Those of you who have been here for a while know that on I always make some kind of a post on the real important holidays of our nation: Memorial Day and Veteran’s Day. And guess what today is?
If you guessed Veteran’s Day, this picture is for you.
For those of you who don’t know (as disgraceful as the requirement of that sentence implies) Memorial Day is a holiday dedicated to remembering the fallen, amongst the military. Those who have served and failed in the most important mission – coming home alive. Failing doesn’t make them losers – serving makes them winners. I am proud every moment I get to stand in the presence of those who have served honorably and returned home.
A lot of folks don’t make it home, though. They most often honestly feel they are doing the best for their nation when they go overseas, when they hop aboard ship, when they snap down the visor of an pilot’s helmet, or when they have to give someone 20 pushups and they can only count to 19 thirty-five times.
“I said twenty push-ups Marine! 17…18…19…19…19…”
As far as I’m concerned if you’re willing to sign those papers, you’ve got +1 Karma in my book. But I’ve seen my share of people in uniform who, like people out of uniform, are genuinely terrible people. Some of them are affected by war in an irreparable way and come home to become shitty people because we can’t get them the help they so desperately need. Some of them were shitty people before they left home and putting them in a uniform just gave them a superiority complex (they’re called officers). But many of them are good people, good people who wear that uniform and should fill anyone near them with pride because somebody like that defends their homeland and their people.
Not all of those people make it home, but many do. Sadly, sometimes home is more dangerous than warzones. Take for example a little train in Portland where a psycho terrorist attacked two young women. Several fellows stood up to the man to get him to stop, but the terrorist pulled out a knife and stabbed three of them before fleeing like a coward. Of course before he ran away some witnesses claim he said, “This is a Free America; I can do whatever I want.”
The terrorist was eventually tracked down and arrested. He is awaiting trial and to find out whether or not they can classify the stabbings as a hate crime.
Unfortunately two of the three men who were stabbed have died, the third is – thankfully – expected to survive as of writing this. One of the dead was Taliesin Myrddin Namkai Meche, 23. A civilian that, judging by his actions, I would have been proud to stand in a shield wall with.
The other was Rick Best, 53, who served in the Army. He was pronounced dead at the scene. He was a local government official and even ran for public office at one point. He made it home safely, but when terrorism struck his home he stepped up – underequipped and underprepared and paid the ultimate price for his bravery.
2nd Lt. Richard Collins was and airborne-certified soldier about to start a prestigious career in the Army. That is until a terrorist approached him on the street – targeting Collins because he was black and stabbed him in the chest. Once again, these ‘brave American heroes’ as each terrorist likes to refer to themselves as committed their crime, then bravely fled the scene as fast as they could.
Collins didn’t even get the chance to leave home so that he could make it home safely.
And not to mention the millions of homeless veterans who don’t have a home to make it to.
When we remember those who failed to make it home safely, we must also remember those who made it home but not safely.
Three heroes died recently. Remember them, veteran or not.
I am so ridiculously busy. Too many things to do, not enough time to do it all, and even less motivation to get it all done on top of that. Sometimes it’s hard to keep moving when it feels like your outnumbered, outgunned, and the whole world is out to get you.
But you know what I always have time for?
Memorial Day is a holiday to cherish the blood lost for our freedom and our nation’s ideas. This year is an election year and we will most likely have the choice between a rat and a fink; which makes it just like every other election year. But one thing we must always remember is…no matter who sits in that oval office, no matter who bickers in the Capitol halls, no matter what asinine robed monkeys slam gavels in the hallowed halls of our courts…there are brave soldiers fighting at home and abroad to make sure that the fight never makes it home.
My military record is not what I had wished it to be when I signed those enlistment papers…cripes, thirteen friggin’ years ago! Nonetheless, I still call those men my brothers. I may not have had the opportunity to serve alongside each and every one of them in the fields of Afghanistan, to have their back at Fallujah, or even to shovel papers across their desk at Norfolk (the only one of those three I’ve even been to). But I work with them in the civilian market every day, and every day I know that they did what I wasn’t allowed to – defended our nation, whatever the nation may have been or may become. Luckily most of the jarheads I signed those enlistment papers alongside made it home. And to the ones who didn’t…that’s what this holiday is all about.
I might not have a military record to put any pride in, but thanks to those who do I have the luxury of sitting on my stupid ass and writing for a hobby and maybe eventually for a legitimate living. The least I can do is offer up a story, right?
