LOSING FAITH By Bill Hagee - 1970
M-16s bright and new, There's talk of a place named Pleiku,
But we're not destined to stay down low, We've got orders for Dak To;
Dink-a-dink you zipper head, Show your face I'll shoot you dead,
Hatred wells up in my chest, Those little slopes must face the best.
Indian country dark and still, The somber canopy gives me chills,
Those little bastards can hide 'neath a leaf, They're inhuman the way they can sneak;
From tree to tree and limb to limb, Down through the tunnels - they're not men,
They must be rats or at least lice, The way they cause our blood to ice.
Leaches, snakes, a tiger or two, Won't help us fight this NVA crew,
I wonder if we might lose this fight, BUT ONLY when Charlie attacks at night;
Sixteen months with eight to go, Then I'll rotate and drag my ass home,
Will I ever be the same man I was when I left my dear Texas ranch.
Parrot Peak a name that still, To this day gives me chills,
A battle won a battle lost, But was it worth the dreadful cost
Of all the men who will never see, Another day of home or peace?
Their blood mixed with foreign soil, Has given me pause to consider the role
That I play in this freedom fight, O - God help me do what's right.
My LT tells me hit 'em again, Find them slopes and bring 'em in,
CID waits for us to find, Charlie or his sister to steal their mind;
A five man team slinks through the bush, Attempting to find this elusive ghost
That we call dink or zipper head, And wishing they all were dead.
First there was I and then II, Korea, Viet Nam and now me and you,
We fight Charlie because we have sworn, To obey orders under the uniform worn;
Army, Navy, Leatherneck Marines, All of us have cried and screamed,
Wanting to know why we must fight, Charlie in the day and our comrades at night.
Friendly fire, fragging our men, Who wear the same uniform, our American kin,
Charlie no longer must fight us to win, Just wait...for us...to do ourselves in;
Congress says we must continue the fight, To protect democracy, honor, and right,
But as I learn the horrors of war, I am no longer all that sure.
We have never lost a war, Because we were always right before,
This time the reason is not so clear, Why we must stay fighting here;
It seems as though it's not for them, But for politicos in Washington,
May we all leave this hell alive, And always remember all those who have died.
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