{"id":4126,"date":"2018-10-29T14:59:48","date_gmt":"2018-10-29T19:59:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/?p=4126"},"modified":"2019-02-18T10:46:59","modified_gmt":"2019-02-18T16:46:59","slug":"yankee-whiskey-mike","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/2018\/10\/29\/yankee-whiskey-mike\/","title":{"rendered":"Yankee Whiskey, Mike"},"content":{"rendered":"

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PLATE 1. U.S. MARINES WITH COMBAT LOGISTICS BATTALION 22, 22ND MARINE EXPEDITIONARY UNIT WAIT FOR A CH-53E SUPER STALLION HELICOPTER, APRIL 25, 2014.<\/b><\/p>\n

Yankee Whiskey, Mike<\/h1>\n

by Lauren Hembree<\/b><\/p>\n

I wrote a poem once.<\/p>\n

It was about you and how you had decided to run off to the military instead of marry my cousin (or me, for that matter). The poem asked a simple question: Why did it have to be you?<\/i><\/p>\n

Why not some other 18-year-old?<\/p>\n

Why not some other boy looking to be a man?<\/p>\n

Why not someone faceless?<\/i><\/p>\n

I never shared that poem with you. But I can assure you the words were selfish, ignorant, childish… and received rave reviews from my high school classmates.<\/p>\n

I remember the day I wrote that poem just like I remember the day you left.<\/p>\n

It was the day of your graduation from Basic and you were leaving \u2014 in several senses of the word. That was almost four years ago.<\/p>\n

I hated you.<\/i><\/p>\n

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PLATE 2. U.S. AIR FORCE SWIMMER AUGUST O’NEILL KISSES HIS SERVICE DOG, KAI, DURING THE 2014 WARRIOR GAMES IN COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO., SEPT. 30, 2014.<\/b><\/p>\n

Mainly for leaving but also for only saying, \u201cI like your bangs.\u201d Here you were, leaving for a completely unknown amount of time and the only thing you could say to me was about my post-breakup-from-my-first-college-boyfriend- and-now-loathing-in-low-self-esteem haircut.<\/p>\n

But don\u2019t worry. I\u2019m not bitter about it or anything.<\/p>\n

I now realize we speak two different versions of the same language. You say: \u201cRog, so brief me on the sitrep.\u201d I say: \u201cTell me what\u2019s going on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Scratch that. We speak different languages.<\/p>\n

You can spout off \u201cAlpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, Echo, Foxtrot, Golf, Helo, India, Juliet, Kilo, Lima, Mike, November, Oscar, Papa, Quebec, Romeo, Sierra, Tango, Uniform, Victor, Whiskey, X-Ray, Yankee, Zulu\u201d as fast as I can say the alphabet backwards (and if you remember correctly, that\u2019s one thing I\u2019m better at than you).<\/p>\n

But now there\u2019s more than our languages.<\/p>\n

I think cat videos and grammar puns are funny.<\/p>\n

You think telling me you\u2019re deploying to Kandahar \u2014 as an April fool\u2019s joke \u2014 is hilarious. It\u2019s not.<\/p>\n

I can apply extra-black, lash-lengthening mascara to one-and-a-half eyes in about 45 seconds. You can dismantle, reassemble and function-check a 9mm Beretta in less than 30.<\/i><\/p>\n

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PLATE 3. U.S. ARMY SPC. ANTHONY BUONO WITH THE 787TH ORDNANCE COMPANY, 3RD ORDNANCE BATTALION. OCT. 15, 2014, NEAR KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, AFGHANISTAN.<\/b><\/p>\n

I have allergy attacks when the weather changes. You were diagnosed with PTSD. And flagged for alcohol dependency. And self-medicate with a daily pack of cowboy-killin\u2019 Marlboro Menthols.<\/p>\n

You got \u201cshwasted\u201d on your birthday last summer and told a bar full of Air Force guys I was your wife. To me, you explained \u201cdrunk me\u201d is braver than \u201csober me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0Obviously.<\/p>\n

You also texted me: \u201cDrillbkv sayijg are sober thiughts!!!+419-\u201c5*7.\u201d<\/p>\n

I understood what you meant when you told me your plan: Come home, find me, pick me up, spin me around \u201djust like the f—–g Notebook.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

You\u2019ll be happy to know I have learned a lot since my na\u00efve high school days.<\/p>\n

First, I\u2019ve learned you are in a wholly different world. You\u2019re in a world where wide-eyed boys are quickly grown into tattoo-clad men.<\/p>\n

Second \u2014 for the record \u2014 my bangs were quite unflattering. Thank you for trying to be kind. In the moment you were leaving, I think a realization smacked you in the face and heart:<\/p>\n

You won\u2019t be here to see the graduations, the weddings, the births, the funerals\u2026or even the new haircuts.<\/i><\/p>\n

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PLATE 4. PFC. JOHNNY ALLEN, 3D U.S. INFANTRY REGIMENT PLACES AMERICAN FLAGS AT HEADSTONES IN ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY, VA, MAY 21, 2015.<\/b><\/p>\n

Third, if I wrote a poem about you now, it would make high school kids\u2019 heads spin. But I wouldn\u2019t ask a faceless, nameless boy to take your place. I wouldn\u2019t accuse you of running away.<\/p>\n

I would \u2014 instead \u2014 write about how you took the place of another. How you ran full speed ahead into the chaos. How you exchanged your young adulthood for machine guns, death, night terrors and loneliness.<\/p>\n

How you sacrificed your freedom for mine.<\/p>\n

I want you to know that your bravery and sacrifice does not go unappreciated or unnoticed. I see your pain and heartache. And jealousy.<\/p>\n

I want to tell you Thank You<\/i> for the thousandth time because you are important and worth a million thanks.\u00a0 But even after spilling my heart on these pages, you\u2019ll probably respond with \u201cI\u2019m just doing my part.\u201d<\/p>\n

But maybe you\u2019ll respond with \u201cYankee whiskey, Mike.\u201d<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll try to translate your language into mine.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll fail.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ll help me.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re welcome, ma\u2019am.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

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Originally printed MAY 22, 2015. \u201cYANKEE WHISKEY, MIKE\u201d IS THE PROPERTY OF AUTHOR LAUREN HEMBREE. THE ARTICLE IS REPRINTED HERE WITH PERMISSION.<\/p>\n

\u201cGreater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.\u201d \u2014 John 5:13<\/b><\/p>\n

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[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] PLATE 1. U.S. MARINES WITH COMBAT LOGISTICS BATTALION 22, 22ND MARINE EXPEDITIONARY UNIT WAIT FOR A CH-53E SUPER STALLION HELICOPTER, APRIL 25, 2014. Yankee Whiskey, Mike by Lauren Hembree I wrote a poem once. It was about you and how you had decided to run off to the military instead of marry my cousin…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4128,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[937,582,581],"tags":[1022,496,1021],"class_list":["post-4126","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ozarkwriters","category-sotoarchive","category-sotofeature","tag-iraq","tag-lauren-hembree","tag-yankee-whiskey-mike","category-937","category-582","category-581","description-off"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4126","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4126"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4126\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4146,"href":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4126\/revisions\/4146"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4128"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4126"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4126"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}