Veterans Assistance Office (4-27-2004)
Yesterday I sat in the Veterans Assistance Office
On the TV it was live...
In green night-vision tones
The Marine Corps launched a new offensive
On the city of Fallujah
...JUst another foreign city's name
Those kids will never forget
Like my own bloodstained travelogue:
BIADOWA KISMAAYO BASRA AL-TIAF MOGADISHU
10 years after I slid back stateside,
Like a defanged adder
Into the wide-closed arms of an America with
More important things on its picture-tube mind
Sitting..in the Veterans Assistance Office
Little wars..............We were so BIG
God's own Giants, Chocolate-chipped Titans with carbines
Avenging Angels with gunship support
Infidels with Ammunition and Armored Chariots
Sent to places we'd never heard of in small town high schools
The GI Joe dolls would once fit neatly back into the toy chest at the end of the war
In 10 years, how many will sit in the Veterans Assistance Office?
Who picks up these toys..broken, discarded...now,
After Fallujah...?
After Mogadishu...
When the toothless dogs of war flop down
Into the cushioned green seats
Of the Veterans Assistance Office?
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Veterans Assistance Office (4-27-2004)
Every life has a measure of sorrow, and sometimes this is what awakens us. Steven Tyler
Powerful imagery. Powerful message. Amazing poem. Thank you so much-I have a son getting ready for his second deployment...you capture part of my fear perfectly.
Thank You...
One thing for you to remember though, if it is any comfort...No matter what happens, where he goes, or what he becomes... now and for the rest of his life, your Son will have the support and brotherhood of all the men and women he is serving with (whether he actually has met them yet or not). In a nation where the military is at war, yet for the most part life is going on as normal in every other sector, Veterans are the ones that understand and stand ready, always, to support and assist others who have "seen the Elephant"....
PWCOVINGTON-TEXAS