If you think being a hero means anything
Dec 20th 2004MichaelPro America & War
Mike the Marine has a message that you need to read. I am posting it here also.
From my email, I give you a message from a Viet Nam vet and member of the LRRP teams… and if you don’t know what a LRRP is you best get to Googlin’, cuz I ain’t wasting another second on a history lesson.I present the message in it’s entirity, unedited - with all that entails (blink hard when you get to the dirty words and keep right on reading). This speaks truth that most people will never fully understand.
An Old GI …(please feel free to post everywhere … including my e-mailaddress)I’ve spent 27 months in combat..a LRRP .. (a lie… it was 18 months incombat and nine months pulling my dick in the rear, but it was all in Nam)… worked in four-man teams (three GIs and a Yard) … we kicked ass… weran, we shot, we made it out.Spent a week in Bosnia with an armored cav unit during the Bosnianelections. Nobody fucked with them.Spent a week with an old bunch (60-70 year olds) of UDT/ NCDU guys.
TheSEALs sucked compared to them.Spent some time with British EOD in the Falklands (I’ll show you a rough ona golf course. The sign says “MINED”).Spent some time with these weird guys in Belize …Gurkha trained and ableto do it all.Here’s the story. If you don’t like being in combat don’t join the military.If you’re doing it to get an education, that’san admirable reason (not a reason I would choose, but fine nonetheless), butbe prepared to fight.
Don’t talk to reporters except when you’re holding agun (I’m a reporter now), don’t expect ANYONE to appreciate what you do fora living (and what you do for a living is be a soldier/grunt/airman/swab),don’t rat on your buddies unless they kill civilians (and back them whenthey fuck with the bad guys.. what do you think will happen if YOU getsnagged?), shoot anything that moves, believe that anything you do isrighteous, back your buddy, and know that … you are right and “they” (nomatter who the fuck “they” is) are so fucking wrong …. There really are abunch of us who have been there/done that who are too fucking old to do itagain, but would trade places with you in a minute….
If you’re fightingnow, you’re a hero …and if you think being a hero means anything, you’re wrong. But it beats not being a hero. Kick ass, take names, ignore themedia, stick to your buddy’s ass, and kill anything that looks remotelythreatening. Better a dead them than a dead you.
I pray for you guys every day
If you can … get one for me …
Gary P. Joyce
RVN 8/68-1/71
E58 LRRP/K75 Ranger
some people really know how to make a point.
(I added formatting for easier reading)
No Comments »
