A Lesson Never Learned

He’s a veteran of the Vietnam war.
He was in detox last month, then in a halfway house.
He used to wake up drinking and went to bed drinking.
His energy was slowly leaving his body.
He had just enough strength to get out of bed and grab a beer.
One in four homeless Americans are veterans.
More veterans are coming home from war
and things are not likely to get any better.
“This nation has not learned our lesson from Vietnam
and the same thing is happening all over again.”

You Can't Get Money From A Dead Man

He could barely afford food
with the Veteran's benefits he received.
He had no other income.
A diabetic
with high blood pressure,
he could not work.
But...
The 59 year old Vietnam veteran
was living a happy life.
Until...
A VA letter demanded repayment
of $43,000.
“He could pay by cash, check or credit card.”
The VA cut off his benefits,
and the letters kept coming.
It was the last straw.
A note was found next to his body.
"(Expletive) you, you can't get money from a dead man," .
"Zero income - thanks a lot, dumb ass."
He took a .22 caliber handgun,
put it to his forehead and fired.
"‘You can pay by check, money order or credit card'?
He hardly had enough money
to put food on the table
and they cut off his benefits.

The Way It Should Be

They won't be sending him
to the university's
body farm, after all.
Instead, the 65, Vietnam War veteran
found dead in the trailer where he lived
will be given a military burial.
They could not find a relative
or anyone to claim his body.
It was discovered
that he was a disabled veteran
living on a VA pension.
He was saved
from going to the body farm.
He had heart trouble
but was getting care.
He served his country and
will have a military burial.
That's the way it should be
It shouldn't be any other way.

His Mission

Seven days a week,
the 60-year-old Vietnam veteran
takes copies
of the Daily News
over to VA-
the last stop for some veterans.
The newspaper is his calling card,
They don't get a lot of visitors.
If their eyes are too weak to read,
he reads the headlines
and stories to them.
The veterans don't have a lot;
and miss the paper...
After delivering the papers,
he drops in on the veterans
fighting drug and alcohol abuse,
trying to find their way home.
VA doctors told him to take it easy...
living on 35 percent of his heart,
instead of walking his route
he uses a motorized wheelchair
to give his heart a break.

A Futile Battle

He wishes he were younger
so he could fight in the war.
He likes killing,
or so he says.
A Vietnam veteran,
he's pushing 60 but looks 70.
They call him Mad Dog.
He swears he has stopped drinking.
but he's still drinking.
The results of a chest X-ray:
suspicious lesion, probable lung cancer.
He decides it's just a shadow.
He'll get a biopsy.
The truth will surface soon enough.
His mother, father, brother and oldest sister
died of lung cancer.
The odds are not in his favor.
He walks stiffly out of the office,
Mad Dog, out to do battle -
a battle he will lose.

Peace Of Mind

A Vietnam veteran
who tried to numb his pain
with a bottle,
found it led nowhere.
He cannot change the past,
or cannot erase his identity.
He has seen war,
but has found peace
in his art.
It keeps him sober.
He struggles with PTSD
and probably will
for the rest of his life.
He had given up art
because of alcoholism.
He began painting again,
this year,
and has been at it every day since.
For a while, he didn't even know
what was real.
His mind had to clear.
He had to find a way
to help himself.

Return Trip

He just needed to go back
to see what the country was like,
he didn't like the way we left Vietnam.
It always kind of haunted him.
He needed to go back.
Children were not receiving
proper care
amid rampant poverty.
He kept going back to help,
for as long
as he can.
Homeless, blind, HIV-positive,
Agent Orange-affected
and mentally and physically
disabled children
among the victims
he encountered.
Money spent seems small,
but it goes a long way.
He’ll always be glad he went back,
it has made him count his blessings
and appreciate life more then ever.