An Old Soldier's Rant. You don't like it? Go Away. Life is Too Short and Your Opinion Matters Not.
Memorial Day 2025
Special Operations Center Memorial Wall Remembrance Ceremony Monday, May 26th
Until We Form Again Rakkasan Big Country
24 thoughts on “Memorial Day 2025”
Rest in peace, brothers.
The things they Carried….
They carried P-38 can openers and heat tabs,watches and dog tags,insect repellent, gum, cigarettes, Zippo lighters, salt tablets, compress bandages, ponchos, Kool-Aid, two or three canteens of water, iodine tablets, sterno, LRRP- rations, and C-rations stuffed in socks. They carried standard fatigues, jungle boots, bush hats, flak jackets and steel pots. They carried the M-16 assault rifle. They carried trip flares and Claymore mines, M-60 machine guns, the M-70 grenade launcher, M-14’s, CAR-15’s, Stoners, Swedish K’s, 66mm Laws, shotguns, .45 caliber pistols, silencers, the sound of bullets, rockets, and choppers, and sometimes the sound of silence.They carried C-4 plastic explosives, an assortment of hand grenades, PRC-25 radios, knives and machetes. Some carried napalm, CBU’s and large bombs; some risked their lives to rescue others. Some escaped the fear, but dealt with the death and damage. Some made very hard decisions, and some just tried to survive. They carried malaria, dysentery, ringworm, jungle rot and leaches. They carried the land itself as it hardened on their boots.
They carried stationery, pencils, and pictures of their loved ones – real and imagined. They carried love for people in the real world and love for one another. And sometimes they disguised that love: “Don’t mean nothin’! “They carried memories. For the most part, they carried themselves with poise and a kind of dignity. Now and then, there were times when panic set in, and people squealed or wanted to, but couldn’t; when they twitched and made moaning sounds and covered their heads and said “Dear God” and hugged the earth and fired their weapons blindly and cringed and begged for the noise to stop and went wild and made stupid promises to themselves and God and their parents, hoping not to die.They carried the traditions of the United States Military, and memories and images of those who served before them. They carried grief, terror, longing and their reputations. They carried the soldier’s greatest fear: the embarrassment of dishonor. They crawled into tunnels, walked point, and advanced under fire, so as not to die of embarrassment. They were afraid of dying, but too afraid to show it.They carried the emotional baggage of men and women who might die at any moment.They carried the weight of the world.
THEY CARRIED EACH OTHER.
Author Unknown
US ARMY 1969-1971. 11B20. 95B20. I did not get sent over. Nixon was winding down the war. All of us gave some. Some gave everything. In hindsight, the real enemies were behind us, not in front of us. No more conscription. No more Bankster wars.
Glad you didn’t lose any limbs or the like over there. I was too young by a few years to get caught up in it. They don’t draft fourteen year olds, which is what I was in 1975.
Your comment about where the enemies are is right on the mark and very apt. Henry Kissinger let the mask slip – thus revealing how America’s ruling class really regard the common soldier – when speaking to Nixon’s Chief of Staff, General Alexander Haig. He berated Haig, saying that soldiers were nothing more than “dumb oxen,” thereby insulting everyone else in uniform, too.
Kissinger’s arrogance and disdain shows that the ruling class regard the common soldier as nothing more than cannon fodder. These are the same folks who betrayed hundreds of POWs still in Vietnam in the name of saving a couple of billion dollars we were supposed to pay N. Vietnam under the terms of the Paris peace agreement reached in 1973.
Nothing has really changed in the intervening years. Eighty-five years ago, the sons of America’s most-privileged families still served in uniform, often in combat. FDR sent several of his sons into the service, and at least two of them saw action. One, Captain James Roosevelt, was a member of the Marine Raiders, and served as the XO to Colonel Evans Carlson.
But in today’s America, the ruling class leaves the fighting and the dying to others. They don’t get their hands dirty, let alone bloody. But they are the ones who profit from these wars without end.
Truer words have never been spoken than “War is a racket,” one whose costs are reckoned in blood, but whose profits are measured in dollars.
I have all the respect in the world for those who step forward to wear the uniform; their bosses are quite another story. Lions led by asses.
RHT, the author is Tim O’Brien, a boomer Viet Nam infantry vet, like moi. I believe he was drafted. The Things They Carried was the title of his collected short stories. He was anti-war, pro-soldier, pro-truth. Avoided political bias. After retiring from my engineering career, I worked as a math and English tutor at a multi-racial urban high school. One of the older English teachers there – one of the few who could actually diagram a sentence – would occasionally ask me to read this essay aloud to her students.
Thanks Mack. I knew about his book, but you are the first (for me at least) to confirm that he wrote the essay as well.
Met Tim O’Brien (‘What We Carried’) at UMASS Boston back before I went back on active duty… attended a lecture.