I’m not saying its good, I’m not even saying it’s worth your time. But it’s what I came up with in the heat of the moment and it will give you something to pass the time while the hotdogs are grilling. It goes best with Peter Hollen’s rendition of I See Fire from a few years ago, since I had it on repeat while I wrote it a year ago. You see I had shelved the idea, because I didn’t think it was good enough to warrant the thought behind the holiday. But then I figured…nothing I could possibly do with a keyboard would amount to what the men and women who sat beside me and signed those same papers promised to do. So why not just suck it up and give ’em something to read, right?
Here it goes…
“13 Hours of Fire”
Richard C. Shaffer
Mortars rained down on our position for thirteen straight hours. It got to the point that we actually cherished the bombs dropping almost on top of us. We knew their mortars had a range of five-hundred meters. And we were six-hundred meters away from them. We were also surrounded one two sides by them and two other sides by cliffs. On top of this stupid, useless, pointless hill.
“Well sure, a thousand years ago it would have been pointless, but now we have radios.” That Rutger, a mind like an encyclopedia. He couldn’t shoot straight, but hell most Riflemen can’t – ironically enough. Nah, that’s not true, the Ready-boys are just the easy targets. Rutger’s actually a great radio guy.
“Save it, Rutger!” I’d never tell him that to his face, though; don’t want the kid to get a swelled head or anything.
“Shut up!” When the Squad leader tells a group of marines to shut up after thirteen straight hours of bombardment, you know damn well what the other eleven marines do.
“Why, you can’t hear the ear-shattering explosions over us chit-chatting?” That’s right…in a group of eleven jarheads, at least one of them will have a smart comeback. In this case it was Santoro. Actually it’s always Santoro. Santoro wasn’t born with a mouth – he was born with a sphincter on his face: It just always spews out crap.
“That’s the thing…the bombardment stopped.” Sarge was right, his name was Steven. No, not Stevens with an ‘s’, just Steven. He always said it was a typo when his family came through Ellis Island six generations ago. Apparently the guy jotting down his grandfather’s name got almost all the way through Stevenson and then his pencil broke.
“Did they run out of ammo?” You can always hand it to Jan – pronounced like John – to ask the stupid question. Only guy I knew who we all called by his first name. Probably because nobody could pronounce his last name. I mean, really though, who can remember Lance Corporal Mahajan Krishnamurti? I’m lucky if I can remember my own name, much less all that.
“I find that highly dubious.” Seriously Rutger, who uses a word like ‘dubious’ in regular conversation?
“I have a strange feeling they’re getting ready to charge the hill.” Gutierrez at it again, he’s never the bearer of good news, or good ideas for that matter. He was the one who convinced me to wear my drawers into the shower the first day of Basic – told me that’s how everyone did it.
What an ass I was, walking in there, getting my underwear wet and then a whole crew of naked dudes walk in and give me ‘that’ look. You know the look! The one where nobody wants to laugh, in case you’re a little special in the head and they don’t want to be offensive, but where if they don’t laugh they’ll have an aneurysm.
Yeah, that look.
“We laid traps all the way up both accessible sides of the hill.” Finally! Some good news – thanks to Martinez, of course. Second in command for a reason, that man!
“Rosen, see anything coming from the west?” Sarge asked our best marksmen to poke his head out the nearest window. You see we were in a twelve by twenty-three foot half-bombed out old radio tower.
That’s why we were here. We were trying to get a good enough signal for an Evac. We got caught up in a firefight we couldn’t handle and pulled out of the engagement this morning. Now it was after midnight – so I guess it was technically yesterday morning.
“Nuttin’ to da west.”
“Shepherd, anything to the south?” Sarge asked.
“Shepherd!” Sarge’s voice was even angrier than usual.
“Shepherd, seriously…if you’re going to narrate our last few hours alive, could you not talk aloud while you write in that stupid journal?”
“Oh, yeah, sorry Sarge.” I said, feeling ever the ass I usually did. I glanced out the window just above my head and saw something I really didn’t want to.
“Two light sources, five-hundred meters out. Moving this way.”
An explosion ripped through the night in the distance and I watched several flare ups of rifle fire around it. One of Martinez’s mines. I turned back to the group with a dumbfounded smile. “Correction, one light source now.”
