[pct-l] Just Kids...."Taking Chance"....(an old Marine's reflections)

[Reinhold Metzger]

On 5/28/2012 2:27 PM, Reinhold Metzger wrote:
> To my hiking buddies who served and those who know the pain
> ----------------------------------------------
> Original Message:
> To my Marine buddies,.......those who served and those who know the 
> "PAIN".
>
> I don't know what it is about Memorial Day that makes me feel this way 
> and makes
> me, once again, want to say the things I am about to say...........
>
> /We were  "just kids",  in the summer of 1965, when we landed in Vietnam.
> //"Just kids", most of us 18-19-20 years old, just barely out of 
> High//School, not yet
> old enough to drink but old enough to die for our //country.
> /
> /We never could quite understand that....if you are old enough to die 
> //for your country
> you should be old enough to drink
> . /
> /With one year of advanced infantry training including jungle, desert, 
> //cold weather,
> hand to hand combat and raider training we were "Gung Ho" //Marines, 
> tough enough
> to chew nails.....I mean we were Captain //Tolleson's Echo 2/7, the 
> cream of the crop
> of the Marine Corps' //Raider Battalion and ready to kick ass.
> //
> We were "just kids" eager to be Marines, eager to serve during a time 
> //of war, eager
> to be heroes
> //
> That naive fantasy thinking can change mighty quick when the landing 
> //crafts hit the
> beach and bullets start flying.
>
> //There is no glory in war, only misery......it is your worst nightmare.
> //
> Our first casualty was by friendly fire....the tragic part was that 
> //the bullet that caused
> our first casualty was fired by the casualties //best friend.
> //In combat, reflex decisions have to be made in a split second and 
> //sometimes those
> decisions turn out not to be the right ones.
>
> //In my mind there is no greater honor than serving your country 
> during //a time of war
> and no greater sacrifice than a soldier paying the //ultimate price 
> while serving his
> country during a time of war.
>
> //Take Pat Tillman for instance....Pat was a professional football 
> //player who had fortune
> and fame yet walked away from a 3.6 million //dollar contract to serve 
> his country and
> paid the ultimate //price....ironically, also by friendly fire.
>
> //But it does not matter, friendly fire, enemy fire, the results are 
> //always the same and
> Memorial Day is to honor all of our fallen heroes,//for they served 
> their country and
> paid the ultimate price. //
> If it were not for men like that, Obama might be our Prime Minister or 
> //our national
> language might be German and Memorial Day is to remind us //of that 
> and pay our
> respect to these fallen heroes who sacrificed //their lives so that we 
> can enjoy what
> we have today.
>
> //We did not consider ourselves to be "just kids", but now that I am 
> older //and wiser I
> realize, we WERE "just kids".
>
> //Nothing has really changed and many of our troops serving in 
> //Afghanistan
> are still "just kids"....not yet old enough to drink, //but old enough 
> to die for their country
> /
> /Think about that for a moment, on Memorial Day, and what that day 
> //stands for. /
>
> /Reinhold Metzger
> //Sgt. USMC 1964-68
> //Gunner, Echo Co., 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines
>
>
>
>
>
> /