I joined up! Gonna fight those bastards! We'll show them! They can't mess with Uncle Sam! No way!
I joined up! My brother did He was killed last year Gotta do it for my brother Gotta do my part
I joined up! Judge gave me a choice Jail or the army Hey, how bad can it be? Better than jail, right?
I joined up! Like my father And his father before him It runs in the family It's a tradition
I joined up! They say you can Learn some skills Bring em home for later Have a better life
I joined up! I'm proud I love my country! Don't want em comin over here Messin with my family!
I joined up! Wanted some action I was bored at home Wanted to test myself And kick ass!
I joined up! I'm a little nervous now My mom cries a lot I tell her I'll be fine on my new legs I'm still glad I went
I joined up! Wish those bastards Who protest would just Shut the hell up! Faggots!
I joined up! Wish I knew then What I know now Maybe things would have been Different
I joined up! I'm sorry I didn't really want to hurt Anybody Will God forgive me?
I joined up! Don't ask me about it I don't want to think about it Just want to get on with my life OK?
I joined up! Gonna march tomorrow No, not off to war Gonna march with the civies Gonna march for peace
Jim Bush is a 61 year old, Vietnam-era veteran, currently living in Katy,Texas. He was raised in a military family. His father received the Silver Star for directing troops while under air attack at Clark Field in the Phillipines, survived the Bataan Death March, and spent three and a half years in a Japanese POW camp. He also received the Purple Heart for wounds received while a POW. Jim served as an army photographer in Okinawa and Korea. In 1987 he traveled to the war zones of Nicaragua with a veteran's group dedicated to stopping the Contra War.
I watched a conversation between two high schoolers last week during a class room work period; they were partners on a project, and the girl could not get herself organized.
Her partner, a boy, asked why she was so uncharacteristically disorganized.
She replied that her brother had joined the USMC and is shipping out to Iraq from Camp Lejeune and they had 72 hours to get together and say goodbye and she couldn't get her mind off of the upcoming visit.
The boy replied, "I will never go to Iraq. I will go to jail and take it in the butt before I go to Iraq and take a bullet. I feel so bad for your brother."
Can you imagine how hard it was for that girl to hear such a remark?
Those two pupils have known each other since early elementary school.
The GOP war in Iraq has already wrecked Iraq and is now spreading a corrosive apathy that will destroy our country, too.
Robert Chapman
Lansing, New York
by
Robert Chapman (28 articles, 0 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 557 comments)
on Sunday, March 5, 2006 at 2:26:19 PM
