DUTY HONOR COUNTRY

DUTY    HONOR    COUNTRY


WITH THESE THREE WORDS YOU CAN BEGIN TO UNDERSTAND HOW

A COMBAT VETERAN THINKS & FEELS, HOW HE LIVES HIS

LIFE, TREATS OTHERS AND HOW DEEPLY HE CAN BE WOUNDED.

WOUNDS THAT CANNOT BE SEEN BY OTHERS, WOUNDS THAT CAN

FESTER FOR YEARS WITH OUT COMING TO LIGHT, WOUNDS THAT

SEEMINGLY CAN’T BE HEALED. THESE WOUNDS ARE LIKE A HEART

BEAT, A CONSTANT REMINDER OF A PAIN DEEP WITHIN AND ALSO

HOW MUCH HE OWES TO THIS COUNTRY, THE US OF A, THE GRAND

OLD USA, LAND OF THE FREE HOME OF THE BRAVE. HE OWES HIS

FREEDOM TO THIS COUNTRY AND WOULD GIVE HIS LIFE FOR THIS

GIFT.

A COUNTRY HE FOUGHT FOR, NO MATTER WHAT YOU PERSONALY

THINK OF WAR, HE DID HIS DUTY

HONORING HIS COUNTRY WHEN IT CALLED.


LIKE A HEART BEAT NOT MISSING A BEAT, NOT SKIPPING, NO

FLUTTERING JUST A CONSTANT MUSCULAR PULSING. THIS IS WHAT

DRIVES A MAN TO JOIN THE MILITARY A FEELING DEEP WITHIN

HIS SOUL A LOVE OF COUNTRY A NEED, NO, MORE LIKE A

COMPULSION TO SERVE TO KEEP OUR PRECIOUS GIFT OF FREEDOM.

DRIVEN TO JOIN THE BROTHERHOOD, TO BE A BLOOD BROTHER, ONE

OF THE BROTHERS IN ARMS, TO JOIN THE BAND OF BROTHERS.

I KNEW IN MY HEART THAT I TOO HAD TO JOIN THIS BAND OF

BROTHERS, BE ONE OF THEM, A WARRIOR LIKE MY UNCLES WHO

FOUGHT FOR WORLD PEACE IN WWII. COULD I DO THIS, COULD I BE

ONE OF THEM, DID I HAVE WHAT IT TAKES, DID I DESERVE TO JOIN

THEIR RANKS, COULD I GRASP THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THIS

PRIVILEGE?  THEY SERVED COURAGEOUSLY AND  HONORABLY, THEY

DID THEIR DUTY, BUT COULD I? THEY PAID THE PRICE, THEIR OWN

INDIVIDUAL PERSONAL PRICE.


THERE IS A SAYING AND I DON’T KNOW WHERE TO GIVE CREDIT TO,

IT GOES; ALL GAVE SOME, SOME GAVE ALL.  IT MAY NOT ALWAYS

HAVE BEEN WITH A FULL EFFORT BEHIND IT, HOWEVER THE

THOUGHT WAS THERE IN THE BACKGROUND LIKE A SHADOW;

DUTY, HONOR, COUNTRY.


ONCE THIS BECOMES EMBEDDED IT CANNOT BE ERASED, IT

BECOMES A PART OF THE MAN AS IF IT WAS ALWAYS THERE.

PART OF THE HERITAGE OF HIS FAMILY IF YOU LIKE THAT CANNOT

BE IGNORED. SOMETHING THAT CAN’T BE HIDDEN BY HIM IT MUST

COME INTO THE LIGHT. IT WILL DEMAND TO BE RECOGNIZED AND

BE GIVEN ITS RIGHT FULL PLACE, ITS HONORABLE PLACE. IT MUST

STRIVE TO ACHIEVE WHAT IT IS DESTINE TO BECOME, A SERVANT

OF FREEDOM. SERVING IN WHAT EVER CAPACITY HE IS CALLED TO

SERVE. MAY IT BE A WARRIOR ON THE FRONT LINE FIGHTING,

KILLING AND DIEING. OR IN THE REAR SUPPORTING THE FIGHT

WITH BULLETS, BANDAGES AND BEANS SO DESPERATELY NEEDED BY

THE MAN IN THE BATTLE TO SUSTAIN HIS LIFE. THEY BRING HIM A

MUCH NEEDED LETTER FROM HOME, FROM A LOVED ONE OR A HOT

MEAL OR A PATCH UP WHEN HE IS SICK OR WOUNDED. WHAT THEY

CAN’T FIX, WHAT GETS LOST IS THE INNOCENCE, THE LITTLE BOY

INNOCENCE, THAT’S WHATS GONE THAT’S WHATS ALWAYS KILLED

IN WAR THE LITTLE BOY AND HIS WIDE EYED WONDER IS NO MORE.

