![8d1e2241-5e39-4c4b-ae04-93b6b9034d02[1] (1).jpg](https://padresramblings.files.wordpress.com/2020/06/8d1e2241-5e39-4c4b-ae04-93b6b9034d021-1.jpg?w=1040)
British NCOs WW1, Image – A family photo from Padre’s Ramblings
Service
Service isn’t just a thing that you do
I really needs to be part of you
Prepared on behalf of other’s – to enter the fray
Waiting to count the risks “on some other day.”
To serve, to protect, even sacrifice
Is what it is to enter that way of life
Padre
image: Chattanooga Times Free Press
Rhythmic drumming from beyond the glade
A snare call for those marching to its beat
Rousing courage in those afraid
As battle beckons their marching feet
Drummer boy – give cadence to all
For how can you possibly know –
You’ll be the first to fall?
Padre
dVerse Quadrille #106: Drum
Public domain
“Still waters run deep.” What an amazing metaphor. But out on the big pond, still waters are a godsend. “The Deep,” has her moments of calm, but Magellan got it wrong when he named the Pacific. This expanse of deep shows her temper far too often.
Well, that is what the still waters of Petty Officer Mike Sanchez’s mind were pondering as he checked the lifeline on his harness, and made his way from the gun deck of his destroyer. As he did, the vessel pitched headlong into a trough, and the bow disappeared into a next rising peak.
Padre
June 11: Flash Fiction Challenge – Deep Waters
Image by Defence-Imagery from Pixabay
“Second Platoon, reporting as ordered,” Staff Sergeant Romero said in a clear voice.
“Excellent,” responded the civilian efficiency consultant, turning his back momentarily to pick up a large stack of fill in the blanks questionnaires. “I have a PowerPoint presentation to explain these for you, and then . . . ”
He turned back around to find the marquee tent empty.
“That’s odd,” he mused out loud, “third time this week.”
Padre
Pixabay
When ships were oak,
As were the hearts of men
Every man has his place
And every place its man
Perfect order – shipshape – Bristol fashion
Made for vessels always ready for action
Order is familiar to military men
Practice makes perfect
And then you practice again
When you wake up
When you lay down your head
What you will wear
And when you break bread
Every man has his place
And every place its man
It’s order you rely on
As a military man
Padre
dVerse – Poetics: Order, Order!
Pixabay
It was the early 1980s and I was at the US Marine Corps Infantry Training School at Camp Geiger, North Carolina. It had rained for days, and the trails and pathways throughout the wooded training area had become quagmires. This did not of course stop the training.
It was into this environment that we men of “Charlie Company” began a timed hike. At first I did well, even though the mud in places seemed to make every step feel as if my feet weighed a hundred pounds. I was quite proud of myself at my professionalism. In fact, almost Hollywood-like, when I slipped my rifle was instinctively lifted skywards away from the unforgiving mud.
But alas, I started to fall back in the column, and eventually was trailing some ten to fifteen yards behind the others. As we approached a place where the trail crossed a road, a truck was waiting, and I and other “hike drops” was snagged by a sergeant who ordered us onto the uncovered back of the vehicle. Cold and wet to the skin we were taken at speed back to camp, as the chill began to take its toll. I never again was a hike drop.
Duty
Mud and toil – is a way of life
It prepares you for a world of strife
By testing yourself – to the limit each day
You strengthen yourself – for the role you play
The defense of others – is no simple chore
But to give of yourself – who can do more?
Lips blue, fingers numb
Windswept the transportation
Never lag again!
Padre
dVerse: Snapshots of Our Lives
Image: Pixabay
Now I lay me down to sleep,
But not before – dried food – I eat.
Is it tasty? Hard to tell.
Can’t get over my own smell.
Feet are blistered, back is sore,
Doubt I could have – gone five metres more.
But now like in Elysian Fields, I’ll find repose –
At least until my watch, I suppose.
Padre
Weekend Writing Prompt #143 – Elysian
image: Pexels
Hollywood made it look easy. How hard is it to serve you country? Okay, they shave your head and you have a few weeks of some sadist shouting at you, but then you graduate, and go out and do the job. Well that’s what some people think anyway.
What the films don’t show you is the near sleepless nights as you take watch so others can sleep peacefully. They don’t show you the shivering as you sit soaked to the skin in the face of a steady wind. You don’t feel the sand between your teeth. That’s true grit.
Padre
99 word Challenge for Carrot Ranch Literary Community: True Grit
“In 99 words (no more, no less) write a story that shows true grit. You can use the phrase or embody the theme. Who or what has true grit? Go where the prompt leads you!”
1966 Album Cover
One of the most moving scenes of Mel Gibson’s We Were Soldiers is the depiction of Col. Hal Moore tucking in his children on the night before his deployment to Vietnam. I have often told my students that one of the hardest aspects of being a warrior is leaving your family while you go to an uncertain future. Staff Sergeant Barry Sadler released a song in 1966 which captures this, well before Gibson’s film, or my own military service.
image: YouTube Henry V
By confident voice heartened
When all seemed lost and dire
By a firm voice strengthened
When wearied and by long marching tired
No need to surrender
Or from the cold field retreat
With bold words they were encouraged
Removing fears and thoughts of defeat
Padre
Quadrille #85 – Raising our Poetic Voices:
“Listen to the voice inside you. Voice your opinion. Give voice to a new thought. Whether you let your inner siren loose, or stick to your usual poetic voice, please scribble us a little something of exactly 44 words, using some form of the word voice. Whether you turn that voice into a shout, a doubt, a wisp of whimsy or a whispered prayer, is up to you.”
