What Great Timing

by Bryan

13 comments

1 JuanitaM { 06.02.10 at 7:22 am }

It just stuns you, doesn’t it?

In other news along this line, Rush Limberlips told his fawning audience yesterday that while this oil spill was a disaster, it wasn’t going to be really all that bad. Why, Nigeria gets more oil spilled there every year than we’re getting down in the Gulf, and Nigeria is still there!

And, after all, Bryan, we know how much tourism and business Nigeria does. I mean, don’t people just flock to take their vacations in Nigeria? I’m planning mine now – how about you?

2 Bryan { 06.02.10 at 9:36 am }

I had my fill of that kind of “tourism” in Southeast Asia in the 1960’s. If I was interested in getting shot at among people living in poverty I would move to certain neighborhoods in Miami, the smell is better.

The spills in Nigeria are generally caused by people blowing up pipe lines as part of their on-going civil war. I might point out to the clown that the war was caused by the fact that the people whose land is being polluted don’t like it, and are really annoyed that they aren’t making any money off the oil to justify having to put up with the pollution.

If the people on the Gulf Coast start reacting like the people in Nigeria, Big Oil may find it hard to do business in the US… without getting shot or blown up. Comparisons are tricky.

3 Kryten42 { 06.02.10 at 9:48 am }

I had my fill of that kind of “tourism” in Southeast Asia in the 1960’s. If I was interested in getting shot at among people living in poverty…

Yeah… been there, done that. And the smell is very hard to forget.

4 JuanitaM { 06.02.10 at 4:03 pm }

Hey, point taken. Not having been in the military myself, I can’t begin to imagine what that must have been like for you guys.

Hopefully, it won’t come to the Gulf Coast using guerilla tactics, but I truly do wonder what it will take to hear the people on the Gulf. It’s like you are all invisible. There is very little journalism covering the local people, fishermen, and their observations, so I appreciate your posting the PBS coverage of the fishermen. I had not seen that one.

For my part, when I hear the comments such as the Governor’s above and the Wall Street banker, I’m reduced to much the same state as “the Forester” in a prior post, it’s hard to know what to say anymore. Faced with that level of stupidity, it just leaves one’s mind numb.

5 Bryan { 06.02.10 at 10:16 pm }

I wouldn’t be honest, Juanita, if I didn’t say I was concerned about public order down here. Native Americans, Cajuns, and the normal people along the coast have put up with a lot, but this is different. With the economy in such a mess you can’t move somewhere and start over, the usual reaction to something like this. The entire world is in a mess, so there is no “land of opportunity”

The problem is that the Gulf was the fall back, the safety net, if you will. You didn’t have to worry about starving, because you could always fish. Before this, the water would always provide. Now the Gulf is dying.

People may panic, and you can’t blame them. Until this last round of Republicans took over, it was set in stone that you don’t drill off the coast. Well, we didn’t and it didn’t save us. The oil is on its way.

6 Kryten42 { 06.02.10 at 10:47 pm }

Sorry JuanitaM, I wasn’t having a go at you, I was simply agreeing with Bryan on that point. 🙂 I know you were being snarky, and I certainly don’t blame you for that! 😀 This is supposed to be a snarky blog, after all… 😉 😀

I do have to admit though, that even though my year in Cambodia was 30 years ago, it still leaves a strong mark, and many things bring back memories I’d rather not remember if I had the choice. 🙂 I literally couldn’t go to a BBQ for a decade without getting violently ill. It’s the smell more than anything… You never forget the smell. *shrug* Would I do it again, even knowing the price after? Given the circumstances, and the fact that we DID save many thousands of innocent people… Yes, I would. As with everything in this life, there are many pro’s and con’s. 🙂

I may have posted this before… not sure.

Life is but a dream.

Imagine that life is a dream, and dreams appear real,
Then my friend, and only then, you will understand how I feel.
It started many years ago, or was it yesterday?
We flew to a new adventure in that land so far away.

From aircraft to helicopter it happened just as they said,
We attacked that village stronghold and none of us are dead.
You’re all professionals, they told us, and good soldiers never die.
Recalling past events, we knew that was a lie.

But something didn’t seem quite right, as we advanced that day.
The villagers were there to welcome us, and children were at play.
Not a shot was fired. That’s not what we expected.
We were supposed to be at war, yet we were unaffected.

Days passed then came the orders that we awaited.
We will search for and destroy the enemy that we hated.
From treetop level to jungle clearing, Choppers signaled our arrival,
While gunships circled overhead, ensuring our survival.

From chopper to jungle cover we ran, our Cobra’s guns were blazing
Showered by leaves and limbs of trees, their bullets were erasing.
Then deathly silence filled the air, as air support went home
Darkness closed in quickly, and we were all alone.

