Yep...

This has been a tough post. Been thinking about it for a while, a lot of mixed emotions, kinda likes your mother-in-law riding your Harley off a cliff. I’ve always had a dog in this fight (all of our troops) but now it’s a friend of mine’s son. I recently found out that he will be deploying to Iraq (aka LitterBox). He is a married E-3 in the US Army and has a hot wife, nice going dude. On his way back from visiting his dad he stopped by. We were killing Coronas and he was talking about trying to find a side arm to take with him and wasn’t having any luck. He also talked about shooting pistols with Jar Heads who shoot competition and how he wanted to do that but couldn’t afford a pistol. Ya should have seen the look on his face when I handed him a zippered pouch and he opened it to find ‘My Lady’. Picture after Poem. It’s a Springfield Armory Champion .45 tricked out for competition shooting. I’ve had it for almost 3 years and never even fired it. Let’s just say he is ecstatic, wanting to pay me or trade me something for her. Not happenin dude. The ‘Church of Libtards’ didn’t get to you and you know the score. When I say I want our troops to have the very best I’m not kidding. Oh it came with two extra clips and belt case for them and a quick draw holster and a box of ball ammo to get him started. He did say that he would guest blog here and send me pics of the diaper heads he blasted with ‘My Lady’. Hey Clem, remember to use at least one slice of the pre-cooked bacon I send in the care packages to wipe your rounds with…
I can’t confirm the authenticity of this poem, but it’s true…

This poem was written by a Marine.
Monsters and the Weak
by Michael Marks

The sun beat like a hammer, not a cloud was in the sky.
The mid-day air ran thick with dust, my throat was parched and dry.
With microphone clutched tight in hand and cameraman in tow,
I ducked beneath a fallen roof, surprised to hear "stay low."

My eyes blinked several times before in shadow I could see,
the figure stretched across the rubble, steps away from me.
He wore a cloak of burlap strips, all shades of gray and brown,
that hung in tatters till he seemed to melt into the ground.

He never turned his head or took his eye from off the scope,
but pointed through the broken wall and down the rocky slope.
"About eight hundred yards," he said, his whispered words concise,
"beneath the baggy jacket he is wearing a device."

A chill ran up my spine despite the swelter of the heat,
"You think he's gonna set it off along the crowded street?"
The sniper gave a weary sigh and said "I wouldn't doubt it,"
"unless there's something this old gun and I can do about it."

A thunderclap, a tongue of flame, the still abruptly shattered;
while citizens that walked the street were just as quickly scattered.
Till only one remained, a body crumpled on the ground,
The threat to oh so many ended by a single round.

And yet the sniper had no cheer, no hint of any gloat,
instead he pulled a logbook out and quietly he wrote.
"Hey, I could put you on TV, that shot was quite a story!"
But he surprised me once again -- "I got no wish for glory."

"Are you for real?" I asked in awe, "You don't want fame or credit?"
He looked at me with saddened eyes and said "you just don't get it."
"You see that shot-up length of wall, the one without a door?
before a mortar hit, it used to be a grocery store."

"But don't go thinking that to bomb a store is all that cruel,
the rubble just across the street -- it used to be a school.
The little kids played soccer in the field out by the road,"
His head hung low, "They never thought a car would just explode."

As bad as all this is though, it could be a whole lot worse,"
He swallowed hard, the words came from his mouth just like a curse.
"Today the fight's on foreign land, on streets that aren't my own,"
"I'm here today 'cause if I fail, the next fight's back at home."

"And I won't let my Safeway burn, my neighbors dead inside,
don't wanna get a call from school that says my daughter died;
I pray that not a one of them will know the things I see,
nor have the work of terrorists etched in their memory."

"So you can keep your trophies and your fleeting bit of fame,
I don't care if I make the news, or if they speak my name."
He glanced toward the camera and his brow began to knot,
"If you're looking for a story, why not give this one a shot."

"Just tell the truth of what you see, without the slant or spin;
that most of us are OK and we're coming home again.
And why not tell our folks back home about the good we've done,
how when they see Americans, the kids come at a run."

You tell 'em what it means to folks here just to speak their mind,
without the fear that tyranny is just a step behind;
Describe the desert miles they walk in their first chance to vote,
or ask a soldier if he's proud, I'm sure you'll get a quote."

He turned and slid the rifle in a drag bag thickly padded,
then looked again with eyes of steel as quietly he added;
"And maybe just remind the few, if ill of us they speak,
that we are all that stands between the monsters and the weak."

'My Lady'