Bravery starts at Seventeen for some,
I stood up and took my oath for the USMC
On a plane in the dead of night the end of a long day we took our flight,
To San Diego we would go,
The rest was a story of Terror,
Yelling and screaming throwing articles of uniforms at you.
The scent of moth balls filled the air,
Bald we were cut, it is now early in the morning,
On the street no one you know is all around you!
We all look the same with very little not even a name.
I have become 2274576, oh how true George Orwell was.
I felt like a Stranger in a strange land,
All the Science Fiction came true in the 3 months of hell I lived through.
I was trained, programed into what I was suppose to be for them,
A killer of Men.
I was born to who I was, I still felt the same but life had changed
Now I felt as a gear in the machine,
Long before don't ask, don't tell
We were just brothers in arms,
We horsed around like all young men do,
And in my off time I did my best to get away from the Machine,
I was Gay, not because of any choice but my own,
I watched as guys would tell their Commander the were Homosexual,
To be treated wrongly, and if they were!
I knew who I was, but had no desire to change or want out of what I desired.
To Serve!
I did my duty, and served proudly,
Why would these men announce themselves to be Homosexuals?
One of the questions on your application of which I knew I was but answered NO!
Why you ask, because I wanted to Serve to do my Duty!
If I answered Yes! I would have been denied.
These men who claimed to be Homosexual, were not gay most of them,
The trauma and fear of that first night struck terror in them,
But War is Terror, fear and all that we fight to keep us free from,
Don't ask Don't tell!
A compromise, of politicians and our Pentagon Leaders,
Their fears, their terror, brought by Homophobic up bringing!
With a rule that really crippled our armed forces,
These men and women asked only to serve,
The kept to themselves because of our secret,
If it be known out the door we were shown,
Many brave sericemen and women fought on two fronts,
War and War at home for their dignity.
Through my life in the Military I knew many gay men & women,
Honesty, yet we have to live this lie,
Now under a Great President who had the courage to step up and say Enough is Enough!
Put an end to this bigoted ruling Don't ask, Don't tell!
When the color guard passes in a parade, I stand and salute the flag,
I bow and say a prayer for my fallen comrades who never came back.
Or those who were still unaccounted for the MIA's
We ask for the freedoms as all Americans are suppose to have and for what we fought for.
No more & No less,
Dignity and respect for serving you the American's we do Honor with our Service to you!
Is a nineteen year old gay man lying dead along the roadside in Iraq from and IUD?
Any less a man, I say No!
We are who we are, nothing can change it.
Being Gay is not an illness, or something we woke up one day and said Hey I am going to be Gay!
And we are the first to stand up and say we have problems in understanding one another.
But we are not going to Judge without knowing.
This is the problem we face today,
So many have fought the political battle, with narrow mindedness.
Now we can begin to heal, make things right.
We have the finest military in the World, who now go in to help rebuild,
Educate and yes! Even try to repair broken lives.
Something we have been lacking in the return of our Veteran's.
With a broken economy, lack of leadership, and a Government who says one thing and does another,
Or my favorite, does nothing at all.
Case in Point the Veteran's System, many who are suppose to be there for us,
Who never served, who have jobs in the VA system because of us,
Need to wake up, start caring for those who are still fighting a War they cannot win alone.
Don't ask, Don't tell!
Is a dumb idea thought up by dumb Politicians as a compromise of their demise!
I watch with every day, new Veteran's filling the system,
with more cut backs, from those who say they will help,
You can push a man or woman so far, and with that comes a new Election!
Until we get someone who is oh yeah! That one word that says it all
HONESTY!
Never stop fighting, because if it doesn't help you, it will someone down the line.
Why because of your efforts!
Semper Fi (Always Faithful)
And I still live by that Creed,
Words are my sword of freedom now, And the fight for Veteran's Rights!
A Poem for Memorial Day Called "Don't ask, Don't tell"