That night we dreamed in peaceful sleep, of our land called Australia.
Of family, friends and memories of other days gone by.
Stirred only by the sentries, creeping stealthily through the night,
And the report and thud of mortars, in some distant firefight.

At dawn we moved out cautiously, no anticipation of events to come,
A vicious jungle battle, chilled the soul of everyone.
Forward scouts had signaled enemy. “There’s only three of them.”
Our scouts didn’t know what was waiting behind those three men.

With the crack of light arms fire, those three lives were ended fast,
Then the whistle of close~placed bullets, filled the air as they went past.
Seconds seemed like hours before that dreaded sound,
The scream of approaching rockets; their explosions shook the ground.

“Medic! Medic!” Voices yelled almost simultaneously;
As men fell down, all around in pain and misery.
The Medic clambered down the bank, into the small creek bed.
The Captain lay upon the mud, a bullet through his head.

The Medic’s shirt was soaked with sweat, his throat and mouth were dry,
For he was caught in crossfire and must surely die.
“Dustoff! Dustoff!” The Medic screamed, not one of fear or dread,
With desperation in his voice, he knew, the Captain would soon be dead.

Then all at once the fighting ceased, almost as quickly as it started
The KR withdrew their fighters and then the armies parted.
“I see red!” The chopper pilot said, “Is the area clear?”
“Affirmative,” the Sig replied sarcastically, “there’s been no action here.”

Fighters came from their safe base, and thundered overhead,
As “Dustoffs” took their human load, the wounded and our dead.
Like a demented Hollywood movie, this scene continually repeated.
With politicians as directors until the actors were depleted.

We were put on SOPS, to hunt for the warlords and protect the villagers.
We often arrived too late to save the poor innocents, though we did all we could.
The bastards seemed to know somehow, when we were on their trail.
The village would be burned and not a soul survive, and the enemy would be gone.

And during the next twelve months each action seemed the same.
“Violence!” Solidified the spirit and petrified the brain.
Then after just a few hours flight I’m back home in Australia once more.
My family and friends are here, but my mind is still at war.

They called it a Police Action, those Political men.
As if that somehow made it less terrible or less deadly then.
As if we were only fighting a ragtag gang of cowardly bloody criminals,
and not hundred’s of thousands of ruthless, cold killers out for our blood.

At night I dream in restless sleep, of other days gone by.
Of fighting, death and destruction and of true friends who I saw die.
So imagine that your dreams are real, and true life’s just a dream.
Then my friend and only then, might you know what I mean.

I really hope you are wrong Bryan. But we have both had enough experience to know that panic and violence is quite possible. And It’s all very sad to me, even though I’m a World away… I understand and I wish I could do something. I know how hard this is for you, and how angry you must be feeling. If I can do anything… just let me know!

7 JuanitaM { 06.03.10 at 10:11 am }

“With the economy in such a mess you can’t move somewhere and start over, the usual reaction to something like this.”

Bryan, to me, this makes THE key point in what people will do. Similar to our discussion of the dust bowl and the depression happening at the same time. Strange and bad things can happen when people run out of options.

Kryten, I read your verse word for word, and it chilled to the bone.

Since both Bryan and you went through this, here’s just one experience from the civilian side of it. I had just started junior high school when we lost one of our town’s first to the Police Action. We lived on 20 acres, and if you stood on a certain part of our land, you could see the cemetery, so there I stood far away and watched this funeral with full military honors.

This particular soldier had a much younger brother. Buddy sat across from me in my English class, and I couldn’t stand to go to the funeral and see his pain. In fact, it was the first time that I had felt the crushing pain of sorrow for another person. You know, that point in growing up where it’s not all about you but about what someone else feels.

He was such a sweet young man before that, but the awful experience of losing his brother this way couldn’t help but change him, and he was changed. All he wanted to do was go to Vietnam and kill those that killed his brother. And that’s what he did. It was peculiar that his main fear was not that of dying but that the war would be over before he could get over there and do what he meant to do. He graduated from high school, enlisted immediately, and was just in time before the war ended. Of course, after high school, we all went in different directions, but I ran into a classmate later and heard that Buddy made it home safe.

I often wonder if he was able to put to rest his demons or if his experience just added more to the mix.

