FutureMarine630
12-10-06, 12:29 AM
I just had a Army buddy send this to me, who is from Iraq right now, ya'll enjoy and keep it for moto.
Future Recruit,
Travis
My wife was asleep, her head on my chest,
My daughter beside me, angelic in rest.
Outside the snow fell, a blanket of white,
Transforming the yard to a winter delight.
The sparkling lights in the tree I believe,
Completed the magic that was Christmas Eve.
My eyelids were heavy, my breathing was deep,
Secure and surrounded by love I would sleep.
In perfect contentment, or so it would seem,
So I slumbered, perhaps I started to dream.
The sound wasn't loud, and it wasn't too near,
But I opened my eyes when it tickled my ear.
Perhaps just a cough, I didn't quite know, Then the
sure sound of footsteps outside in the snow.
My soul gave a tremble, I struggled to hear,
And I crept to the door just to see who was near.
Standing out in the cold and the dark of the night,
A lone figure stood, his face weary and tight.
A soldier, I puzzled, some twenty years old,
Perhaps a Marine, huddled here in the cold.
Alone in the dark, he looked up and smiled,
Standing watch over me, and my wife and my child.
"What are you doing?" I asked without fear,
"Come in this moment, it's freezing out here!
Put down your pack, brush the snow from your sleeve,
You should be at home on a cold Christmas Eve!"
For barely a moment I saw his eyes shift,
Away from the cold and the snow blown in drifts..
To the window that danced with a warm fire's light
Then he sighed and he said "Its really all right,
I'm out here by choice. I'm here every night." "It's
my duty to stand at the front of the line, That
separates you from the darkest of times. No one had
to ask or beg or implore me, I'm proud to stand here
like my fathers before me. My Gramps died at ' Pearl
on a day in December," Then he sighed, "That's a
Christmas 'Gram always remembers." My dad stood his
watch in the jungles of ' Nam ', And now it is my
turn and so, here I am. I've not seen my own son in
more than a while, but my wife sends me pictures, he's
sure got her smile. Then he bent and he carefully
pulled from his bag, the red, white, and blue... an
American flag.
I can live through the cold and the being alone, away
from my family, my house and my home. I can stand at
my post through the rain and the sleet, I can sleep
in a foxhole with little to eat. I can carry the
weight of killing another, or lay down my life with my
sister and brother who stand at the front against any
and all, to ensure for all time that this flag will
not fall."
"So go back inside," he said, "harbor no fright, your
family is waiting and I'll be all right."
"But isn't there something I can do, at the least,
"Give you money," I asked, "or prepare you a feast?
It seems all too little for all that you've done, for
being away from your wife and your son."
Then his eye welled a tear that held no regret, "Just
tell us you love us, and never forget. To fight for
our rights back at home while we're gone, to stand
your own watch , no matter how long. For when we come
home, either standing or dead, to know you remember we
fought and we bled is payment enough, and with that
we will trust, that we mattered to you as you mattered
to us."
Future Recruit,
Travis
My wife was asleep, her head on my chest,
My daughter beside me, angelic in rest.
Outside the snow fell, a blanket of white,
Transforming the yard to a winter delight.
The sparkling lights in the tree I believe,
Completed the magic that was Christmas Eve.
My eyelids were heavy, my breathing was deep,
Secure and surrounded by love I would sleep.
In perfect contentment, or so it would seem,
So I slumbered, perhaps I started to dream.
The sound wasn't loud, and it wasn't too near,
But I opened my eyes when it tickled my ear.
Perhaps just a cough, I didn't quite know, Then the
sure sound of footsteps outside in the snow.
My soul gave a tremble, I struggled to hear,
And I crept to the door just to see who was near.
Standing out in the cold and the dark of the night,
A lone figure stood, his face weary and tight.
A soldier, I puzzled, some twenty years old,
Perhaps a Marine, huddled here in the cold.
Alone in the dark, he looked up and smiled,
Standing watch over me, and my wife and my child.
"What are you doing?" I asked without fear,
"Come in this moment, it's freezing out here!
Put down your pack, brush the snow from your sleeve,
You should be at home on a cold Christmas Eve!"
For barely a moment I saw his eyes shift,
Away from the cold and the snow blown in drifts..
To the window that danced with a warm fire's light
Then he sighed and he said "Its really all right,
I'm out here by choice. I'm here every night." "It's
my duty to stand at the front of the line, That
separates you from the darkest of times. No one had
to ask or beg or implore me, I'm proud to stand here
like my fathers before me. My Gramps died at ' Pearl
on a day in December," Then he sighed, "That's a
Christmas 'Gram always remembers." My dad stood his
watch in the jungles of ' Nam ', And now it is my
turn and so, here I am. I've not seen my own son in
more than a while, but my wife sends me pictures, he's
sure got her smile. Then he bent and he carefully
pulled from his bag, the red, white, and blue... an
American flag.
I can live through the cold and the being alone, away
from my family, my house and my home. I can stand at
my post through the rain and the sleet, I can sleep
in a foxhole with little to eat. I can carry the
weight of killing another, or lay down my life with my
sister and brother who stand at the front against any
and all, to ensure for all time that this flag will
not fall."
"So go back inside," he said, "harbor no fright, your
family is waiting and I'll be all right."
"But isn't there something I can do, at the least,
"Give you money," I asked, "or prepare you a feast?
It seems all too little for all that you've done, for
being away from your wife and your son."
Then his eye welled a tear that held no regret, "Just
tell us you love us, and never forget. To fight for
our rights back at home while we're gone, to stand
your own watch , no matter how long. For when we come
home, either standing or dead, to know you remember we
fought and we bled is payment enough, and with that
we will trust, that we mattered to you as you mattered
to us."