Poems

Good Mornin', Good Evenin'

by Larry Hallum

"Time to be up and movin', guys."
Charlie will catch us nappin' otherwise.
Still it's dark and ain't much light.
But doin' the unexpected keeps us up tight.

Rollin' up my liner, cinchin' up my rucksack
Eatin' fruit cocktail helps to hump the pack.
One good swig washes the night's darkness away
As the ocean bears the newborn sun, another day.
Pausin' just a sec to ponder, friend,...
"Good Mornin', Lord, and Thank You Again!"

Leadin' out first, who's got point?
"Don't mean nothing, G.I., anyway."
May not believe it, but that's what we say.
Ain't gonna be all alone way up front,
Lookin' out close behind is your bud, another grunt.

You gotta have a bud to cover you every day.
Then you and he are gonna make it home -- the right way.
The Big Guy is always troddin' alongside too,
Constant source of mental strength, moral guide for me and you.

Still scared, always am
Lookin' hard, with intense listenin'
Scannin' highground and careful walkin'
Senses are all in the bush and on the trail.
The price too personal and too high to fail.

Been movin' fast and I'm 'bout done in.
Take a short break; move out in ten.
Alternate security left and then right.
Got to always have your stuff up tight.

Guess this could be pretty country even now.
Just have to replace bayonets with a sincere man's plow,
To be a little more like Snoopy or say Charlie Brown
To say the least would turn the world upside down.
That's neither here nor there I Guess.
Got to be a bushman now, I'll do my best.

Pullin' into our day-logger we have security twelve to six.
Seems like we're permanent -- twelve to six,
But we ain't got anybody hurt being twelve to six.
So it's gotta be our thing; that's twelve to six.

The Sir has first squad's twiggy movin' out.
Savin' our patrol for the evenin', no doubt.
Could be checkin' out a trail or an old riverbed.
Just whatever's been workin' in the Old Man's head.

"Out three to five hundred and setup."
Wonder if Charlie's gonna come diddle-boppin' along.
Playin' his transistor like there's not even a war goin' on.
But this time his stuff is real flakey, is it not?

"Dinks comin' up on the the right!"
Hold steady. Let 'em come on in sight...
It's a hard to explain feelin' comin' face to face with Chuck.
We're just thankful that this time we had all the luck.

You just helped bring human life to an end.
Death is personal whether stranger, foe, or friend.
Always hopin' that you don't kill for the mere joy
Of seein' a man topple like a soul-less toy.

"Who am I?" asked the philosopher of the inner man.
Surely it must be: "I think therefore I am."
In the bush, philosophers we are not.
But in the gentle silence, we reason a lot.

It's cool now with an evenin' breeze,
And the sun has merged with the mountains' trees.
Pausin' just a sec to ponder, friend,...
"Good Evenin', Lord, and Thank You Again!!"

Specialist Fourth Class Larry Hallum was a "grunt" with E Company, 3rd Battalion/1st Infantry, 11th LIB, Americal Division.  He served with then Captain Alan G. Vitters in the Recon platoon sometime between 1969 and 1970.  He gave a copy of this poem to Captain Vitters who shared it with the Hill 4-11 Association at a reunion in 1985.

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