If I Could Swap a Week or Two.

Somewhere not 

to long ago in an

arid, blazing hot

unpronounceable

town in distant Iraq,

a young man sweated fear.

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Gripped by his own mortality,

as he huddled against 

a shell pocked

crumbling wall and

spent his summer

avoiding the bullets and RPG's

in his third term.

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And in far off Afghanistan

a young woman

weighed down by

body armor,

peeked with an overly tanned face

over a pile of boulders

at the Taliban encroaching

on her space.

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Risking not only her life

in duty to her country

but also her dignity

and her womanhood

should they have captured her

and then felt free to use her

as they would have done 
with a Kleenex

and then disposed of her.

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She used to spend her

Summers on a beach,

with cool winds

in her salt water

drenched hair.

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Oh, she had

plenty of sand there

but the ocean was

a lifetime  or 

a bullet away.

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If I could have swapped

a week or two

with either one of

those weary souls

I would have willingly gone

and sent them home

for some rest and relaxation.

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Fresh and eager 

for the killing

I would have hunkered 

down and taken

crisp shots 

at the enemy

as they presented 

me targets.

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All of my skills

from years ago

would have kicked in,

windage, elevation and

a few clicks of dope

on my trusty M-14 0r M-16

or what the hell an  M-60

to make sure the

shot was precise.

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Just some part of

my June, July 

or August

sacrificed much 

like theirs was

on those killing fields.

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What if each of us 

could have gone

just to take the place of

one soldier over there

for just a week or so,

then perhaps we

might  truly understand

what they were mired in.

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We might have 

begun to cherish

this land, our home

ten thousand more times

then we did now or then.

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We shoud have 

sent some

teabaggers over there

to defend the freedoms

that they were 

always whining

about being taken away.

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Letting them see 

the true cost

of the freedom we have,

and the burden that our

presidents have 

had to deal with

a burden that was

dumped unsolved 

in their laps.

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We might have 
all started

demanding that

the death of any

soldier over there

be put back on

the front page

and not relegated to some

mid-section, one

paragraph footnote.

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We might Have 

started marching

in the streets again

and calling for our

troops to come home.

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These wars were far

too distant from us

to affect us to deeply,

but what if we could

Have swapped with them

for just a couple of weeks.

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We are now more

worried it seems

about the cost of oil 

and gas prices

then the blood ever spilled

in those far off lands.

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But in that other assinine

cursed oil hole

that had been ruptured

for way too many years....

How many of you 

would Have willingly gone

and taken the place

of some young, tired face

fighting in those two hells.

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That is the 

true question,

that is where

true patriotism lies.

not in placing blame

on whose at fault,

but in manning up

and helping

all those who

are dodging lead

get a long deserved break.

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What about all of

our prisoners

who were on death row?

we could have 

sent them over there,

letting them replace 

some of our precious youth 

who were  dying.

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They were dead men walking.

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we should have let them 

walk on hot sand

and use their best 
killing skills

to get the job done.

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Any objections to that?

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I went off to Cocoa

beach during the hieght 

of that war

for fourteen days

of sun and fun.

but I would have 

traded it all

if they would have simply

equipped me and sent me

off to give some poor

guy or girl a break

from that Godawful place.

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we should have started a

Seabaggers list here,

of true patriots willing

to go and fight anytime

for a couple of weeks

in place of our tired troops.

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You could have 

signed your name

in the comment box,

if you had been interested

in sacrificing two

weeks of your Summer.

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It would have been 

a paid vacation

in a place you've never been,

and you would have  seen

lots of action.

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Come on, old warriors,

dig out those 

mothballed fatigues.

and offer to help.

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I could have sent 

this to someone

in the defense department,

who might have

seen the merit of it all

and who maybe 

might have gotten 

the ball rolling,.

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and now we might be

putting ground troops

in the Ukraine  

and I'm still gonna

need lots of names.

there will be 

thousands over there

that would be 

so happy to see

some  newbies coming 

to grant them

some long deserved R+R.

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I'll see ya in

the Ukraine if it 

all goes sour

Hell I'll even 

buy you a beer.

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Just put your

John Hancock below,

and let's get the next war

revitalized by an

infusion of patriotism

laid on the line.

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By American citizenry

doing their part

in a bigger way.

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You love the

right to bear arms

here's your best shot.

Take it....

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Let's go bag

some real trophies.

not some moose

from a helicopter.

They've got targets

over there

that shoot back,

let's go hunting,

and let a whole l

ot of troops

take a long needed nap.

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and Semper-Fi to all my

Brothers-in-arms

I just might see you again