Ak-47 & The M-16 Poem by Luke Easter

This poem is courtesy of an article found in, “Esquire Magazine, ”
On the effectiveness of an AK-47 & ineffectiveness of the M-16,
Exactly who lost Vietnam? This rhyme will attempt to shed light,
On all parties involved and what each did whether wrong or right.

And certainly all sides in any battle will state their ethical claim,
For their side of justice as many will use every profound name,
Who should have or have not, ain’t your land, Yankee go home,
As in this conflict they had many warriors and we fought alone.

Well, surely we had help from others fighting for the same cause,
But was it with restricted limitations except for battlefield gauze?
Because the strongest nation in the free world was undermanned,
Not by military personnel but by weaponry unable to do all it can.

“The Gun” is a piece, penned by C.J. Chivers and what he found,
Was not necessarily hidden as to be uncovered by a bloodhound,
A poorly trained army defeated the mightiest power on this earth,
And for the first time in history money didn’t show all it’s worth.

The author gives readers a frightening and factual in depth look,
Contained inside the workings of this masterpiece, aka, a book,
Plenty of soldiers lost lives and limbs surely in a war many die,
However, this novel is not so much a, “how” as it is a, “why? ”

Historians will debate & argue many factors why it was not won,
While true reality is that is comes down to a single factor, “Gun! ”
The, “enemy” from our perspective had a destructive power. Yes!
By all wartime facts it was far superior to what we called our best.

The White House, The President, The Pentagon, Washington, DC,
America! So beautiful, proud, home of the brave, land of the free,
Yet home to corruption, scandals of a sexual nature, mucho bribes,
Their never ending battle of it’s own civil war surrounded by lies.

Vietnam! Peasants, farmers, not seeds but what is in your hands?
Maybe just maybe because we’re foreigners and it’s not our land?
Whatever, it should not matter, we are staffed and highly trained,
Nothings like you must run and hide at the mention of our name.

Get back to, “The Gun” where’d you get that weapon of choice?
Far as firearms go do you know you are carrying a Rolls Royce?
Well, that is compared to the jamming, rusting crap issued to us,
Hey! A gun is a gun, death, bullets, bang-bang, why all the fuss?

U.S. Marines, H-Company,1st Platoon, spread out as they walked,
Spit & polished, disciplined from boot camp, minimal was the talk,
Shin high grass, buildings, paddies, dykes, village of Ap Sieu Quan,
Slightly south of the DMZ, things were about to go terribly wrong.

Marines were exposed, the only approach passed over open ground,
Staff Sergeant Claude Elrod is on edge, eagle eyed he looks around,
Usually the platoon commander’s a lieutenant, too many were shot,
They don’t have a lot of officers but sergeants, yeah, there are a lot.

Walking near the front of the formation Elrod sensed trouble ahead,
Strategically positioned he knew the drill as months before be bled,
Being shot, patched up several weeks ago Claude was keenly aware,
Experience knew hell was about to break loose right then and there.

U.S.M.C. Spit and polished, disciplined, battle ready if not tested,
Boot camp and advanced infantry training a lot had been invested,
This July 21,1967, marked the beginning of Operation Bear Chain,
Mission to place food, ammo, along the road to Hue city, Da Nang.

Their ranks had been thinned, survivors were tied, no jack, it’s war,
Little know country half way around the world, no pogey bait store,
Vietcong, marginally educated, minimally trained, lightly equipped,
These guerrillas and North Vietnamese were also very tight lipped.

More than half of the army, less than six years education in school,
And few of them had undergone any exercises with live rounds too,
Peasants, villagers, fighting according to tactics articulated by Mao,
By 1967 they were killing eight hundred Americans a month. How?

No real need to go into detail about the firefight, blood, guts & glory,
Besides, there’s so much more to write about this unbelievable story,
So, the AK-47 or Kalashnikov appears, our military labeled it cheap,
Intelligence thinking? It belongs buried at the bottom of a trash heap.

Soon this Eastern Bloc assault rifle captured the Pentagon’s attention,
Crackling bursts of deadly projectiles, more than honorable mention,
But the real, “killer” was American gun manufactures’ dollar $ signs,
The, “rush” was now on to put our soldiers in front instead of behind.

The AR-15, was lightweight but the barrel cooked, it jammed, rusted,
Hurried improvements were made same results troops were disgusted,
Was the US Government really doing all that is could, the best it can?
Better weapons were owned by Black Panthers & The Klu Klux Klan.

Not into books see, Esquire online November 2010, read the excerpt,
Vietnam became less about war, more about political favors & perks,
What am I talking about, how dare I say this, exactly what do I mean?
I justify it by the by the difference between the, “AK-47 & The M-16.”