25 October 2004

As I lie awake this evening, my heart and my mind are elsewhere. I am enjoying my time home with my family, however, I cannot and will not be completely at ease until all of us are home with our families. I have received numerous e-mails from friends and family alike showing support for all of us whether they believe the actions taken in Iraq are right or not. It matters not to most of them as far as the soldiers are concerned. They understand that we are doing what we have been asked to do and I pray every day that we are doing it well enough.

There is the offhand pundit who disgraces him/herself with their demonstration of idiocy and illiterate attempts to goad me. I generally ignore these, with the exceptions of a few. I will take this particular moment to say, once again, that what is posted here are MY views and no one else's. I speak for no one outside of myself and have in no wise been coerced or promised anything for the content of these postings. There have been a couple who have accused me of being a "soldier voice" for the "war effort". It has been my desire and my goal to forward my views, incite curiosity among the readers and allow them to research particular items which may be of interest to them and draw their own conclusions. As with any opinion or belief in life, I disagree with attempting to force any particular way of thinking upon anyone. Make your own decisions and conclusions. Take not my words as gospel. They are just thoughts from a soldier who believes strongly in what I do and believe that continued freedoms on our own shores shall forever be possible and protected by those oftimes unwanted and forgotten men and women who have chosen a path in their lives to take up arms and defend what they love.

Below is a piece that I recieved from one of my readers and it really speaks volumes. Thank you for sending it to me and I hope that those who read it will be as enlightened by it as I.


The Sheepdogs

Most humans truly are like sheep
Wanting nothing more than peace to keep
To graze, grow fat and raise their young,
Sweet taste of clover on the tongue.
Their lives serene upon Life’s farm,
They sense no threat nor fear no harm.
On verdant meadows, they forage free
With naught to fear, with naught to flee.
They pay their sheepdogs little heed
For there is no threat; there is no need.

To the flock, sheepdog’s are mysteries,
Roaming watchful round the peripheries.
These fang-toothed creatures bark, they roar
With the fetid reek of the carnivore,
Too like the wolf of legends told,
To be amongst our docile fold.
Who needs sheepdogs? What good are they?
They have no use, not in this day.
Lock them away, out of our sight
We have no need of their fierce might.

But sudden in their midst a beast
Has come to kill, has come to feast
The wolves attack; they give no warning
Upon that calm September morning
They slash and kill with frenzied glee
Their passive helpless enemy
Who had no clue the wolves were there
Far roaming from their Eastern lair.
Then from the carnage, from the rout,
Comes the cry, “Turn the sheepdogs out!”

Thus is our nature but too our plight
To keep our dogs on leashes tight
And live a life of illusive bliss
Hearing not the beast, his growl, his hiss.
Until he has us by the throat,
We pay no heed; we take no note.
Not until he strikes us at our core
Will we unleash the Dogs of War
Only having felt the wolf pack’s wrath
Do we loose the sheepdogs on its path.

And the wolves will learn what we’ve shown before;
We love our sheep, we Dogs of War.

Russ Vaughn
2d Bn, 327th Parachute Infantry Regiment
101st Airborne Division
Vietnam 65-66


To all of the "sheep" out there...we do love all of you. Thank you all for your support and kindness to each and every one of us. God bless.