Day: August 17, 2018

We lost a friend today.

 Raised in the rough and tumble side of Philadelphia.

Rejected a football scholarship to become a Marine.

Vietnam.

Awarded a Silver Star.

A hero.

Came home broken.

Hidden wounds.

VA did not acknowledge

Years of addiction and mental anguish past

Finally fully sober

He reenter our lives.

For 20 years

A brother, a friend and a confidant.

Sober and strong.

Then the toll

The payment for bravery

Too late the VA saw their error.

It helped.

Not enough.

He lost his way in a mind ravaged by old violence, old alcohol and old drugs.

All provided by the ones that wouldn’t save him.

Nightmares were his constant companion.

Cancer came calling

He is gone.

He cannot come back

I weep for what could have been.

Oorah, my friend, Oorah.