Buried at Sea

The USS Trippe DE 1075 (later became FF 1075) was "buried at sea" on March 6, 2001.
I feel a sadness looking at these photos, knowing that a part of my past  had been sunk.
And perhaps that is as it should be. It was a weapon of war. It's weapons killed innocent people who are referred to as collateral damage.
But to the mothers and fathers, to the siblings and friends, they were not collateral damage. They were family that we killed in war.
You can read my account of my first three months in Viet Nam in my book, Viet Nam Body Count https://www.amazon.com/Viet-Body-Count-Mushroom-Montoya/dp/1484132823/ref=sr_1_2_twi_pap_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1515048794&sr=8-2&keywords=Viet+Nam+Body+Count#reader_1484132823

War induced PTSD

War induced PTSD

Has a cruel grip

On combat vets like me.

The ghosts that haunt us forever,

Ever, and ever,

The ghosts of war:

Deaths by killing,

The unavoidable witnessing

Of terrors

Of horror,

Being on guard

Forever ready,
Ever fearful,
Forever on watch,

Scanning,

Listening,

Gasping

For our lives

Day, after day, after day,

Blows our mind

And our soul

To bits.

All the heroism,

And the glory,

All that was bloody

And excitingly gory

Which we thought was fantasy

When we were children

Crashes into our soul,

Blasts a gaping hole,

Rips our very soul

From its mooring,

And then shatters it

Into painful fragments,

Leaving us broken,

Less than whole;
All because the ghosts of war

Break our soul

Day, after day, after day.