Vietnam: Jungle Nightmare

Parading through tangled vines, dense brush Green fatigues twining with emerald canopy so lush A humid vapor drifts overhead; perspiration founts gush Under foot decaying leaves and rotting vegetation mush The eerie stillness on all sides made my adrenaline rush We meandered through the jaded obstacle course Search and destroy our tour de force Stalking amorphous foe who cunningly uses every available resource Walking through the valley of death with little recourse Seeking the beauty of nature from the artifice of war to divorce Rustling leaves ahead put unit on full alert Silhouettes flutter, then through the plush seams squirt  Enemy artillery moving into place and soldiers around our flanks skirt Without warning, enfilading fire from both sides did spurt After momentary pause, I hit the dirt Lieutenant screamed for the mortar unit Crawling down an embankment; I dove into a pit Head up, I fired at every moving figure in my orbit  I heard 'fire in the hole'; the rampart became a fiery spit Springing from the fiery inferno, I felt a piercing pain; I had been hit A surgeon was called to my side Blood flowed from head gash so deep, wide After a shot of morphine, a bandana was around my head tied On a stretcher quickly thrown, and through the mayhem we plied Smoke and fire all around; tossed to and fro on the bumpy ride Into the clearing, we cautiously strode Snipers greeted us with volley after volley; our pace slowed The pick-up point posse, now in view,  were in full alert mode Earth-shattering fire from the helicopter team did the woods explode Serpentining to the helicopter, the rescue team with a daring lunge my stretcher did load Vietnam: World of War contest Stephen Parker