Guy had some pretty intense things to speak of…
“The Things They Carried was the title of his collected short stories. ”
Great book — highly recommend.
and they were boomers
I go back far enough to the days of C-Rats and I still have my P-38 on my dog tag chain. My favorite was beef slices with potatoes and gravy (the ham and eggs, chopped was good too), and remember turning the can with the cocoa powder and round crackers into a little stove to cook the entree on. I also wore the steel pot with the helmet liner and carried the M16-A1.
God never put truer words into a man’s mind and heart to express on paper for the rest of us to read and confirm as truth.
Amen.
You left off one reason for raffle entries not getting to you in time – procrastination. That’s my excuse. Mine should be there by now.
Check your spam. I’ve sent you 2-3 semi-relevant emails about the vintage .303 and no response.
he been kind of busy of late. I sent a box myself and had to E-mail him a few times to see if he got it.
the post office said he did, but I have no trust in them at all anymore.
he did e-mail me back a few days later though. and now he got 2 kids under foot ?
no thanks, that is a young man game ! I too old for that. bad enough keeping up with the dogs
around here . d
Read “War is a Racket” by MG Smedley Butler. He knew war and was awarded the Medal of Honor TWICE.
You can find it online.
On this Memorial Day, I don’t think of the WHY of all of these wars and who the dirty SOBs are who started them and kept them going for THEIR profit.
Rather I think of the sacrifice of all of the brave men and women who believed that they were fighting for their country and their buddies.
It’s also not just those who died but also all of those who left a part of themselves mentally and physically on those battlefields.
So I say in honor to all of those we honor today (as the Romans would say):
Malo Mori Quam Foedari. (Death rather than dishonor.)
The Professionals don’t sign up for all the bullshit. We fight because we are bred for it, and Valhalla is better than being among the disgusting sheep. Hopefully Odin will allow us return until Ragnorak, but no matter War is a privilege and honor that should not be extended to mere peasants.
Caedite eos. Novit enim Dominus qui sunt eius
And today’s headline: “German Chancellor greenlights missile strikes deep inside Russia — ‘We have removed the limits.’”
Europe is choosing a fast suicide over a slow death. We all know what Putin will do when the long range missiles strike.
I kind of wonder if the Euro “elites” think starting WW3 will allow them to take the gloves off and implement their somewhat hidden agenda. Dumb shits probably never considered the possibility that they might get vaporized before being able to implement said agenda….
And when they try to pull the US in via Article 5, Trump should say “I’ll take a hard pass on that one, thanks.”
Rest in peace, brothers.
The things they Carried….
They carried P-38 can openers and heat tabs,watches and dog tags,insect repellent, gum, cigarettes, Zippo lighters, salt tablets, compress bandages, ponchos, Kool-Aid, two or three canteens of water, iodine tablets, sterno, LRRP- rations, and C-rations stuffed in socks. They carried standard fatigues, jungle boots, bush hats, flak jackets and steel pots. They carried the M-16 assault rifle. They carried trip flares and Claymore mines, M-60 machine guns, the M-70 grenade launcher, M-14’s, CAR-15’s, Stoners, Swedish K’s, 66mm Laws, shotguns, .45 caliber pistols, silencers, the sound of bullets, rockets, and choppers, and sometimes the sound of silence.They carried C-4 plastic explosives, an assortment of hand grenades, PRC-25 radios, knives and machetes. Some carried napalm, CBU’s and large bombs; some risked their lives to rescue others. Some escaped the fear, but dealt with the death and damage. Some made very hard decisions, and some just tried to survive. They carried malaria, dysentery, ringworm, jungle rot and leaches. They carried the land itself as it hardened on their boots.
They carried stationery, pencils, and pictures of their loved ones – real and imagined. They carried love for people in the real world and love for one another. And sometimes they disguised that love: “Don’t mean nothin’! “They carried memories. For the most part, they carried themselves with poise and a kind of dignity. Now and then, there were times when panic set in, and people squealed or wanted to, but couldn’t; when they twitched and made moaning sounds and covered their heads and said “Dear God” and hugged the earth and fired their weapons blindly and cringed and begged for the noise to stop and went wild and made stupid promises to themselves and God and their parents, hoping not to die.They carried the traditions of the United States Military, and memories and images of those who served before them. They carried grief, terror, longing and their reputations. They carried the soldier’s greatest fear: the embarrassment of dishonor. They crawled into tunnels, walked point, and advanced under fire, so as not to die of embarrassment. They were afraid of dying, but too afraid to show it.They carried the emotional baggage of men and women who might die at any moment.They carried the weight of the world.
THEY CARRIED EACH OTHER.
Author Unknown
US ARMY 1969-1971. 11B20. 95B20. I did not get sent over. Nixon was winding down the war. All of us gave some. Some gave everything. In hindsight, the real enemies were behind us, not in front of us. No more conscription. No more Bankster wars.