“Those traps won’t hold them forever.” Martinez was fiddling with two rifle magazines – the last two he had – as he spoke.
“But they will buy us time.” Sarge plopped down to his knees and patted Rutger on the shoulder. “Any signal, yet?”
“Weather’s cleared up some, but they say its still thundering over the carrier.” Our resident radio man gave a solemn shrug. “The wind’s too strong for the choppers to fly.”
“No point in killing a whole flight crew to save twelve marines, right?” The hero in me wanted to agree with Gutierrez – the coward in me wanted to swat him in the lip. I chose to remain stoically silent.
“We’ve got three wounded and twelve total bodies to evacuate.” Sarge summed it up pretty well. “We’d need two choppers, three maybe.”
“They wouldn’t be able to pick us up here anyway.” I said…wait I said that? What was I saying? That’s terrible news; that’s Santoro’s job!
“Shepherd’s right.” That was not the thing I wanted Martinez to agree with me on!
“Between the mortars and the RPGs any chopper that sits still is going to join us on the ground.” Sarge gripped Rutger’s shoulder tightly. “Jets can fly in the rain, see if you can get them to drop something on our friends down there.”
“Drop what?” Asked Rutger.
“Something unfriendly.” Gutierrez, you clever dog you!
“I expect we’ve got about twenty minutes before they get within range to cause us problems.” Rosen fiddled with his rifle. He’d fallen when he tripped over a piece of rubble and landed rifle-first. Something cracked inside and he was stuck firing single-shot. Pull the trigger, rack the bolt, pull the trigger, rack the bolt. Not fun in a firefight against an AK-47.
“Just enough time to have a last meal.” I said as I pulled an MRE out of my side pouch. It had been breakfast, but I only ate the main course.
“What you still got?” Asked Gutierrez.
“Poundcake, some cranberries, and ‘cherry powdered fruit drink’ which all sound less delicious than the last.” I shrugged and tore open the cranberries.
“I’ll trade you for the poundcake.” Gutierrez offered.
“What ya got?” I was open to trade – why not, wasn’t like I was going to get the chance to digest it.
“Twelve bullets.”
“What am I gonna do with twelve bullets?” I asked.
“I dunno, but that’s all I got left.” Gutierrez shrugged.
“Aah, what the hell. Take it.” I was feeling generous. That and I was really digging the cranberries for some reason. “My canteen’s empty, anybody want to split some with me? I’ll share my delicious cherry fruit drink.”
“I can do you one better.” Carmichael sat up from his spot on the side of the room. He was one of our wounded – took shrapnel to the leg from a rocket. Rutger and Sarge carried him half a mile to this bunker – more like a tomb now, with what we all knew was coming.
“Oh?” I was curious what could be better than stale water and cherry-flavored kool-aid. “What ya got? C’mon now, I’m a business man.”
“Somebody do me a favor and reach into my left ass pocket.” Carmichael struggled to roll enough for Jan to pull out a small metallic flask. He held it up with a raised eyebrow. Carmichael beamed with pride for smuggling the booze on campaign. “Eight ounces of the best, cheapest, grain-alcohol I could trade a pack of smokes to a local for.”
“You don’t smoke.” Noted Jan.
“That’s why it was a fantastic deal.” Carmichael winked, then winced from the pain in his leg. “I was gonna wait and open it when we got back for a celebratory shot. But I figure no point in wasting good, terrible booze, right?”
“What do ya say, Sarge?” Martinez snatched the flask from Jan’s hands.
“Toss it here.” Sarge caught the flask and opened it up, sniffing the contents. He shuddered and looked at Carmichael with the most incredulous look I’ve ever seen him summon. “You sure this is booze and not antifreeze, right?”
“Eh?” Carmichael shrugged with a laugh. “Same thing, if you get desperate enough, right?”
Sarge pulled out his canteen and dumped the contents of the flask into it.
“Hey! Don’t ruin my hooch with your disgusting water!” Carmichael huffed as he laid back to rest his leg.
Sarge opened the canteen and sniffed it again. Martinez walked over and took a whiff. “What do you think?”
“I think if we drink this, they’re gonna find twelve dead bodies when they finally get up here.”
“Shepherd, toss me that pouch!”
“Cherry-bomb incoming!” I soft balled the drink flavoring to him and he added it to the canteen.