WHAT TAKES ITS PLACE IS THE WARRIOR, THE PROTECTOR OF LIFE,

A CHAMPION OF FREEDOM. THIS IS AT A GREAT COST TO THE

WARRIOR FOR IN WAR HE LOSES SOME OF HIS TRUST AND HIS

FAITH GETS DAMAGED. HIS SENSE OF RIGHT AND WRONG HAS BEEN

CHALLENGED, THE VERY CORE OF HIS BEING IS IN TURMOIL. KILL OR

BE KILLED, IS HIS NEW CODE. SAVE THE BROTHER BEFORE YOU SAVE

YOUR SELF, DON’T DAMAGE THE BROTHERHOOD IS HIS THOUGHT

AND PLEASE NOT ME, CAN IT NOT BE ME THAT HAS TO DIE I WANT

TO LIVE, I WANT TO GO HOME. THIS IS SOME OF THE THOUGHTS OF

A WARRIOR A MEMBER OF THAT BAND OF BROTHERS. LATER COMES

THE LARGER PICTURE OF;

DUTY, HONOR AND COUNTRY.

IT’S WRITTEN IN BLOOD THIS OATH TO THE BROTHERHOOD, HIS

BLOOD AND COUNTLESS OTHERS BLOOD IS THE GREAT SEAL ON

THIS SACRED DOCUMENT, THE DOCUMENT OF FREEDOM.



THE BLOOD IS WHAT MAKES IT REAL WITH OUT THE BLOOD IT’S

JUST ANOTHER DOCUMENT, ONE OF MILLIONS. WITH THE BLOOD-

OATH IT BECOMES A LIVING BREATHING ENTITY AS IT ROLLS

THROUGH THE RANKS OF THE WARRIORS PIERCING THE SOUL OF

THE FIGHTING MAN MAKING HIM A LIFE TIME FULL DUES PAID

MEMBER OF THE SOCIETY OF THE BAND OF BROTHERS.

NO KNOW ONE KNOWS THE SILENT STRUGGLES, THE BATTLES LOST

AND THE BATTLES THAT MUST BE FAUGHT IN THE MIND AND

SPIRIT. SOME OF THE BATTLES MUST BE WON AT ANY COST IF HE

IS TO SURIVE, SURVIVE AND BE A HAPPY PRODUCTIVE PERSON. A BOY

AGAIN? NEVER A BOY AGAIN, BUT MAYBE THE WIDE EYE WONDER

COULD RETURN SOME DAY. THE BATTLES AFTER THE WAR CAN BE

JUST AS FEROCIOUS AND CRUEL AS THE WAR ITSELF WITH BLOOD

AND GUTS BEING SPILLED EVERY WHERE HE GOES. LIKE A HAUNTING,

FELT AND EXPERIENCED FULL BORE WITH OUT THE SEEING AND

TOUCHING, WITH OUT THE PHYSICAL DIMENSIONS BUT A

HAUNTING NO LESS.

A WAR JUST THE SAME NOW BUT WITH NO BOMBS, NO GUNS AND

NO BULLETS MORE LIKE FEELINGS, THOUGHTS, HORRORS AND

GHOSTS AND THAT SHADOWY HAUNTING ALWAYS THE HAUNTING

LIKE A DARK SHADOW UNDERNEATH IT ALL.


THE WOUNDED WARRIOR CAN NOT HEAL HIMSELF, HE MUST HAVE

HELP TO BRING THE SHADOWS INTO THE LIGHT OF REASON TO

FINALLY STOP THE HAUNTING OF HIS BEING. THE TORTURE OF

WHATS LEFT OF HIS SOUL AND REMOVE THE DARKNESS OVER HIS

SPIRIT. THE COUNTRY ASKED OF HIM TO GIVE HIS ALL BUT, ALL HE

HAD WAS NOT ENOUGH TO SAVE HIS BROTHER AND BECAUSE OF

THIS HE STILL HURTS AND HIS SOUL CRIES TO MAKE IT RIGHT. THE

HEART AND SOUL CRY FOR FORGIVENESS, WE COULD NOT SAVE

THEM, NO NOT ONE COULD WE SAVE, SO NOW HE MUST SAVE

HIMSELF TO TELL THEIR STORY, THE STORY OF THE BAND

OF BROTHERS.

WHAT LIVES ON NOW IS THE MEMORY OF THEIR SACRIFICE AND

COURAGE IN;

DUTY    HONOR    COUNTRY