Glad you didn’t lose any limbs or the like over there. I was too young by a few years to get caught up in it. They don’t draft fourteen year olds, which is what I was in 1975.
Your comment about where the enemies are is right on the mark and very apt. Henry Kissinger let the mask slip – thus revealing how America’s ruling class really regard the common soldier – when speaking to Nixon’s Chief of Staff, General Alexander Haig. He berated Haig, saying that soldiers were nothing more than “dumb oxen,” thereby insulting everyone else in uniform, too.
Kissinger’s arrogance and disdain shows that the ruling class regard the common soldier as nothing more than cannon fodder. These are the same folks who betrayed hundreds of POWs still in Vietnam in the name of saving a couple of billion dollars we were supposed to pay N. Vietnam under the terms of the Paris peace agreement reached in 1973.
Nothing has really changed in the intervening years. Eighty-five years ago, the sons of America’s most-privileged families still served in uniform, often in combat. FDR sent several of his sons into the service, and at least two of them saw action. One, Captain James Roosevelt, was a member of the Marine Raiders, and served as the XO to Colonel Evans Carlson.
But in today’s America, the ruling class leaves the fighting and the dying to others. They don’t get their hands dirty, let alone bloody. But they are the ones who profit from these wars without end.
Truer words have never been spoken than “War is a racket,” one whose costs are reckoned in blood, but whose profits are measured in dollars.
I have all the respect in the world for those who step forward to wear the uniform; their bosses are quite another story. Lions led by asses.
RHT, the author is Tim O’Brien, a boomer Viet Nam infantry vet, like moi. I believe he was drafted. The Things They Carried was the title of his collected short stories. He was anti-war, pro-soldier, pro-truth. Avoided political bias. After retiring from my engineering career, I worked as a math and English tutor at a multi-racial urban high school. One of the older English teachers there – one of the few who could actually diagram a sentence – would occasionally ask me to read this essay aloud to her students.
Thanks Mack. I knew about his book, but you are the first (for me at least) to confirm that he wrote the essay as well.
Met Tim O’Brien (‘What We Carried’) at UMASS Boston back before I went back on active duty… attended a lecture.
Guy had some pretty intense things to speak of…
“The Things They Carried was the title of his collected short stories. ”
Great book — highly recommend.
and they were boomers
I go back far enough to the days of C-Rats and I still have my P-38 on my dog tag chain. My favorite was beef slices with potatoes and gravy (the ham and eggs, chopped was good too), and remember turning the can with the cocoa powder and round crackers into a little stove to cook the entree on. I also wore the steel pot with the helmet liner and carried the M16-A1.
God never put truer words into a man’s mind and heart to express on paper for the rest of us to read and confirm as truth.
Amen.
You left off one reason for raffle entries not getting to you in time – procrastination. That’s my excuse. Mine should be there by now.
Check your spam. I’ve sent you 2-3 semi-relevant emails about the vintage .303 and no response.
he been kind of busy of late. I sent a box myself and had to E-mail him a few times to see if he got it.
the post office said he did, but I have no trust in them at all anymore.
he did e-mail me back a few days later though. and now he got 2 kids under foot ?
no thanks, that is a young man game ! I too old for that. bad enough keeping up with the dogs
around here . d
Read “War is a Racket” by MG Smedley Butler. He knew war and was awarded the Medal of Honor TWICE.
You can find it online.
On this Memorial Day, I don’t think of the WHY of all of these wars and who the dirty SOBs are who started them and kept them going for THEIR profit.
Rather I think of the sacrifice of all of the brave men and women who believed that they were fighting for their country and their buddies.
It’s also not just those who died but also all of those who left a part of themselves mentally and physically on those battlefields.
So I say in honor to all of those we honor today (as the Romans would say):
Malo Mori Quam Foedari. (Death rather than dishonor.)
The Professionals don’t sign up for all the bullshit. We fight because we are bred for it, and Valhalla is better than being among the disgusting sheep. Hopefully Odin will allow us return until Ragnorak, but no matter War is a privilege and honor that should not be extended to mere peasants.
Caedite eos. Novit enim Dominus qui sunt eius
And today’s headline: “German Chancellor greenlights missile strikes deep inside Russia — ‘We have removed the limits.’”
Europe is choosing a fast suicide over a slow death. We all know what Putin will do when the long range missiles strike.
I kind of wonder if the Euro “elites” think starting WW3 will allow them to take the gloves off and implement their somewhat hidden agenda. Dumb shits probably never considered the possibility that they might get vaporized before being able to implement said agenda….
And when they try to pull the US in via Article 5, Trump should say “I’ll take a hard pass on that one, thanks.”
Death Before Dishonor.
All gave some….Some gave all.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhE0qgpau-U
https://youtu.be/NQmMqZlLFVc?si=XxeYbF8h5VBqIfRa
Lest we forget
Tears me up every time:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6Pz_BGQitI
This one’s better:
https://youtu.be/IGmsjDuA_dQ