Sarge gave it one last shake and then offered a canteen cap full to each one of us. We all stared at the pungent liquid with a mixture of unease and tranquility; disgust and desire; want and wanton disinterest.
“I’ll give it the first taste.” Carmichael was gonna die of liver failure by the time he was forty anyway, he might as well have been the the first to die from his own blood-red poison. He quaffed the capful and shuddered as it spread through his system.
“How’s it taste?” Rosen asked.
“Not friggin’ cherries, I’ll tell ya that much!” Carmichael coughed and licked his chops. “Seconds, barkeep?”
Sarge chuckled and poured the final few drops into Carmichael’s cap. I stood up, just a step away from the window so as not to attract unwanted bullets, and raised my capful. “A toast then, gentlemen. A toast as we sip our last snifter of wine?”
“What ya got, writer boy?” Santoro sniffed his capful and shook his head in disbelief.
“Well…” I summoned every ounce of skill I learned in High School Journalism class and gave what we all figured would be the last speech of my life.
“If this it to end in fire, then we should all burn together. America’s sons, America’s daughters.”
“Ain’t no girls here, Shep.”
“Rutger counts.”
“Hey, I got two older sisters, you think I’ve never been forced to wear a dress before?”
“I know things about you I never wanted to, Rutger.”
“You’re welcome, Sarge.”
I continued… “And if we should die tonight. Then we should all die together. Raise a glass of wine…for the last time.”
“Should we die…we’ll die together, as brothers.” Sarge raised his cap and emptied it into his mouth. We all followed suit. Never mentioned to them I stole half those lines from a movie’s soundtrack. They either didn’t know or didn’t care. We loaded the last few rounds we had into our guns and came up with a plan.
We would offer up a fighting withdrawal as we dragged the wounded to the cliff-face and rope down while the enemy was still preparing to rush us. It was stupid, it was deadly, but it was the best idea we had. Martinez and Gutierrez set up their last two mines at the doors of the bunker and we all crept out into the darkness.
“Stay low, stay quiet.” Sarge ordered as he sent the first man down the cliff, then the second. Then we started hoisting the wounded three down to them. It was straight into the water, but there were some rocks to cling to. We didn’t have much to keep us afloat, but we had a better chance of floating away than we did surviving the impending assault.
We were half down when it was my turn. I handed my rifle to Gutierrez. “In case something happens, I’ve got a full clip.”
“Happy trade, Shep.” Gutierrez handed me his half-empty rifle and I strapped the rope to my waist. I was just about head down when one of the mines at the shack went off. We all looked up as the flash of light and smoke lit up the sky.
The shrubs near the makeshift radio tower lit up like torches; a deathly auburn color. Realization dawned on us about the same time it dawned on them – we could see each other now. Martinez brought up his rifle and opened fire into the group, taking three of them down before they could return fire.
Gutierrez popped two rounds to the right side of the shack and then tossed a grenade around the left. All I could see were the shadows of limp bodies flying off the side of the eastern cliff. I brought up my rifle, but Sarge stepped in front of me. His eyes shone of fearless protection, like a mama bear with a hunter in her den. “Get going!”
I felt his hand on my chest as he pushed me off the side of the cliff. It took me a second to realize what had happened before I grabbed the line and slowed myself. It was too rough though, I slammed into the cliff-face and dropped into the water.
The world moved in slow motion, and to the soundtrack of that damn movie no less. I couldn’t remember all the words as the water lapped over my face and I felt myself sinking.
Should my brothers fall – then surely I’ll do the same.
That was close…close enough, at least.
“I got you Shep!” Santoro’s voice pierced the vale of darkness as my head came back above the water. I gasped for air as he wrapped his arm around my shoulders. “Can you swim?”
“Y-yeah.”
“We gotta go.” We made the swim out into the dark waters. It was a rough night, but we were a lucky few. We got spotted by an air crew an hour after dawn. We were rescued.
Twelve men sat in that bunker, twelve men shared a brotherly toast, and eight made it home. Steven, Gutierrez, Martinez, and Rosen. They were the reason any of us made it home. They are the limbs we walk upon every day. They are the beats of our heart, the air in our lungs.
They were our brothers. Through the fire, through the night. Brothers, always.
