Jim Bethea's Blog (10)

I can't sit still and not say something about the M-16 rifle since Mr. Junger has brought it up (I didn't think anyone cared!).

In the "Old Army" the enlisted man had control over nothing. He was reliant upon the wisdom of the Pentagon for his wellbeing. One would assume that officers who had risen to a rank and position that would put them in the Pentagon would have some real knowledge about weaponry and combat. So when troopers of the 173d Airborne in Vietnam were found dead beside…

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Robert Service has always been my favorite poet. In fact he's vertually the only poet I read.

I like his stuff because it's about hardships and overcoming harsh places. It's about being loyal to your pardner.

You might remember The Cremation Of Sam McGee and The Shooting Of Dan McGrew.

He was an ambulance driver in the First World War and his brother was killed in that war so he knew about the sufferings of soldiers.

His poem, Flourette, is one of the most…

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THE OLD GUARD

We are veterans of the Vietnam War.

Time is counting the cadence now as the years march us into

history. The battlefields where we screamed and cried and bled

and died settle like falling leaves onto its pages.

We make our daily pilgrimage to the seductive siren on the rocks-…

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This guy's walking down the street when he falls into a hole.

The walls are steep he can't get out.

A doctor passes by and the guy shouts up: "Hey, you! Can you help me out?"

The doctor writes a prescription, throws it down in the hole and moves on.

Then a priest comes along and the guy shouts up: "Father, I'm down in this hole. Can you help me out?"

The priest writes out a prayer, throws it down in the hole and moves on.

Then a friend walks by: 'Hey…

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In the heat of battle it ceases to be an idea for which we fight ...or a flag.

Rather, we fight for the man on our left and we fight for the man on our right.

And when armies have scattered and when empires fall away ...all that

remains is the memory of those precious moments we spent side by side.

-This can be found at the end of the movie The Four Feathers.

This is an excerpt from the September 2010 issue of the 2/503d News Letter



Those Darn Kids

I thought this might be interesting for our newsletter. I

walked into my daughter's room the other day and

hanging on her wall was a narrative poem that relates to

all of us as brothers in arms. That night at dinner I asked

her where she got it and I found out that she had written

it herself. I was blown away that at 16 years old my

daughter could come up with… Continue

WICKED CARICATURES

My enemy; you and I, in our mind's eye, viewed each other as wicked caricatures doing monstrous things to that and those that we loved.

Those whom we trusted created those caricatures practicing and

perfecting the art of de-humanizing and vilifying us to each other.

Who were those skulking fiends? Where can they be found?

Why ...they were the pillars of our political and military institutions, and

they did it all just for…

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War has its horrors, but has this of good:
That its sure processes sort out and bind
Brave hearts in one intrepid brotherhood.
-Alan Seeger

I don’t really know how to go about this so I guess what I’ll do is just put myself out there and maybe you can just take from it what you can use.

We are eons apart in age but for both of us the bullets flew and the people died just yesterday… or last night.

The main thing is don’t let the memories get the best of you…don’t off yourself, your brothers need you to help them get through it. One of the best things you can do is sit together in the twilight of an evening and talk about… Continue

A Quiet Cup of Tea

Wayne Hoitt remembers this so much better than I.

This was in ’65 or ’66. Wayne and I had been detailed to take a vehicle into Bien Hoa and get it washed. We wound up in one of those bar/cathouses on the main drag in Bien Hoa intending to get a beer +.

We weren’t in there for very long before some little girl at the front door starts yelling “MPs! MPs!” Wayne and I booked out the side door and down an ally, running for all we were worth. We turned left into… Continue