"THE HANDCART BOYS"
He's lying in the tree line, blood running down his arm.
Listening for the sound of the Handcart boys, to remove him from this harm.
He flew in on a modern jet that got shot down in this affray.
But he is no different than the wounded at Shiloh, trying to survive, till they safely take him away.
In the dark of the night she waits with so much pain to bear.
Injured in the crash of her aircraft and now this seemly endless nightmare.
Where is the chopper that will lift her from the smoke, the fire and the pain?
Where are the Handcart boys, hurry, her life is beginning to drain? He was wounded when a round slammed onto the "cruiser's" deck.
Shards of metal are protruding from the right side his neck.
The corpsman has stopped the bleeding; he's been prepared, to be extracted in the night.
The Handcart boys are racing his way, and will be there by first light.
Get in, get them out, and hurry back, to the safety of our lines.
It has been this way since ancient wars, to the battles of modern times.
The two-wheel Handcart is the way the wounded were removed from battles in past wars.
Our modern Handcart has a rotor-blade and sliding doors.
Look at history, look at art work, or at movies if you will.
When it came to removing the wounded off of some war torn desolate hill.
It was a Handcart carrying the broken and the dying with their screams of pain.
It was a Handcart transporting at Normandy in the cold June rain.
Every branch of the service has its modern version of the Handcart boys who respond to the call.
They go out for the wounded and dead, bring them back, get them all.
Some times the Handcart boys are brought back in a Handcart not of their own.
Some times they become the wounded & the dying, and for their efforts, they never come home.
There are also women who work these, latter-day Handcarts and their lives too, are on the line.
It is a dangerous mission, but just as their predecessors they to make that recovery in time.
They move out over the desert, into the night as the sand blows and swirls.
These Handcart operators are our Handcart girls.
I have a two-wheeled wooden handcart with an old worn flag sitting out on my front lawn.
It is not a protest, it's a reminder of our injured, who returned by Handcart, lying there upon.
In order to defend this Nation, we will continue to send the brave & young, our freedom they earn.
And we will always have a need for the Handcarts, for our wounded and dead, they must return.
Major Van E. Harl, USAF Ret. 15 March 2003
Vanharl@aol.com
Special Operations Wing – SOW
Pigs are important in special-ops.
One is always on guard duty at Rescue Rock.
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Majpr Van Harl, (USAF)Ret
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Join the Military? Not So Fast!
Air Force did something totally unheard of. They let Air Force Academy graduates (now new officers) separate from the military before they had fulfilled their obligation of active duty service time, for receiving their “free” education at the Academy. Lieutenants, who had to pay back the Air Force with their time, were just allowed to walk away and not owe anything in repayment.Some could not wait to get out into the civilian world and do it without owing the Air Force a big pile of money for their years at the Academy.
For those of you who have failed to notice, the job situation in this country is not very robust and it will get worse in the future. In hard times the military does not have to work hard to fill their rolls. Young people, and even some middle age people, see the military as their last chance. They need a job, so they enter the service. Recruiters like it when the economy is bad, because for them work can be rather easy.
When you enter a US military academy you can walk away in the first two years without owing any time or money to the Department of Defense. After you start your junior year, the military has real control of you. If you flunk out or are put out of an academy, you have to pay them back. It can be with money, but an academy education is getting close to $300,000, so if you are poor, you can pay back with your time, serving as a baby airmen or private. The academies know they have this hammer over your head and in your last two years at the academy the pressure of expectations on the part of the military goes up. Now in most cases the cadet or midshipman wants to be there, to get that education and become an officer, so leaving before graduation is not really an issue and neither is any repayment a concern.
The military is on one of its down-sizing cycles. They have to cut their people strength to save money, so if your high school senior is even giving a passing thought to enlisting after graduation they need to be proactive on this issue now--right now. The new G.I. Bill is almost like having a full ride scholarship and it only takes four years of active duty to earn this wonderful opportunity. So what am I getting at here? With this downsizing of the military they have decided to make some of their people expendable. All the services are going to cut back on taking in new people. They are also going to start, yet again, throwing their good people out onto the streets, for no reason other than they have to cut the number of people on active duty.
They are actually going to force some new officers who got their commissions after attending military academies and/ or taking ROTC scholarships at civilian universities off active duty-even if they do not want to leave. The kicker is, even though that new officer does not want to separate and is willing to fulfill their time obligation as pay back for their college degree, they have to get out. However they are not just forced to walk away, they are expected to repay the military for the “free” education. That really inspires a young adult to go for the gold of a military academy education.
Even harder times are coming and my big military never ceases to amaze me how quick it will turn on its own people. The military is always putting their low performers out before they finish their initial obligation. However, to force out academy graduates who are good performers and then expect them to repay an over inflated dollar valued education is very suspect. What senior military person, who has nothing personal to lose on this issue, is making the decision to throw away and at the same time punish good young officers?
When I taught high school Junior ROTC some of my cadets thought they could just goof off their entire 9-12th grade years, because they could just join the Army, no matter how poorly they did in school. As one cadet told me “the Army will take anyone.” Hard times are here and joining the military may not even be your choice of last chance. Few will get to join and only the best and brightest will be chosen to enlist or enter an academy.
