Organizing Chaos and Pushing on a Rope

I watched the first episode of “The Pacific” today and remembered a time when I was 13 and was hunting with my Uncle Tom, a veteran of Guadalcanal. I think he would have been embarrassed by the attention on the WWII veterans now. Uncle Tom never made a big deal about his service, I don’t think he ever attended a unit reunion, in fact he went to great lengths to muster out of the Marines in 1946 at the same rank he joined at in 1939 a private, he would have been one rank below Gunnery Sergeant. I know Uncle Tom never told his own children about his service in the war, why he chose to talk to me I never found out.
We started out at 5:00am that cold November morning hiking into the back country. Around 8:00 we stopped in a sunny little clearing. I was standing in the middle of the clearing warming up while Uncle Tom stood just on the edge of the clearing, I asked him why he didn’t come into the clearing, he sat down on a log, pulled out a ring bologna cut off a piece with the trench knife he carried through the war and told me he had two buddies shot on Guadalcanal as they stepped into a clearing. The next four hours he told me how you survive hell.
1. 1. There is no safe place. If you want safety go home.
2. 2. You won’t be going home anytime soon.
3. 3. Don’t let anyone salute you.
4. 4. One person in the patrol walks backwards watching your rear.
5. 5. Don’t believe the enemy is dead unless you kill them yourself.
6. 6. At night stab first when something comes near you.
7. 7. Don’t get to know the new guys in the unit – they’ll be dead in two weeks.
8. 8. The corpsman is the first target.
9. 9. All that matters when somebody is trying to kill you is to kill them first.
10. 10. Any trick you can use to kill the enemy first is fair. The Geneva Convention means nothing during the

battle.
11. 11. War is messy. “Collateral Damage” is just a nice way of saying civilians are dieing.
12. 12. Don’t take prisoners.
13. 13. There is no surrendering – only killing as many of them as you can before they kill you.
14. 14. The enemy is playing by these rules.


I have talked with veterans of every armed conflict this nation has been in since 1914 and with many enemy veterans, they all say them thing about surviving.


Any illusions I had about war being glorious were shattered that day. I do believe, as my uncle, did that sometimes war is the only response you have but before you commit to that path ask yourself is it worth the cost? Always remember that in this country, WE THE PEOPLE are the ones responsible.