We all recall our first day on the job ...mine carries lasting memories and a few regrets. Our Vietnam soldiers came back to Australia to a hostile political climate and an unresponsive public; who felt we'd fought an unnecessary war. Many of us (to our discredit) took that out on our returning soldiers as though they were part of the problem.
I am not sure who was to blame for this in retrospect but I wish that I was better personally prepared for it at the time. I went on to meet several 'vets' who clearly should have been counselled on release. Too many of these (I'm sure) suffered more on their return to our civilised society than perhaps they may have done overseas - despite the horrors they witnessed there.
Frank & Errol
Whoever can forget
their first full day at work
Your collar too tight
around your neck
silently dreading the worst
I was fine for half of the day
till I met my new boss - Frank
He spoke in a dark
irreverent way
my hope for enjoying work sank
At first sighting
He called out "Errol...
you look like a right-side man!"
There was broken laughter
across the office
and so my lessons began
His jokes all seemed
in such bad taste
He invaded my thinking some way
I slipped off to the bathroom
trying to calm myself
lest my mouth too go astray
When from a booth behind me
I hear:
"fresh from school today...'?
I couldn't wait
to get outta there
but his words had a softer play
Chatting to me in this way
it seemed quite normal to him
As I tried to walk
he continued to talk
as though we were now close friends
Then he closed
with a flourish
"see you later young Errol Flynn!"
"I've got some paperwork
that I have to do here...!"
"We'll continue our chat therein"
My man was ready
On the stroke of five
to end his day with flair
He clicked his heels
with gay abandon and
farted from up in mid air!
No luck running...
...again on the bus
he opened up right there and then
A Vietnam 'vet'...
"yes ..I am boy..."
"I'm...proud to be a 'vet'"
He signed up...
no draft required
"I carry no regret..."
"I left home
to take up arms
"Our country was under threat"
His war stories came
with a character voice and
a silly giggle laced...
But the longer I knew him
the more I found
the giggle seemed right in it's place
The stories he told
were brutal,
...sickly, bizarre...
Sleeping for him
he said was always
"just so bloody hard"
I didn't really want to listen
that's fair to say
but he'd served our country's call
The owner, Col,
was a fellow 'vet' too
Yet, he didn't talk much at all
With the flow of the years...
Frank went back over
to find himself some way
Each time he'd return alone
"I don't need love!"
he'd openly say
A friend just told me:
"Frankie's gone...
gone back to his maker for good"
well, I hope in the end
he found some peace
and so he rightly should
For he just didn't fit in
wherever he went
A 'rough diamond' that's for sure
He apologised to no one
for the stance he took
Would've baulked at heaven's door
from my Ipad - Grahame J Flynn
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