Memories of a Green Beret

   
   "Memories of a Green Beret"
   
   He was Polish.  He was Catholic.  Still is.  Was a Sergeant Major when he retired.  They offered him a Commission after numerous Tours in Nam, but he said:  "Nope."  Officers get people killed, some say.  
   He drove me to Our Lady of Holy Souls every week.  Best days of my life.  The Virgin Mary glowing like a Tower of Ivory out front--very Gothic stuff I'm talking.  A Monsignor.  A Priest.  Sister Pauline, and my favorite, the ex-Carmelite Nun--Miss Nelson; moreover, she taught me the TRUTH about Our Virgin Mother, saying the Virgin is not to be worshiped, but honored with great reverence, as we say in the Hail Mary:  "Pray for us sinners."  We are invoking Her platinum intervention, and a true Mother will give you Her last dollar.  
   Anyway, I used to spend the night with Sergeant Major Stipsky since his son Brent and me were close pals.  We'd watch ninja movies--hey, it was the 1980's, and the original American Ninja was the stuff of legend.  He too, was an enlisted man in the movie--he worked for a living; thus, you never had to call him sir.
   Furthermore, as the movies would end, the Sergeant Major would gather us around and tell stories about Nam.  Like on how the Fourth of July Charlie threw a grenade into their campsite.  He got a Purple Heart for that, I believe.  Said his buttocks was filled with shrapnel.  Too, said nothing was better in Nam than a hot shower and shave.  Made you feel alive again after being out in the jungle--and never follow the trails.  I guess God is right:  "Take the path less traveled."
   But one night another kid was there.  A prankster type.  A Nordic kid with blonde hair and sparkly blue eyes.  He asked a horrible question.  He asked the Sergeant Major, that honorable Green Beret, if he had ever killed anybody.  The Green Beret humbly dropped his head, and said:  "Yes."
   That's a true American hero.  God Bless Sergeant Major Stipsky.