THE FIRST TIME OUT
My first time out
Marine Scout/Sniper, just nineteen
On our way in a deuce and a half
Down Highway One
Into the unknown
Crowded highway, moving both ways
Mine sweeping ahead
Marines, soldiers, ARVNs, civilians
Jeeps, deuces, flatbeds, motorbikes and buses
All going into hell
Stop and go, those mine sweeps ahead
Traffic rolling by in the other direction
No mines back there where we came from
But up ahead, must be some
Just my luck, my first time out
Stopped again, God it's hot!
What's going on up there?
I'll take a look up over the truck
Long line of traffic where I'm going
Rolling like crazy the other way
Little gook bus coming straight up the road
Overloaded with people, as they always do
I start to sit back
BOOM! The bus jumps into the air
"Heads up!" I hear
Of course I look up, my first time out
Part of the bus is over our truck
Dive in the bottom, all is noise
Can't tell yet what is happening
My first time out
Showered with dirt, I'm on top
Someone is shouting
I don't know what
Pieces of something hit my back
Gravel, Dirt, Flesh
Now all is silent, not a sound, a vacuum
That doesn't last long
We are all jumping out the back
"Set up a perimeter!" someone yells
"Must be a command detonated mine."
Someone grabs my shoulder
"Get up that hill!"
I start to run
I don't know why
My first time out
Run by the bus, what's left of it
A mass of fiery metal
People still in it!
Screaming and yelling all around
Where was I going?
ARVN soldier laying on the road
Left leg is gone at the knee
A hole in his chest as big as my fist
Breathing long and shallow
"Corpsman Up!" I shout
Out of nowhere a Gunny, over six feet
Calm and in control, cigar in his teeth "Corpsman!" I yell
"Forget it son," the Gunny said, "He's already dead."
One more look and off I run
My first time out
As I run, I see the horror, a child
Or what was, a woman mangled and dead
Too many bodies
Keep running
Get up that hill.
Then I see him, the one who still visits
An old man, long white beard, lying on his back
Arms stretched out to his sides, eyes wide open
Looking at heaven, cut off at the waist
I'm going to be sick
Keep running, up that hill
Don't look at anything
Don't look to the right
Don't look to the left, this ain't happening!
My first time out
I'm up the hill,
Now what the hell do I do?
Are there gooks out here?
Who set off that mine? Look around, nothing,
Just the busy highway and the dead
I look back at Highway One
Burning bus, bodies
Men running everywhere
I can't look anymore
I turn away and look for the unknown
How long had it lasted?
Ten, fifteen, twenty minutes? I don't know
I don't remember coming down off the hill
Getting in the truck and leaving
I must have, I'm here now
My first time out
Marine Scout/Sniper, just nineteen
Down Highway One
I never came down off that hill
My first time out