Dear Mom and Dad,

We had to go out and find two Marines who were missing after a recon unit was hit near our hill.  The rest of the unit was heli-lifted out but they couldn't find two of their buddies.  We nearly ran the 2,000 meters to the area, charging up and down mountainsides like they weren't there; then we found them.  They were dead, terribly mutilated by a rocket round.  I didn't feel sick but I couldn't help crying when I picked up one's left hand with a wedding ring on it and threw it in the poncho containing what else we could find of him.  He was a 2dLt., brand new in country.  Just before he went out he was talking to me, looking up to me as a "veteran" of 5 months.  He was so very scared and I managed to calm him down before he left.

When we found him, he was lying on his right side with his genitals and much of his inner thighs completely gone.  His right hand was holding a blood soaked battle dressing which he had tried to stuff in the gaping wound in his crotch.  His left arm was blown off.  All we could find was his hand, 4 feet from the body.

The other was hit in the chest.  His rib cage was peeled back exposing his heart, lungs, intestines, etc.

I don't write this to scare you or to disgust you.  I just tell it the way it is.  If only people back home knew.  When you get over here you don't fight for God, country, mother and apple pie.  You fight for your friends, your team members, the guy next to you, and for yourself.

I got to thinking last night about "rights". Everyone wants their "rights" and no one claims their duties.  If you were to ask a hippie what his duty was for the rights he enjoys, he would probably declare his duty to be "to save humanity."  Bull!!  His duty is to defend the society and political system that assures those rights.  I can't help but laugh at people who swallow the bit about "unalienable rights" to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.  That mass of lacerated meat which had been a Marine - where was his "right" to live?  I'm sure that would have stopped the rocket if he had said, "Wait, I have an unalienable right to live."  Liberty?  Since when has it not been true that liberty is bought again by each generation.  When the next generation refuses to pay the price in blood and tears for their liberties, they will lose those liberties as sure as hell.  God, what a terrible price for freedom.  That 2dLt. was only a down payment on a horrible installment plan; others have preceded and others will follow.

What is the difference between a soldier and a civilian?  A soldier takes direct and personal responsibility for the safety of the body politic; civilians do not.  A soldier knows that "freedom is not free" and is willing to suffer so that his brothers, his friends, his sons can enjoy the wonderful life available in the U.S.  A soldier knows he has certain rights, but that any of them are "alienable" unless someone like himself stands with a rifle between those at home and those who would alienate their rights and say "NO".  This concept of duty is something few women can understand - possibly why so many peaceniks are women.  Those who do understand are the mothers who aren't afraid to see their sons grow into men, who encourage their sons to accept their duties in behalf of our society, who pray silently every time they see something about Vietnam on the TV and yet wouldn't have their son live as a coward rather than a man.

Most psychiatrists have a field day with the Marine Corps.  They say that the reason a guy joins the Marines is because he's unsure of his manhood.  If so, it's a good place to learn.  Manhood seems to be a dying concept.  Clothes, hairstyles, even attitudes seem to be more effeminate every year.  Furthermore, people mistake brutality, gruffness and strong B.O. for manliness.

I'll tell you where you can find some men.  Come over here and watch a 19 year old boy turn into a 19 year old man.  Watch him learn what it means to be responsible to have duties on which the lives of others depend.  Watch all the little lies he's always told himself about himself disappear in one minute under fire.  He learns what a real man is; he learns gentleness - how to cry for a dead comrade; he learns courage - not only under fire, but the courage to face cold and heat, thirst and hunger, days of physical labor and nights without sleep and boredom; and he learns what he is capable of in terms of endurance, understanding, humor in the face of adversity.  There motto here is, "To live forever, or die trying."  They learn here that it's more important to live as a man than to be an old man.

Well, I just had to let off a little steam.

Bless you all and love,

/s/ Chuck