Some were there,
Some still are,
Some came home,
but sadly-

Some never will.

It's canyons run deeper than
any on the pages of history, and
today we are all guilty of letting them
be covered over, by allowing them to be erased
from our chalkboards of education.

There is not one that fought, that
will tell you that each and every second they
spent, they were not faced with the dueling
of personal challenges, from childhood teachings,
to adult beliefs.
Religiously flowing rivers of angst and torment,
to the simple missing of close family members
and adoring sweethearts.

It was definitely more than war. It was
a hell like none alive had ever encountered. The
place, if not that it had been previously named, would
have mattered not at all, while during and afterwards, the
atrocities of death, the depth of suffering, the lifetime of
nightmares, not to mention the mental disabilities it
would forever inflict upon not just a few but
the entirety of it's participants.

They stood eye to eye and toe to toe,
with a much more straight shooting enemy than
those of the human being. Even the natural elements
of the thick relentless jungles, claimed to be as much
or more of a deadly threat. The rain burned the flesh
as quickly and evenly as the sun's fiery rays, the diseased rivers and the poisonous snakes and insects.
The meat preying Bengal tigers and the scavenging hyenas, each posed their own war against man.

The soil itself not only laced with man-made
mines and booby traps, it too was braided with
diseases. Malaria, cholera, anthrax, so many that
one could never be assured that even if the bombs
and enemy fire didn't get you, you would make it
home alive.

Their feet, their muscles their bodies and minds
all ached beneath the torments of stress. They each
knew it would only get worse before it would get
better. There was no light at the end of a tunnel.
They weren't going to simply wake and find themselves
to be the victim of just 'only' a dream, they were
really there, in this more than real nightmare,
and they had only one choice, and that was to
do what they had to do, to defeat all the enemies they
faced, and make it out alive and assure as many
others as possible the same advantage.

Each also knew, there were those among them,
from their own side, that would do what most wanted
to believe the unthinkable, the unimaginable, to be
sent back to the safety of their homeland.
Just because they shared the same uniform, the same
country codes, didn't mean they could trust them
whole heartedly, or without question, but they
also knew, they may be forced to do so
without choice.

While paranoia would become an evil all it's own,
still it's wasn't the damaging force that each of them
would face as they found themselves back home,
shoved into the arms of anti-war protest crowds, and
the cruel censorship of the media.
Parents covering their children's ears and eyes, to
not just the brutality and reality of war, but also
to the noble sacrifices that was taking place to
ensure the longstanding Freedoms that the U.S. had
founded upon throughout the pages of history.

That place and time I speak of, and as you all
know, was Vietnam.
Today, there is another time and place, where
sacrifices are being made by another group
of Noble participants.
Has the War in Iraq turned into another Vietnam?
Anytime there is war, there is going to be
ways to compare one war against another.
In the case of any conflict, there are sacrifices made.
Lives are lost, on both sides, and as unfortunate
as it is, there are always unintended casualties and
suffering.
Families are grief stricken, and angry words are spoken.
Blame falls in the lap of the Commander and Chief
that holds the office that he was voted into.
Again I ask, is Iraq another Vietnam?
No more than it is another WW1, WW2, Korea,
the Civil War, etc...etc...
People made sacrifices, people died and people
became angry from their losses-

Today there are three things that as
a citizen of this Great United States
that I ask each of you to consider.

First but not least by any means:

To not censor your children from the
noble sacrifices that has been made throughout
history and those that are being made today

To Support and rally others to support
each and every Troop that is deployed
anywhere around the world

And to make a conscience choice to
go to the polls in November and
exercise your Right to Vote