Hanoi - 1970
From his standpoint, the war
in Vietnam was easy.
Loading Phantoms before they
sprang into the hot air.
The neverending maintenence
lines, and pilot rosters.
Choreographing deck movements,
scoring landings night and
day.
Reparing damaged airframes,
refuelling lucky ones.
Watching on video the miracle
of inflight refuelling,
bomb damage assesments.
Te rescue helicopters taking
off to find
the ones that didn't quite
get back.
The angels gathering for those
who never will.
Probably a result of playing too many combat flight simulators, this
poem was the second I wrote for non-educational means, the first being
'VA751'.
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