8 Kryten42 { 06.03.10 at 1:07 pm }

Thanks for posting that Juanita. 🙂

Yes, it does change us. And *change* is permanent, but not necessarily constant, or consistent, and the changes can vary over time. For myself… I thought I was finally over it, demons put to rest, and this state continued for some years. 🙂 Then suddenly, a single event changed that, and the demons were back, seemingly stronger than before. I actually cried that night in anger and frustration, I thought I may never sleep again. But I did, and eventually I found peace again. But I realized one thing… They will always be with me now, always at the back of my mind, and my soul, waiting for a chance to come out again. I finally realized that ignoring them and all that had happened was not the way to deal with it. And, I had to do more than simply *accept it all*, I had to understand it all. Part of my problem (and possibly Bryan’s also), is that I actually knew too much! I worked in Military Intelligence after my combat tour, and I learned many things that I wished I hadn’t. And I learned the reasons for all those deaths. And the real enemy of Peace wasn’t the Warlords, or even Pol Pot, it was all those cowards behind him that enabled him to get the power and the means to kill millions of innocents, and my friends.

It does change us. But I sincerely hope and believe that most of the time, it’s for the better. We are no longer *dreamers*. If we survive, we become absolute realists. 🙂 It’s why many people (bloggers) who had seen combat, could see the truth about the past Decade and the rule of the Bushmoron (or Shrubbery as Bryan called him)! 😀 He never was and never will be a *President* to many of us. He was simply a foolish, thoughtless, crook. We’ve seen and heard their BS before, and we had seen the results. We warned everyone we could what would happen in Afghanistan and Iraq… Nobody listened, of course (at least, nobody that was in a position to do anything about it). What do we know? We are just angry old Vet’s! We should all just be grateful our Lords and Masters look after us all so well! 😆 Yeah… We know them, and they despise us for it. 🙂

Sadly, it’s truly a catch-22 situation. 🙂 People who haven’t been through it, don’t have the eye-opening experience and the reality view of the World, and Humans that many of us do (and many do not! Not everyone wants their eyes opened). On the other hand, I wouldn’t wish it on anyone. 🙂 *Civilians* can see the World as we do though. They just have to listen, and understand that we really do *know*! For many people, truth is rather inconvenient, and fantasy is much more comfortable. 😉

I think that to really put the demons to rust, we have to truly understand and accept. And we need good friends, family and that someone special by our side. Having a great love keeps the darkness away, it’s the only thing that really does. For myself, now… I simply think of those faces, the children especially, that were burned into my minds eye and soul all those years ago, and see their big smiles and looks of hope and gratitude when they saw us! And remember their hugs… We couldn’t save everyone, or every village… be we did what we could. My one regret is that I never went back and found out what became of those kids. I wish I had. We gave them a chance… something they never had before. Maybe it was enough. I have to believe it was, so I can sleep. 🙂 I miss then you know. 🙂 Strange isn’t it? 🙂

Here’s another couple verses:

Who I Was

I was what others did not want to be.
I went where others did not want to go,
I did what others did not want to do.
I asked nothing from those who gave nothing,
but to the victims, I gave mercy, hope and aid;
and I took all hope, and gave no mercy to the evil ones.
I accepted the possibility of eternal loneliness…
should I fail.

I have seen the face of terror;
and had the face of evil in my sights;
and I have smelled the stink of fear, of death and corruption.
I have watched hope bring a renewal of strength, and a smile,
and my presence wash away tension and fear from the innocent,
and bring tears of hope.
I have seen the priceless smile of relief, hope and gratitude.

I have felt the stinging cold of fear;
felt the searing heat of anger and frustration,
and felt the awful vacuum of immeasurable sadness.
But I have also enjoyed the incomparable taste of love.
I have cried, pained, despaired, and hoped.
But most of all, I have lived times and seen things
others would say were best forgotten.

But I shall never forget. And perhaps someday,
I will be able to say that I was proud of…

…who I was.

And I truly am sorry if people find them sad. They were simply meant to help others who were not involved understand. And maybe, help me also. 🙂 But, I shall always remember those kids, and their families, that we saved, that we gave a chance to! Then I know that Andrew, Dave, Paul and others who were my true mates, didn’t die for nothing.

I am very glad that you never experienced war first hand. And I am also glad that you take time to think about it, and wonder. 🙂 In some ways, we are perhaps luckier than civilians when it comes to understanding, in some ways, it’s easier for us. I (and most of us) do understand that even civilians can feel the pain and anger, but don’t really understand why. Just know that, it’s a good thing to feel such. It means you have a soul, that you are caring, and that you don’t want anyone to hurt. If everyone felt like you, we probably wouldn’t have Wars. 😉 It isn’t the fault of people such as you, it’s the fault of those cowards who fear the truth, and reality, those who are full of greed and lust and mad for power. People such as you Juanita, are the reason people like *us* do what we do! 🙂 Not everyone is a Warrior! And not everyone is a cowardly skunk! Thank the stars! 😀

One think I do know… If everyone understood honor and followed the code of honor, the World would be a much better place! Most Politicians have no honor. There is no honor amongst thieves! And they are thieves… They steal peoples lives, and try to take our honor and make it meaningless.

