BORING NARCISSISTIC POST ABOUT SOMETHING IN MY LIFE THAT NO ONE CARES ABOUT

I sincerely miss hearing the Call to Prayer echoing across ancient 3000 year old cites, as I wait in my fighting hole for the sound of automatic gunfire.

Sand, gunpowder, palm trees, MRE's, brotherhood, life & death, the feeling of being truly Alive, walking the paths of the history books, the religious text, 5.56, 7.62mm, sand bags, cramped spaces inside Amtracks, falling asleep with your head on your machine gun, marshes, grateful elders, children, waving, thumbs up, saluting as we pass by, children dead, breathless as we pass through, Battle of Nasiriyah, the Euphrates, stealing away to visit the Great Ziggurat of Ur,

1st Sgt. Parker, Gunny Vorheis, Sgt. Chase with his coffee pot, Monte the rock, Thompson the cowboy, Riviera the jester, Mossow, Little-guy smiley, rock and shovels, not sand, rock, like Texas, dig a hole to go to sleep, dig a hole to take a shit.

Gunny Doran, doing what he had to do, Parker stepping to the plate, Doran stepping to the plate, Montemayor stepping to the plate. CHARLIE COMPANY stepping to the plate. They stepped up, took initiative, like true MARINES, and 18 were slaughtered. They live FOREVER in the history books, "Marines in the Garden of Eden," "An Nasiriyah, the Fight for the Bridges," "Ambush Alley," and Gunny Duran's own "I Am My Brother's Keeper". (and HBO'S Generation Kill's episode: The Cradle of Civilization) They live forever in the pages of these books, and they live forever in our hearts.

Sand, gold bullet casings, blood, and the call of warriors from a distant time, a distant place, that burns still in the HEARTS of their brothers.

To David K. Fribley (who sat in a seat meant for me except for a last minute illogical roster change, C Co - boat company, all CWS1 transferred to C Co., me CWS1, last minute change, not Mello, Fribley; Fribley: CWS3- makes sense?? Hell no. Frib went to Charlie. Charlie got slaughtered. WTF??? I'm sorry Dave. May you rest in peace. You perished in the most beautiful place in the world. The Cradle of Civilization was your resting place. May your spirit rest in the cradle.

May all of our Spirits rest. We sometimes hunger to be on the other side with you. But No. We must suffer and survive this existence before we meet you on the other side. No easy way out. We must live. We must live because you can not. Then eventually, before we know it, the universe will bring us back together in the great Rendezvous Point.

Fuck the war. Love for you and our brothers.
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers,

For he today who sheds his blood with me shall be my brother