I don't make directly personal posts on OWD as a matter of private policy, but I'm crawling up out of a bit of a hole, and thought maybe others might benefit.

Every so often frustration and melancholy take me into dark places. Frustration with myself and/or frustration with the world.  This song, while not about my war, echoes something told me by Nam vet while I was working on his VA claim. He'd been a tunnel rat with the 25th ID around Cu Chi. He was talking about the time one of his buddies was hit. I asked if he stopped, he said "Nah, I called for a medic, stepped over him and drove on." Wasn't callousness at work, just focus on what mattered that day.

In the scheme of things that's pretty good advice. It's so damn easy to get tangled up in the small things that we loose track of  things that matter. Not profound, or wise... just reality.

It's one of the tools that works for me when frustration leads to depression. Drive on, don't mean nothin'.

Lyrics below.

I got a friend named Whiskey Sam
He was my boonierat buddy for a year in Nam
He said is my country just a little off track
Took 'em twenty-five years to welcome me back
But, it's better than not coming back at all
Many a good man
I saw fall And even now,
every time I dream I hear the men
and the monkeys in the jungle scream

Drive on, don't mean nothin'
My children love me , but they don't understand
And I got a woman who knows her man
Drive on, don't mean nothin', drive on

I remember one night,
Tex and me Rappelled in on a hot L.Z.
We had our 16's on rock and roll
But, with all that fire,
was scared and cold
We were crazy, we were wild
And I have seen the tiger smile
I spit in a bamboo viper's face
And I'd be dead , but by God's grace

Drive on, don't mean nothin'
My children love me, but they don't understand
And I got a woman who knows her man
Drive on, don't mean nothin', drive on

It was a real slow walk in a real sad rain
And nobody tried to be John Wayne
I came home, but Tex did not
And I can't talk about the hit he got
I got a little limp now when
I walk Got a little tremolo when
I talk But my letter read from Whiskey Sam
You're a walkin' talkin' miracle from Vietnam

Drive on, don't mean nothin'
My children love me, but they don't understand
And I got a woman who knows her man
Drive on, don't mean nothin', drive on

Johnny Cash

Contributed by Zero Ponsdorf on September 23, 2006 at 05:50 PM in Viet Nam, Zero Ponsdorf | Permalink

Comments

Posted by: 1st Cav

Thanks Zero! Have heard the song once or twice on the radio and made a mental note to purchase the CD, but never got around to it. Now I'm gonna have to remember that. Johnny Cash is one of my favorites. Drive on!

Posted by: 1st Cav | Sep 23, 2006 6:20:43 PM

Posted by: Debbie

Good advice and we should all live by it. Dwelling too much on the things we can't do anything about just drags us and everybody around us down, and keeps us from concentrating on the things we do have control over.

Posted by: Debbie | Sep 23, 2006 8:02:05 PM