What They Carried

They carried P-38 can openers and heat tabs, watches with boot lace bands, dog tags, insect repellent, gum, cigarettes, Zippo lighters, salt tablets, compress bandages, ponchos, Kool-Aid, 2 or 3 canteens of water, iodine tablets, Sterno, LRRP rations, C-rations stuffed in socks. They carried fatigues, jungle boots, bush hats, flak jackets and steel pots with graffiti on the cover.

They carried the M-14, M-16, trip flares and claymore mines, the M-79 and M-60, LAWS, shotguns, .45 pistols, the sounds of bullets, rockets, choppers and sometimes, the sound of silence.

They carried C-4 plastique explosives, an assortment of hand grenades, PRC-6, PRC-10 and PRC-25 radios, KaBars and machetes. Some carried napalm, CBU's and large bombs slung underneath the wings of their aircraft. Some risked their lives to save others. Some escaped their fear, but dealt with the death and damage. Some made very hard decisions and some just tried to survive.

They carried malaria, dysentery, ring worm and leeches. They carried the land itself as it hardened on their boots. They carried stationary, pencils, and pictures of loved ones-real or imagined. They carried the love for the people in the real world and love for one another. 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 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 of showing 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 and they carried America's freedom as well.

Now, some of them carry the sound of a Huey Dust-off overhead, incoming, the smell of rot, the faces of lost Brothers and a multitude of memories that haunt them at night while the rest of the world sleeps peacefully. They still carry the flag and have what few men possess - - Honor.

Thank you for your sacrifices.