The names Don….
Hawkeyes they call me
1st class private is my rank and the Army is where i stay.
And you have to be thinking to yourself…. Why does this matter?
Well I was one of the toughest , most empathetic, courageous men in all of Vietnam.
With that being said….. Let me tell you a story
It’s January 30th 1968…
I’m held up in a little foxhole, my sleeping mate by my side
Little did I know this day would go down in history….
I’m writing to my baby back home in the pouring rain…. “God,” I think,”how much I miss that pretty face.”
The rain is coming down so hard it feels like stingers from a North American honey bee.
The fireworks look beautiful in the dark night winter sky….
The colors of red, blue, and green….. They take the shapes of dragons, chickens and Vietnamese letters…
These works of art remind me of home.. Ohhhh boy do I love the 4th of July!
The hotdogs, the hamburgers the pasta salad….
Man am I really sick of these army rations.
BOOM….
A streak of light hits the sky like a lightning bolt
BOOM…
A cloud of smoke and a color of fiery crimson consumes the night sky
BOOM…
All I can hear around me are the screams...the cries...the pain….the prayers
I ponder is god real?
BOOM…
I grab my gun
BOOM
Another crack
My partner and I take off towards the clouds of smoke ….
” godspeed gentlemen,” my captain yells as we pass by him .
We yell back, “Just another day in Vietnam sir.”
Soon after reality sets in. The happiness and conformity fades away and I realize the job I was sent here to do.
The adrenaline kicks in….
*Exhale* ( ughhhhh)
The uneasiness sets in along with the sweats
“Can I actually kill someone?” I wonder
Then I remember this is what I was trained to do!
This is my mission, to serve, protect and spread the ideologies of the free world
By now my whole regiment has caught up to us
I yell “ LETS KICK SOME CHARLIE ASS BOYS!”
The young boys beside me yell, “AMEN!”
Those young boys are just like me, armed to the teeth.
Ready to throw it all away for the greatest nation on the planet
Many people before me have done the same thing. So let's not let those lives lost and the suffering go down in vane!
“God Bless the United States!” We yell as we rush towards the gates of hell not knowing if our path ends here or will continue to serving the greater good of our great nation!
YOU ARE READING
The Boys In Green
Short StoryA small narrative poem that show's the writer, Don Hawks perspective and conflicting thoughts during the Tet Offensive in Vietnam. Take a ride with him through this dark gruesome time in world history
