Poetry Challenge Day 12

So we decided to join the Navy

So we decided to join the Navy
Our parents could not have been more proud
We thought we knew what we were getting into
Boy, we could not have been more wrong!

We went to the local recruiter
To decide the job we would do
We wanted to be a jet pilot
But we couldn’t get it approved.

So we decided to join the Navy
As generations have done so before
We were learning the basics in boot camp
While getting in shape as well!

We went to our first duty station
A ship so grey and so large
We trained to be a mechanic
To keep that big boat afloat.

So we decided to join the Navy
To wear our dress blues, rewarding
We held our heads up high;
So proud.

God Bless Our Troops

For some reason, our service men and women have been on my mind lately. I have been reminiscing about my time in the Navy during the early 1990's. I treasure that time in my life deeply. My only regret is that I didn't stay on active duty. My life since the Navy has taken so many twists and turns that I sometimes forget which way I am heading. Then again, where in the world would I be today if I were still enlisted and serving actively?



Here is a little poem I wrote in honor of our American Heros...and also those foreign allies serving alongside us in Iraq and Afghanistan (please note that the use of "he" is not gender specific and is intended to mean both male and female):

Soldier

He is there
In an unknown world
Helping
To keep peace alive

He is there
Wondering and waiting
Praying
The day will come

For the return
To his home

He is there
Protecting the weak
Protecting them all
From ruin and death

He is there
He is the soldier

January 4, 1991

Other Stuff

Ok, so I am in grad school studying History and Culture of the Middle East. My primary focus is (hopefully) going to be ancient Iraq. My goal is to one day travel to this country and be able to see all of the remains of ancient sites. For now, I hold the sailors and soldiers in my prayers.

Here is one that I wrote in the earliest hours of our engagement in Iraq in 1990/1.

memory of war

a sound of drums
beating in the distance
a smell of death
in the air

the blinding sun
sets low in the sky
another day passed
another to come

the soldiers are awake
at the break of dawn
they prepare to fight
for the freedom of all

gunfire ringing in the air
a clinging memory
to those
who were there

november 6, 1990