As is pretty usual on the real holidays (Veteran’s Day, Memorial Day, y’know, holidays that actually matter) we are bringing some solemn humor to DickJutsu.com. We’ve done it for prior Memorial Day celebrations. As is common here, we have a photopost full of humorous military memes, jokes, and such. So let’s get to it. If you’ve served some of these may hit pretty close to home, if you haven’t…remember that some of this shit is stuff that people who do serve have to deal with.
First a few jokes at the expense of my Army buddies…
And nobody can forget the first wave of any war…the Air Force.
And we can’t neglect the Navy. Without them how would the Marines get across the world to win our wars?
Speaking of the good ‘ol USMC…
Okay, so maybe I’m a little biased. Here’s a few at Marine expense…
And don’t forget the cute widdle Coast Guard!
So, remember…this a day to celebrate the men, women, and cute puppies that serve in the U.S. Military!
And always remember. Troops in combat situations love care packages. Whether they have yummy snacks, a flak jacket that Army budget cuts couldn’t give them, or y’know, the important stuff…
You know what day it is…well actually what day it was yesterday. You see, in honor of Memorial Day, which honors the troops killed in action in our uniforms, under our flags, to ensure we get nifty things like the internet, buildings that aren’t bombed into rubble, and potable water I played a nifty game called War Thunder. It takes place in World War II. It counts.
Anyway, it’s time to honor the troops with funny pictures, like we are wont to do every year around Memorial Day (and Veteran’s Day, and Independence Day, and well…okay so it’s a cheap easy post to make when I’m doing holiday stuff).
First we’ll honor the Army:
Their motto isn’t Army Sane, after all.
Then the Air Force:
USAF, the only branch where ‘bombing’ a test is a good thing.
We can’t forget the Marine Corps; Ooh-Rah!
“Oohmf-Rahmf!”
And, of course, our friends in the Navy:
Oh Captain, my Captain!
Always remember the fierce wardogs that win victory to protect this country from all threats, foreign, domestic, and maybe even imaginary. To the tanks and planes of tomorrow, all the way from the days of cavalry charges:
And speaking of wardogs, let’s not forget our trusty k-9 companions who keep our troops warm in foxholes and ruthlessly bite, maul, and eat whatever may attempt to harm them.
Rowr! I are the Viking Dog!
But always remember that Memorial Day is, at its heart, a solemn day to remember those who didn’t make it back to enjoy the laughs we share right now.
Roosevelt said, “Speak softly and carry a big stick!” Soldiers are our stick, they are the reason why we are speaking English without a bunch of unnecessary ‘u‘s and why we have the choice to hang the flag on our porch, burn in a bonfire, or cover a table with it. Regardless of where the country is, where it’s headed, or what may come of it…the soldiers are the reason we are a country. We stand on the foundation they have built for us, with their blood, sweat, tears, bodies, and sheer willpower.
In honor of Memorial Day I’ve decided to work a double shift. Nothing says I am honored to have men and women willing to fight and die for my freedom to complain about their bosses without being shot, like working 16 hours straight on 5 hours of sleep.
Of course, it’s all automatic time and a half because it’s a holiday.
So to share in my personal good tidings, on such a morbid day to honor the deaths of those in our armed forces…I’ve got some funny pictures and a cute anecdote. First the pictures…
Unfortunately this seems to be the case in ‘Murica.
Where can I get gas for $1.64?
Future Repulbicans! Gotta love the li’l rascals!
Me: Nope…well except during funerals. And we save it all up for those. You ever seen Marine at a buddy’s funeral? We lose our shit and are totally inconsolable! Tears, snot…we’re on our knees, in the rain…shit we don’t care. We love it when it rains during one of our funerals.
Girl: Why?
Me: Harder to see the tears dripping from our chins.
Well, that’s enough from me. Back to not actually doing any work and getting paid for it…
Memorial Day is one of the few holidays I really celebrate in any way, shape, or form. Sure I call my mother on Mother’s Day and I give my fiance a teddy bear on Valentine’s day; but I don’t put up trees for Christmas, I don’t watch football on Thanksgiving, and I don’t eat mushy eggs on Easter. And if you catch me in a bad mood you’ll find me cursing this country on Independence Day.
But Memorial Day has nothing to with religion, politics, or anything but the soldiers who defend your right to talk about the other things.
I’m not a big moving speechy person, so I’ll use some humor on this great Memorial Day. So here’s some military humor for your folks…
And we can never forget, all the humor aside, that this country would be nothing without its soldiers.
Richard C. Shaffer 