The Things We Carried We carried P-38 can openers and heat tabs, watches and dog tags, insect repellent, gum, cigarettes, Zippo lighters, salt tablets, compress bandages, ponchos, Kool-Aid, two or three canteens of water, iodine tablets, sterno, LRRP- rations, and C-rations stuffed in our socks. We carried standard fatigues, jungle boots, bush hats, flak jackets and steel pots. We carried the M-16 assault rifle. We carried trip flares and Claymore mines, M-60 machine-guns, the M-79 grenade launcher, M-14's, CAR-15's, Stoners, Swedish K's, 66mm Laws, shotguns, .45 caliber pistols, silencers, the sound of bullets, rockets, and choppers, and sometimes the sound of silence. We carried C-4 plastic explosives, an assortment of hand grenades, PRC-25 radios, knives and machetes. Some carried napalm, CBU's and large bombs; some risked their lives to rescue others. Some escaped the fear, but dealt with the death and damage. Some made very hard decisions, and some just tried to survive. We carried malaria, dysentery, ringworm's and leaches. We carried the land itself as it hardened on our boots. We carried stationery, pencils, and pictures of our loved ones - real and imagined. We carried love for people in the real world and love for one another. And sometimes we disguised that love:"Don't mean nothin'!" We carried memories for the most part, we carried themselves with poise and a kind of dignity. Now and then, there were times when panic set in, and some squealed or wanted to, but couldn't when we twitched and made moaning sounds and covered our heads and said "Dear God"and hugged the earth and fired our weapons blindly and cringed and begged for the noise to stop and we wild making stupid promises to ourselves to God, to our parents, wives, children, relatives and friends hoping and praying not to die. We carried the traditions of the United States Army, with the memories and images of those who served before us. We carried grief, terror, longing and our reputations. We carried the trooper's greatest fear: the embarrassment of dishonor. We crawled into tunnels, walked point, and advanced under fire, so as not to die of embarrassment. We were afraid of dying, but too afraid to show it. We carried the emotional baggage of men and women who might die at any moment. We carried the weight of the world And . . . We Carried Each Other! |
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