Generations

wthomassmithjr.com ^ | February 16, 2005 | W. Thomas Smith Jr.

[PopGonzalez]

Generations

Their facial expressions were an odd mix of happiness, sadness, and envy. They were losing me, a squad leader who had taken care of them as an older brother watches over his kid siblings. But these really weren’t kids.

They – and I – were U.S. Marine infantrymen.

With only hours remaining in my four-year hitch, I was packed and saying last “goodbyes” in the barracks where we lived. Soon I would shoulder my seabag and cross one of many Camp Pendleton, California parade-decks toward a waiting taxi that would take me to the airport. There, I would board a plane for home and my new life as a civilian.

But not yet.

I was savoring my final moments as rifle squad leader in one of the best platoons, of the best company, of the finest battalion in the most decorated regiment in the entire Marine Corps.

The members of my squad, on the other hand, were doing what Marines always do: packing gear and cleaning weapons before shipping out once again. This time they would be “helicoptered-out” to the USS Belleau Wood, which was waiting somewhere off the California coast.

On this morning, I was a corporal. My charges - the kids - were only lance corporals, privates-first-class, and privates; many of them so new their camouflaged utility uniforms had yet to take on that faded, well-worn “salty“ look mine had.

I was excited about going home, but I somehow felt guilty about leaving these young Marines to another corporal or sergeant... or worse, some boot lieutenant fresh from Quantico.

“I wish I was you today, Corporal Smith,” one of the tall, smiling, more-senior lance corporals said as he buttoned the chin strap of his helmet, slipping his rifle-sling over his left shoulder and simultaneously shifting the heavy pack on his back. “But I’ll be there in another 22 months.”

I approached him, reached around, and helped re-adjust his pack.

“I know, man, time’ll pass before you know it,” I said.

I had led these young Marines, trained them, ate, drank, slept, laughed, joked, played ball, ran, pumped iron, shared stories about girls, sweated in the heat, shivered in the cold, paddled in the surf until our backs ached, humped over mountains and through jungles, faced countless dangers, gone a-whoring with, and sailed with to the far ends of the earth.

They would forever be my little brothers.

But in the subsequent months and years when I would begin that gradual devolution back into what we called “a slimy civilian,” they themselves would grow up and become corporals. They would become big brothers to others who would become corporals,

Those corporals would lead other Marines who would become corporals, who would lead others who would become corporals, who would lead others who would become corporals, who would lead others who would become corporals, who would lead others who would become corporals, who today lead young Marines - who weren’t even born when I was a corporal - down dangerous streets and alleyways in places with names like Fallujah, Ramadi, and the Triangle of Death.

And I think about that every night before I close my eyes.