Thank You

To everyone who's served that deserves this thank you.

First, the one who fought in World War II,
When these horrible weapons were brand new.
You fought hard, nearly died,
When your friends fell, you refused to cry.

The one who fought in Korea, now,
When MacArthur went for China, you took your last bow.
All your hard work had gone to s**t,
But you swallowed your pride and took the hit.

To the one in Vietnam we go,
Charlie aint getting me; hell no!
But Charlie caught up, and our boys came on home;
Treated like s**t, we couldn't even throw ''em a bone.

Now to the Gulf, we find another,
Fighting side by side with his brothers.
Tyrants and liars stand no more,
No longer people treated like w****s.

Then the one fought against terror,
"Mission accomplished"? That's an error.
We lost too many, fought our way out,
But 2,997 avenged; of that, there is no doubt.

So to all those who served,
With the steeliest of nerves,
And to all those who never came home to their loving crew,
I have to extend a great big thank you.

Author's Note

I tried to be historically accurate,if anyone has any questions/ or concerns, feel free to air them, I'm all for constructive criticism. Again, to all of those who've served, thank you.

Reviews

[Baby Ricochet]

The way the Nam vets were treated by their fellow "Americans" was despicable. That started in 1969/70 and it had a lot to do with unrestricted news media coverage. War is a f*****g ugly business and civilians can't take the exposure for long before they lash out at some one. That's why Desert storm looked like a video game with a curious lack of mangled corpses until the so called "highway of death" coverage. That was when the Iraqis were retreating down the only highway out of Kuwait and coalition air power were ripping their defenseless columns to pieces. The UN cried foul, the US claimed legit military targets, the news crews kept showing burned and mangled bodies and President Bush said "We're done." So disturbing media coverage influenced Desert Storm as well as Vietnam. The big scandal for the Iraqi occupation was Abu Ghraib prison and the mistreatment of detainees. My division had been in the Anbar province for months when the story broke and we were so pissed off at the Iraqis we were like "yeah, so what's your f*****g point." I get what the point is now but at the time I couldn't have cared less. The Abu Ghraib scandal was just one of the many f**k ups in a long chain of f**k ups that all but guaranteed the insurgency that rose up against us, but I digress. Great poem Will and thank you

[Will]

The fact that people can blame soldiers for going out to defend the homeland and then treating them like garbage when they come home is a disgusting prospect. My uncle is one of those Vietnam vets who didnt get a damn thing when he came home and he's still fucked up in the head. But we can only pray such atrocities don't have to happen, and we have to do our best to help those affected by them. Thanks for reading and reviewing, Mark, im glad you appreciated the piece.

[Trigorin]

Not bad. I think the tone is nicely done and it's appropriate for the theme, but I think you could have used more evocative imagery here and there. As it stands, this is a fairly good tribute, but it feels a little too narrative for my tastes.

[Will]

I understand the point you make about the imagery, but I felt like if I went too imagery heavy, I'd get caught up and stray too far from what I wanted to do; a simple, sequential thank you. It is narrative in nature, and I appreciate your honesty. Thanks for reading.

[Ohhhwillow]

I'm no patriot, and though I have respect for the fallen, it is not something I dwell upon. Truthfully, I hold no heroes on a pedestal - I wish I died for it gives us all something to be appreciative of, and acknowledge our life as a gift. This is written delightfully and I commend you on your gratification for the bravery of others. You write confidently, keep it up :)

[Will]

Sometimes I dwell, but I like to call it philosophical pondering. Life is truly a gift, and we must live it fully and appreciate everything we get out of it. Thank you for your reading and review.

[s y e]

Wow, this was such a lovely tribute! :) It was beautifully written and well said!

[Will]

Thank you very much, Sye :)

[Divyanshu Kachhap]

"Thank You " For writing this amazing piece :)

[Will]

You're very welcome, and thank you for reading and reviewing, I appreciate it.

[Shivam Murari]

This is such a nice piece. A great tribute to the soldiers who sacrificed their lives in the wars. Wars which could have well been stopped. A moving piece :-)

[Will]

Thank you very much for reading and reviewing. It means a lot.

[Shivam Murari]

:-)

[Rita L. Sev]

This is a good tribute to our veterans, Will. So many wars, so much bravery, so much heartache. I'm not sure about the "we all had a cow" line. It seems to take away from the seriousness of the piece. Also, check your typo - you have "we couldn't even throw 'me a bone" - should be " 'em "

Overall, I like this a lot, and your history looks good.

[Will]

I'm glad you appreciated this piece, Rita. I changed that "we had a cow" to "you took your last bow." I think that works better upon a second look. I also fixed the typo. Thanks a lot for catching those mistakes and reading as always

[Rita L. Sev]

Just reread - yes, that "took your last bow" works much better.