Farm boys who could fix anything,
shoot whatever moved,
Apaches who could track Charlie anywhere,
Philippinos born in the jungle
who already knew about machetes and garrotes,
Puerto Ricans, headbands inked
with “Viva Puerto Rico Libre,”
who could carry M-16’s but couldn’t vote no,
felons wanting out of jail
to kill for pay and cheap boom boom,
lifer sergeants in air conditioned bunkers
with stolen generators for sale,
Aussies itching to hunt more gooks,
mercenaries after big bonuses,
national guardsmen holding down the draft,
clerks keeping records for generals
eager to write military history,
ghetto whites and ghetto blacks
scrawny enough to coil
through booby trapped tunnels,
eighteen year olds marching
in uneven cadence to John Philip Sousa
for jobs they would never work,
waking years later with bombshell bellies,
blue tracers streaking towards them
into nightmare bunkers just before dawn