I do hope your friend was able to put his demons to rest, and I hop you can put yours to rest also. Remember the good times, and his joy, and the reasons he went to war… Not the Political reasons, his reasons. Every soldier knows there is a big chance we won’t get back home. It comes with the job. Knowing that, he must have had a reason to go. 🙂

My Mate Andrew, The Forward Scout

Each man has his duty
Yes, each man has his job
And each one takes the chance
That he will stand before his God
But ask of any soldier
What he thinks of the scout
The one that leads the others
The lonely forward scout.

He’s the first one into danger
The first to face the shots
He sees and hears what others miss
And reads right on the spot
For none may walk beside him
While he’s up front, the scout
He’s known as both the eyes and ears
The lonely forward scout.

But man is man and life goes round
And returns to form a ring
The whispering of the leaves may mean
That death is on the wing
The rifles boom and rockets crash
Many lives hang deep in doubt
His chest now but a crimson cloak
The lonely forward scout.

And now there lies in our sunburnt land
Down beneath the earth
A boy who died a soldier’s death
For all that it is worth
We were hit from every side it seemed
Just able to get out
But there, up front and alone he died
My mate, the forward scout.

Rest, In Peace, all who fought with honor and died.

9 Bryan { 06.03.10 at 11:33 pm }

The road to peace within yourself is hard and long. It really lasts a lifetime. The hardest part is figuring out who is to blame for the pain, and it almost always is a groups of politicians on both sides of the conflict who do stupid things and then feel they have to reinforce their stupidity with the military.

If we put the people who vote for wars in the first unit on the assault, we would have many fewer wars.

10 Kryten42 { 06.04.10 at 8:17 am }

If we put the people who vote for wars in the first unit on the assault, we would have many fewer wars.

Yeah… I used to say that. 🙂 Eventually, I decided that an even better way, was to take all those on both sides who wanted war and drop them on an island with sticks and stones to sort it out between them. And the rest of us can forget about them and get on with our lives. 🙂 You could call it ‘Cleansing the genetic pool’.

Centuries ago, the Nations Leaders led the wars also, because if they didn’t, they would have been the first ones killed. In the old days, no warrior would fight for a coward. What changed?

11 JuanitaM { 06.04.10 at 8:40 am }

The hardest part is figuring out who is to blame for the pain, and it almost always is a groups of politicians on both sides of the conflict who do stupid things and then feel they have to reinforce their stupidity with the military.

….those who are full of greed and lust and mad for power.

Truer words were never spoken.

Reading about both of your feelings on this has been a humbling learning experience. Thanks. What a world we live in, huh?

Bryan, seems there was something of a segue from the original subject! :). Sorry bout that!

12 Bryan { 06.04.10 at 2:20 pm }

In case you haven’t noticed, Juanita, the rules are pretty loose around here. Comments should be a conversation, not a debate, although that occasionally happens.

13 Kryten42 { 06.05.10 at 8:41 am }

It’s one of the reasons I like Brian’s place! 😀 It’s not moderated to boring death! 😆

But, I still respect that it *IS* Bryan’s place. 🙂

Juanita, every human alive has demons, even the Dalai Lama has them (every one of the 14 of them). 🙂 In my case, and possibly Bryan’s and others, I know exactly what my demons are, and why I have them. I think of it as the reward for my Service! 😀 Most people spend their entire lives feeling *something*, possibly even realizing they have some demon(s), but not knowing what they are, or why they have them. It drives some people literally insane, and makes some people do desperate things. The other reward is… Nothing surprises me, and I fear nothing, not even death. I know death well. I’ve seen it, and it knows where I am. When it’s my time, I’ll just smile and relax, and if I am able, I’ll say “About bloody time!” And get in the last laugh! 😆

I know Humans for what they are. I’ve seen both the very best and the very worst of Humans. And I know a bastard when I see one, no matter how big the smile or how charismatic. 😀

What a world we live in, huh?

Yes… What a World, indeed. If not for Humans… She would be a very beautiful World. The good things is… The Earth was here LONG before us, and will heal and be here LONG after us! 😀 I realized some time ago, that for the most part, Humans are incredibly selfish, stupid and destructive. Some of the individuals are OK though. 😉

Thankfully… I don’t have too much longer to put up with it! 😉 😆

I hope Mother Nature has learned from her mistake. Intelligence is VASTLY overrated! LMAO 😛

BTW… I’m not being a pessimist. Just an honest realist! 😆

And, if there is a God, and I get to meet Him, or even an underling… I will have just one question. “What the hell was all that crap about??!”