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Gramps use’ta say
©R.L.King2012 #M-11

About: Military Service

“Between birth and death dwells a lifetime.
Be it one day or a century, for each, it occurs only once.

Make it matter!”

********

WHEN DADDY WENT TO WAR  
© Copyright 2013 Richard Lee King

He had 5 kids and had just turned thirty four,
when he received his draft notice and was called off to the war.

Everyone wondered how we were going to survive.
Seems, somehow we managed, though I’m sure we didn’t thrive.

I was way too young to remember those days,
but I heard all about them while I was being raised.

I don’t even remember him being gone, the way my older siblings do.
Course, he was back home again before I reached the age of two.

Whatever he did during the war he didn’t come to any harm
and by the time I turned four, we had bought a little farm.

Even my memories of those days are really quite obscure.
Is it a memory or was I told?  I’m often not all that sure.

Seems, I remember dad talking about something called the CC camps
and I know I remember Mom saving S & H green stamps.

I really couldn’t tell you about the timing of various events,
the way we lived our lives, or how our spare time was spent.

This was many, many years before our first TV.
At night we sat around the radio, my whole family and me.

Most all of our clothes, we called “hand me downs”
and our mom never owned one of those fancy evening gowns.

We got welfare for a while and Dad talked about the WPA.
That was a government program, way back in the day.

Somehow we all made it through those difficult early days
and I’m really proud of the family, Mom and Dad worked so hard to raise.

We all knew the value of an honest day’s work
and whenever there was a duty, my family didn’t shirk.

Now three different generations have served our Uncle Sam.
We were in World War II and Korea though not in Vietnam.

My family has always been patriotic and it’s a difficult thing to see,
when people put our country down, or disrespect our democracy.

People say you never served, why would you support this fight?
Well, my dad, my brother, and my son all served, giving me that right.

They saw it as their duty, not part of a master plan,
and though I didn’t serve I support our military when I can.

Today’s soldiers, like my dad, probably didn’t want to fight,
but they’re all doing their duty, and supporting them is only right.

Any way you slice it, the world’s a better place
because of the US Military, and the challenges they have faced.

When my daddy went to war, that wasn’t his first choice,
but because of him & his Band of Brothers, we now wield the strongest voice.

********

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Gramps use’ta say
©R.L.King2012 #M-11

About: Military Service
(Enlisting)

“The right choice can be your salvation.

The wrong one,,, 3 years of hell.”
(Choose wisely.)

********

THE COST OF SERVING
© Copyright 2013 Richard Lee King

Uncle Sam called, and the patriot in him listened.
Like a fool he was amazed…. Oh, how his prospects glistened.

They dazzled him with stories of the world’s greatest sights
and with a 4-year enlistment, he’d choose how he spent his nights.

After only three months, he’d get to come back home
and they promised his MOS would be his choice alone.

When Basic Training was over, it would be like a regular job,
he’d work a regular shift, like any other working slob.

Basic Training is a nightmare, it’ll get your skivvies in a bunch,
calisthenics before sunrise, with a 10-mile jog for lunch.

Still, he passed with flying colors, top ten of his class,
just show him where they’re at, he’s ready to kick ass.

But when choosing his MOS, there wasn’t much choice,
they’d made the decision, without even hearing his voice.

So much for recruiting promises, they’d thrown him a curve,
he should have known better, yet heritage demanded he serve.

After his wife got pregnant, he had barely time to pack
and when his son was born, he was serving in Iraq.

He celebrated his 1^st anniversary, near the border of Iran.
He’d wanted to serve his country, but this hadn’t been his plan.

One Christmas spent in a foxhole, in the deserts of Iraq,
and one in some foreign jungle, carrying his 80-pound pack.

In the service, your birthday is like any other day
and when the holidays come, they’re spent the same damn way.

After serving two tours, he got back to the States,
but with two years yet to serve, she still sits and waits.

No matter what the occasion, Uncle’s needs come first,
if we don’t defeat terrorism, things will only get worse.

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Gramps use’ta say
R.L.King2012 #M-3 

About: MILITARY SERVICE
(Respect)

“It’s not how many battles you’ve fought,
it’s the manner in which you’ve fought them.”

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amazon.com/author/donnachandler

********

BASIC TRAINING
© Copyright 2013 Richard Lee King

Out on maneuvers, during basic training,
the drill sergeant has warned them, no more complaining!

Pitiful wages, and away from home,
surrounded by brothers, yet always alone.

Sleeping in trenches, under the stars,
they’re in a prison, without any bars.

Meals from a packet, they call MRE’s,
roasting their ass off, or damn near to freeze.

Always on alert, awaiting their orders,
a full-blown detachment, defending the borders.

It’s rained since arrival, their clothes ready to rot
and it’s been over a week, since they last saw their cot.

Out on maneuvers, during basic training,
three more years of this crap still remaining.

Gramps use’ta say
©R.L.King201 #M-14

About: Military Service
(Basic Training)

“He who suffers the most rain…

has more opportunities to enjoy a rainbow.”

********

MY SOLDIER       
© Copyright 2013 Richard Lee King

We were fighting in Iraq; it was nineteen ninety-one.
The war was on his mind and I was proud he was my son.

Then the reality struck, Uncle had gotten his man,
thanks to a strong recruiter who sold a patriotic plan.

It’s not that he was wronged, military was in his DNA,
but ending up in infantry? Surely there’s a better way.

Can’t say that there’s much future, in learning to drive a tank,
but somehow, they convinced him it’s a quicker way to gain rank.

He was a brave patriot, off doing Uncle Sam’s bidding,
but the first time he brought it up, I assumed he was only kidding.

He felt it was his calling, his duty, he believed.
When he finally got back home, I’ve never felt more relieved.

He discharged as a Sergeant after a 4-year infantry hitch,
though at that time, to me, it had seemed like “bait and switch.”

But once he’d done his duty, it made a great-looking resume’
We considered that important, and still do to this very day.

He got a military education, then signed up to go to school.
Uncle Sam was footing the bill, no one said we’d raised a fool.

He’s come to be the man; his mom and I had hoped to see.
and I know she’d be as proud of him, as his Pops will always be.