Randy E. Richmond

NO CLOSER TO HOME

“So you served your time at Long Binh. You really had it made.”
We’ve all heard these words before. They cut us like a blade
While true, we rarely walked the point along the jungle trails,
We all still had a job to do with the things that war entails

We hauled food and ammunition, we wrenched on all the trucks
We built roads, and pads and airstrips in weather meant for ducks.
The sick and wounded came to us and many left there healed
Our convoys counted casualties on their trips into the field

We labored long and dusty hours beneath the same hot sun
Out before the dawn had come, and in with day long done
With great respect and sorrow, we tended to the dead.
We were young and lonely soldiers, we laughed, we cried, we bled

The base was not a frequent target, by wars’ standards fairly tame
Yet mortar rounds would often find the way there just the same.
There’s pride in our service, left in sweat, and blood and tears
Long Binh has been a part of us for many, many years

We were O.D. green, lean and mean, no gold or flashy chrome
Just a bunch of G.I.’s doing their duty and just as far from home
To our brothers in the combat roles, who paid the greatest dues
We only ask, remember us as we remember you.

As American in deed and spirit as apple pie and Mom
As comrades of the legacy of that place called Vietnam

©Copyright February 28, 2002 by Randy E. Richmond