THE THINGS THEY CARRIED

They carried P-38 can openers and heat tabs, watches and dog tag, insect
repellent, gum, cigarettes, Zippo lighters, salt tablet, compress
bandages, ponchos, Kool-aid, two or three canteens of water, iodine
tablets, sterno, LRRP rations, C rations stuffed in socks.  They carried standard
fatigues, jungle boots, bush hats, flackjackets and steel pots.  They carried
rifles, machine guns and rocket launchers, pistols, C-4 plastic explosives and
assortment of hand grenades, radios, knives and machetes.
  Some carried the weight of risking their lives to save others, fear
and dealing with death and damage.  They carried
malaria, dysentery, ringworms, jungle rot, frostbite and leaches.  They carried
the land itself as it hardened to their boots.  They carried
stationary, pencils and pictures of their loved ones, real and imagined.  They
carried love for people in the real world and love for one another.  And
sometimes they disguised that love:  Don't mean nothing.
They carried memories for the most part, they carried with poise and
dignity.  Now and then, there were times when panic set in, and people squealed
or wanted to, but couldn't when they twitched and made moaning sounds and
covered there heads and said "Dear God" and hugged the earth and fired their
weapons blindly and cringed and begged for the noise to stop and went wild
and made stupid promises to themselves, God and their parents, hoping not to
die.
They carried the traditions of the United States Military and memories and
images of those who served before them.  They carried grief, terror, longing and
their reputations.  They carried the soldiers greatest fear, the embarrassment of
dishonor.  They crawled into tunnels, walked, point, pulled, 
reconnaissance, advanced under fire so as not to die of embarrassment.  They
carried the fear of dying, but to afraid to show it.  They carried the weight
of their nation and the world on their shoulders, but most of all they
CARRIED EACH OTHER.
              Remember them on Memorial Day and Always
Author unknown