Off to back country on another mission,
But it's not for "God and Country,"
Not for rate or rank or a commission,
It's all for your friends and your company.
.
Billy lost an arm to a sleek IED*,
Now he's going home in a week;
We text their positions to our UAV's**
They charge their ravines from our peaks.
.
Gasoline's down to two dollars a gallon,
Tobacco and coffee are cheaper;
I want to stay up late and watch Jimmy Fallon,
To find a girl and just try and keep her.
.
*IED: Improvised Explosive Device
**UAV: Unmanned Aerial Vehicle
.
© 2016 HN3 Garry Pelton, USN Dubai
YOU ARE READING
Back Country
PoetryOngoing wars, must be truly ugly and unpublishable. This, a look at "being there," from someone who was not, might capture the mentionable part of the fighting.