MILSPEAK MEMO MILITARY LIFE IN THE WORDS OF THOSE WHO LIVE IT volume 5: MIXED BAG posting 19 OCTOBER 2009 - 3 JANUARY 2010
 
Publisher Pirate the Compiler AKA Sally Drumm, GySgt USMC (Ret.), AIC #375, Cold War 78-98 Contributing Compilers Mustang AKA Harry Parmer, Major USMC (Ret.), “C” Co. 9th Engineers, Republic of Vietnam and 7th MEB, Desert Storm Sachem Two AKA Tom Sheehan, SSgt U.S. Army, 31st Infantry Regiment, Korean War O.A.T.S (One Among The Salts) AKA A.L. Syor, USMC 1965-69 Mammal AKA R. Richard Brown, Desert Storm and War on Terror FROM PIRATE THE COMPILER Welcome to Volume 5: Mixed Bag. Some of you remember “Mixed Bag” refers to a mixed load of ordnance carried by a fighter jet. Sometimes we controllers used the term to refer to a mix of fighter aircraft joined in a mission - be they friendlies or enemies. At times during the Cold War, our allies would join with fighters to protect a border, say, between Norway and the USSR. In those days, a Soviet aircraft crossing the invisible line between Norway and Russia was called a Vampire. I controlled one of those missions, years ago, during the 1980s. That was an exciting moment, not just for me as the controller, but for everyone on watch. We used to fight over who would control missions like that. Today, all that Cold War stuff seems boring to a new generation of warriors who risk their lives on a daily basis in Afghanistan, in Iraq, and around the globe. We in the safe zone of our living rooms, watching the war and discussions of war unfold on our television screens, sometimes wonder how it is we’ve managed to be at war for eight years in a country we still know so little about. Our military men and women continue coming and going, fighting and training, and they are probably doing a bit of wondering themselves. Where did the time go? It’s a mixed bag of questions we’re all asking these days. But our military men and women, those who have served during the past eight years and those who are still serving, share something the rest of us can’t share with them - living with the loss of their comrades, those men and women whose boots they watched pound the dust ahead of them during marches. Maybe the thing you remember most about a fallen comrade is the way he lit a cigarette, or the last time you lifted her pack to her back, or the look in his eye when he’d demanded justice for all those killed on September 11, 2001 or for all those killed last week, yesterday, five minutes ago. Memory is a mixed bag - friendlies & enemies, ghosts, chaff. Sorting these critters is what makes writing and reading a worthwhile expenditure of time. To write is to risk being known. It’s also to risk knowing yourself. Writing can be pretty scary because the inside of your head is one place you can’t hide or run from the truth. And the truth is always a.... VOLUME 5 MIXED BAG 19 OCT 09 - 3 JAN 10 POSTED 19 OCT 09 ribbon creek, cold war, desert storm/desert shield, vietnam, afghanistan - round and round she goes & where she lands, nobody knows..... POSTED 26 OCT 09 “GUADALCANAL” A HORSE SOLDIER’S TALE, AN EPILOGUE, A DATE WITH A DI, A LONG NIGHT - 3:30 A.M. AND A MOTHER’S WAR PLUS TALES OF THE GOLD MONKEY AND THE VERY FIRST MILQUEST POSTED 02 NOV 09 women warriors “where’ya gonna go - wha’cha gonna do? who’s gonna welcome you home? they don’t even know you’re a warrior. “ PLUS here no, see no, speak no POSTED 09 NOV 09 HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MARINES! AND A MEMORABLE VETERANS DAY POSTED 16 NOV 09 THE WOUND, A TRANSITION AND A CHANCE ENCOUNTER PLUS, THE BENCH, TOM SHEEHAN ACCEPTS THE MILQUEST CHALLENGE REMEMBERING THE BRAVE AND TRACKING THE MYSTERIOUS ROCK APES THANKSGIVING ‘09 POSTED 14 DEC - 25 DEC 09 TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS send military life/holiday themed writing, graphics, video links, anecdotes to submissions@milspeak.org send comments to: kudosorkrap@milspeak.org drop us a line let us know how we’re doing! thank you for reading milspeak memo MILSPEAK MEMO NOW INCLUDED IN POETS & WRITERS LITERARY MAGAZINE DATABASE!  “If the words honor, nobility, self-sacrifice, and altruism mean anything to you, this is the book to buy.” --Stephen Page-- BA Insider: Capital Living in Buenos Aires Purchasing a MilSpeak Books title supports MilSpeak Foundation. Milspeak Books are available at MilSpeak Books on Smashwords! Enter coupon code CC74X at checkout to receive a free copy of the MilSpeak anthology. 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To Fill-Up an Empty Page

There will be times when
you must lose your mind
forget all you have learned
to fill-up an empty page.
 
There will be gross stops
and sudden tugs along the way,
places where the words snag
 
like, in Block-City, where you 
have to stop and reflect upon
what your writing teacher
 
said at the roundtable when
he frowned at you like a worn-
out, hag-ridden cop, angry
 
because an accident occurred
when you stopped before an
onslaught of tough language
that growled and lurched like
 
a lion in a hive of hyenas.
You confused being a poet
with being a preacher. In
writing, you only save your-
 
self, maybe one, or more
onlookers, if you are lucky.
Write! as if you are the last
 
human left in this broken
world, one, in which you
couldn't allow another to
further wreck, nor to fix.

—Willie James King, Member of the Military family

Willie James King is a widely published poet. He resides in Montgomery, AL.

His latest book, The House in the Heart, is available at http://www.williejamesking.com  or amazon.com 

a day late and a warrior...
MILSPEAK MEMO VOLUME 5 “MIXED BAG”