Military Poetry

Welcome to by blog. This is round 2 for my military poetry. Today I want to talk about how the power that military weapons and training can have on how and individual sees self and others. The two poems I want to share today are older, but I think just as relevant today. Please share your thoughts about the poems and what thoughts you have about this topic. There are a few of you that are having difficulty accessing the blog to post your thoughts. If you will let me know by email, and give me permission, I will cut and paste your ideas onto the blogsite post.

This first poem I wrote when I was a captain. I was helping a unit conduct a company level (a company is about 100 soldiers) live fire exercise at night (known as a CALFEX: Company LiveFire Exercise). This is when every soldier fires his weapon and the unit fires its larger weapon systems. We use real ammunition. It is incredibly loud. My job that night was to toss artillery simulators into a pit. Artillery simulators have the explosive power of about 1/4 stick of dynamite. It adds to the realism of the exercise. The excitement of being around that much destructive power can be thrilling, even intoxicating. It is easy to lose oneself, as I did that night.


CALFEX

Hell was beautiful last night.
Rage upon rage upon ruined ground.
Serenely watched by heaven and myself.
So like ...ruptured Christmas.
Red tracers Green clusters
White floating angels aflame.
Death rode the range
And won my admiration.
Giggling from my hilltop view
I rocked with each explosion
Rolled with man-made thunder.
Delighting in the effect,
I ignored its implications
And left my hilltop in darkness.

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This second poem is a little more difficult to share. During Desert Storm, there was a friendly fire incident in which 4 American soldiers were killed. It is known as the Hale Fratricide Incident. The Attack Helicopter Battalion (AHB) involved was a unit in the Brigade I was part of. I was on duty as a Brigade TOC (Tactical Operations Center) officer and was monitoring the mission on the radio when it happened. In short, it was pitch dark out, in the middle of a sandstorm, and the AHB Commander (LTC Hale) was in an Apache gunship with one of his attack helicopter companies. The wind was blowing so hard that the helicopter was literally turned sideways. What LTC Hale thought was to his front (Iraqi Armor) was actually to his side (American Armor in a skirmish line). He fired one TOW missile and destroyed a US Army vehicle and killed some of its occupants. There was a standing order prior to that night that no Commander was to engage enemy, and Hale violated that order. Hearing all this on the radio as it was happening was chilling and horrific, as I knew LTC Hale and it happened in one of my units. Hale, a rising star in the Division, was relieved of comamand and sent home within the week.


Absolution

On a laser light high
Screaming firebright,
The target hit was easy as pie
“Cause we own the night,
Do it to them before they do it to you,
And hey, be careful out there”.

We couldn't hear the night whisper,
“I cannot give back the dead,
Once they’re mine.”

Radios broke their trance with
Stunned uncertainty.
Squelched dread and gave voice
To numbed understanding:

“Oh God, I think I’ve hit friendlies”.

So we asked for absolution
For a sin within a sin.
Found penance too high.
Cut our losses,
Held high our hero’s head
For all to see
Before the fallen were cold to the touch.

We forgot that only gods are infallible,
That machines have no soul,

And the night belongs to no one
but itself.


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So give me your thoughts.

Next week I want to share about preparing for deployment to combat and returning home. Take care and have a good week.

b