The Marine

[Navy Pride]

This pretty much tells it like it is....

This is a poem being sent from a Marine to his Dad.

For those who take the time to read it,

you'll see a letter from him to his Dad at the bottom.

It makes you truly thankful

for not only the Marines,

but ALL of our troops.

THE MARINE



We all came together,

Both young and old

To fight for our freedom,

To stand and be bold.



In the midst of all evil,

We stand our ground,

And we protect our country

From all terror around.



Peace and not war,

Is what some people say.

But I'll give my life,

So you can live the American way.



I give you the right

To talk of your peace.

To stand in your groups,

and protest in our streets.



But still I fight on,

I don't bitch, I don't whine.

I'm just one of the people

Who is doing your time.



I'm harder than nails,

Stronger than any machine.

I'm the immortal soldier,

I'm a U.S. MARINE!



So stand in my shoes,

And leave from your home.

Fight for the people who hate you,

With the protests they've shown.

Fight for the stranger,

Fight for the young.

So they all may have,

The greatest freedom you've won.



Fight for the sick,

Fight for the poor

Fight for the cripple,

Who lives next door.



But when your time comes,

Do what I've done.

For if you stand up for freedom,

You'll stand when the fight's done.



By: Corporal Aaron M. Gilbert, US Marine Corps

USS SAIPAN, PERSIAN GULF



March 23, 2003

Hey Dad,

Do me a favor and label this "The Marine"

and send it to

everybody on your email list.

Even leave this letter in it.

I want this rolling all over the US ;

I want every home reading it.

Every eye seeing it.

And every heart to feel it.

So can you please send this for me?

I would but my email time isn't that long

and I don't have much time anyway.

You know what Dad?

I wondered what it would be like to truly understand

what JFK said in His inaugural speech.

"When the time comes to lay down my life for my country,

I do not cower from this responsibility.

I welcome it."

Well, now I know.

And I do. Dad, I welcome the opportunity to do what I do.

Even though I have left behind a beautiful wife,

and I will miss the birth of our first born child,

I would do it 70 times over to fight for

the place that God has made for my home.

I love you all and I miss you very much.

I wish I could be there when Sandi has our baby,

but tell her that I love her, and Lord willing,

I will be coming home soon.

Give Mom a great big hug from me and give one to yourself too.

Aaron

Please let this marine (and all our military)

know we care by passing his poem onto your friends

even if you don't usually take time to forward mail...do it this time!

Thanks,

If this touched you as much as it touched me,

please forward it on.

Let's help Aaron's dad spread the word .

FREEDOM isn't FREE

someone pays for you and me.

 

[disneydude]

This poem has been floating around the internet for the past four years. This isn't something new. I would venture to guess that four years later....knowing what we know now.....this guy probably doesn't feel the same way.

 

[Volker]

They should urgently give some poetry courses in the Marine Corps, before something like this happens again :mrgreen:

 

[Feela]

Here's the great war poet Wilfred Owen, who saw the futility of it all.

DULCE ET DECORUM EST

Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped behind.

Gas! Gas! Quick, boys! – An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling,
And flound'ring like a man in fire or lime . . .
Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light,
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.
In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering choking, drowning.

If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie; Dulce et Decorum est
Pro patria mori.

8 October 1917 - March, 1918

DULCE ET DECORUM EST - the first words of a Latin saying (taken from an ode by Horace). The words were widely understood and often quoted at the start of the First World War. They mean "It is sweet and right." The full saying ends the poem: Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori - it is sweet and right to die for your country. In other words, it is a wonderful and great honour to fight and die for your country



Anyway as a British(Scottish) Army officer I hope they bring our troops home soon.

 

[Navy Pride]

This poem has been floating around the internet for the past four years. This isn't something new. I would venture to guess that four years later....knowing what we know now.....this guy probably doesn't feel the same way.

Yeah, right..............another slam on a member of the military..sad.......

 

[Navy Pride]

They should urgently give some poetry courses in the Marine Corps, before something like this happens again :mrgreen:

Another lefty slamming the military.....when will it end?????:roll:

 

[Dezaad]

Yeah, right..............another slam on a member of the military..sad.......

A slam to assert that he might not feel the same way? Whatever. Slam away, disneydude. Navy Pride has made the phrase meaningless anyway.

 

[Dezaad]

Nice poem, and very touching. I think its unfortunate that he is being convinced that people against the war are against him, but that is the way ideologues want him to feel.

 

[disneydude]

Yeah, right..............another slam on a member of the military..sad.......

Slam? What are you talking about?
Its actually a compliment. I was saying that because he obviously articulate he is probably intelligent enough 4 years down the road of this inept war to have changed his point of view. I don't know how you equate my post saying this guy is most likely intelligent with being a slam on the military.....sounds like you jumped the gun and made assumptions.