my uncle(my grandmothers brother) when I was younger and heard the stories of when he was in the war. I could not believe what he said. The stories some of them tore my heart in to pieces. The poem is beautiful but it breaks my heart. I wish more people where interested in hearing the stories because that is how we all learn more about what really happened.
annmariedwyer
/ November 22, 2011Sue, thank you for sharing. I will one day share the stories I heard from World War II veterans. The things they said were harrowing and uplifting, but not in the same stories. I need to find a poem (cue USB cord) from an old hard drive. It is a window into another world. Thank you for sharing, Sue, Red.
James Parsons
/ November 22, 2011I was in the military for 9 years and proud to have served my country. Would do it again if they let me. Two of my friends, parents received telegrams like that, and it’s a very sad thing to have happen. I salute all the young men and woman that protect us and our freedom, because they are the true hero’s.
annmariedwyer
/ November 22, 2011Good point. Heroes do not throw balls or wrestle(ish) or participate any other sport or play music or sing. Real heroes are willing to lay down their lives for people they may never meet and those people’s great grandchildren. This country could use a paradigm shift. Soon. Thank you for your service, Jim. Red.
grantahelms
/ November 22, 2011Though I’ve never had first-hand experience with war, I tend to agree. I remember vaguely what it was like when my brother faced going to Vietnam. I vaguely remember the war protests and the ” greeters ” that our soldiers had to face when they returned. Now we have lost thousands of soldiers, once again, in the protection of our freedoms. If you don’t believe this, think about abortion, welfare, flag burning, marches on the Capitol, corporations supposedly above the law, freedom to have gay marches where I can’t raise a cross in honor of my Lord and many others that I’m drawing a blank on. Maybe with this thought you will appreciate what you have. Or, maybe like Switzerland, we should stay neutral until someone invades. Either way, thank those who have fought for your freedom, and those who still do, or face the consequences. Hats off to the Vets!!!
annmariedwyer
/ November 22, 2011Thank you, Grant. From my research, the veteran is the lowest paid member of our society, even falling behind the poorest in the country. It is abominable what we do to the men and women who serve, with honor. Regardless of how I personally feel about war, do you (or anyone else in this thread) feel like we can completely resign from the war business? Red.
Norma
/ November 22, 2011The Proud and the Brave. Giving their all so we can be free. If they didn’t die they carry the scars and hardships they endured for the rest of their lives. Some can talk about it others hold it locked away in their minds to be tortured at various moments. The saying still is You need to walk a mile in my shoes before you should comment.. God Bless them all “THE PROUD AND THE BRAVE”…..
annmariedwyer
/ November 22, 2011Thank you, Norma. So many do not understand the hardship these brave soldiers face when they return home. It takes being on a different plane to be able to conduct war. That plane does not readily intersect with typical American society without sparks and fire. They may not all be Marines, but they are few and they are proud…and they deserve to be proud of the stellar work they do for no more thanks than I expected in a burger joint drive-thru window. Thank you for your candor, Norma. Red.
valentinelogar
/ November 22, 2011As always you nail it. I remember when my father told me my favorite cousin / brother had been volunteered (he was a juvenile delinquent in Texas courts volunteered them for duty) for service. It quite pissed me off. I think it was shortly after that I chained myself to the first fence in protest of the Vietnam War, I have been protesting every war since then. We had it wrong back then, blaming the young men who served rather than the old men who sent them to hell. I think we understand better now at least who and what is behind the curtain. Certainly it doesn’t change the fundamental suction, but perhaps it changes our response, our humanity, our compassion and our empathy for those who give and lose so much.
annmariedwyer
/ November 22, 2011We may know better, but are we doing any better? I see so many who the VA should be holding up on a pedestal to ease their ascent to the Happy Hunting Ground, yet instead they mire them in endless bureaucratic red tape and utter inanity to circumvent their fundamental, contractual obligations to these veterans who have fulfilled their portions of the contract. Should we be approaching this problem from a contractual angle rather than a discriminatory one?
valentinelogar
/ November 22, 2011Unequivocally no, of course we are not doing better. As a nation we have failed in our contractual obligations to our vets. This is an issue for a much broader discussion that reaches beyond the “War Sucks” to the language of “Entitlement” and “Austerity”.
The decision to serve or even the non-decision to serve in one of many of the foxholes we have dug in the past 50 years for the benefit of the Industrial Defense Machine is one we cannot ignore. The lives lost, the lives destroyed, the lives mired in endless red-tape for care paid for in lost limbs, lost years, lost fathers, lost memories, lost sanity; no we cannot ignore this yet if we allow the political insanity to continue we will convince ourselves and coming generations we deserved their sacrifice and the return of their ‘Entitlements’ for the good of the nation.
Ah, please Red don’t get me started.
annmariedwyer
/ November 22, 2011My dearest Linda, I think you already are, and when you espy Jim’s last comment, anything I may say would be moot.
Beyond that, you are, of course, correct. Red.
annmariedwyer
/ November 22, 2011Madame, you have helped brighten what was otherwise a perfectly wretched day. Sommeil died this morning moments after we got off the tele.
grantahelms
/ November 22, 2011No. We have dug ourselves so deep in a hole and made so many enemies over the years, there is no way we can quit! So many countries have become so dependent on us, that if we pulled out it would cause a global collapse. I’m no expert, but this is my opinion.
annmariedwyer
/ November 22, 2011So the Armed Forces are a “too big to fail” kind of thing?
suehelms
/ November 22, 2011No, I think we can not resign from the war business because we have made to many enemies that they will never let us resign.
annmariedwyer
/ November 22, 2011So, are you saying they would attack us directly or just bulldoze the people we have been protecting?
James Parsons
/ November 22, 2011NO, we the United States of America are the third strongest military force in the world. We have kicked ass for so long because we do not lay down to any one country or nation. We believe that everyone should be free, no matter what race, creed, or gender. We are what we are because we stand together.( UNITED) War does suck and we hate it, but do we stand and fight or run like scared dogs.
annmariedwyer
/ November 22, 2011I understand fighting for one’s beliefs as the basis (excuse) for war, but are we inflicting our beliefs on other countries while calling it defend them? And specifically, were we invited to join a war? Or did we volunteer to do the dirty work because war is big business on our on soil (economy)? And does that make us all one country? Where does sovereignty end?
grantahelms
/ November 22, 2011This is NOT what I’m saying. We’ve had so many stupid people making the decisions for our country over the years, that we are a HATED nation. I understand the need for such organizations as the NSA, CIA and others, in the protection of our way of life. But when we “remove” possible threats, how much different is this from abortion. How many good things have been lost, in the effort to remove the unwanted. As far as our military though, I think most are just patriotic Americans doing what they are directed by their “Chain of Command”.
annmariedwyer
/ November 22, 2011I agree the decision making is marginal at best and ludicrous at times. So often we amputate a leg for a hanged toenail. You analogy of removal of threats and abortions is intriguing. Are your equating the loss of life, or the targeting of one particular life?
annmariedwyer
/ November 22, 2011And before this gets much further, I want us all to make the distinction between the loyal, obedient soldiers and the command which puts them in danger’s sights. The soldiers are performing their sworn duties with the utmost integrity.