{"sf1_id":731599,"sf2_id":"pnGQREKe","title":"Why Did I Volunteer for This?","author":"Kohaku Nightfang","words":255,"posted_at":"2014-07-17T00:32:00.000Z","tags":["Brother","Military","Poem","marine"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/731599-why-did-i-volunteer-for-this","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/s/pnGQREKe","image_url":"https://cdn.sofurryfiles.com/submissions/thumbnails/2b/7a/2b7acfe8-cb04-4c8b-b777-af44f94e22c6","description":"I wrote this back in, I think, 10th grade. That would be 2007 or 2008. My brother had just joined the Marines and I wanted to write a poem for him. He's back home now and in the army reserves because of a shoulder injury, but he still enjoys his time in the military. I did not fix any errors or try to make it better, this is exactly what I wrote back then. I really want to fix everyday and make it every day for example, but I wont XD","content":"Why did I volunteer for this?\n\nIt seemed like a good idea at the time, but...\n\nEveryday I wake up at exactly 5 a.m.\n\nI have to make my living quarters so clean\n\nyou could bounce a quarter off the cot.\n\nNow personal hygiene top to bottom.\n\nIf these things aren't done perfectly\n\nthe Man will come down hard on me.\n\nHe will make me stand stock still for hours.\n\nI eat, then work, then eat, then work\n\nand then have some free time..... I eat.\n\nThis seemingly takes no time at all.\n\nThen more duties must be performed.\n\nBy this time I am so tired all I can do is\n\nstumble to my bed and fall asleep.\n\nAbout 5 hours later it starts over again.\n\nThe whole place is filled with bugs.\n\nThey bite, claw, stab and dig with their millions\n\nof pin pricks making me nauseous.\n\nIt is crowded and I feel boxed in.\n\nThis place feels just like hell.\n\nSometimes I just want to run home to mother.\n\nEspecially when thoughts of Going There come to mind.\n\nIf I go there then I'm dead and gone,\n\nbut then I stare at the US flag\n\nwith its patriotic stars and stripes\n\nflying on the waves of the wind.\n\nI realize I am doing this for\n\nall the people I know and love\n\neven many I don't know and never will.\n\nI'm doing this for people of distant lands\n\nand to keep my family safe from harm.\n\nThat is why I volunteered for this!\n\n  \n  \n\n"}