Alwaysawarrior

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A FAR GREATER ENDURANCE

Our human bodies are only limited by our own minds
You can endure much more than you think that you can
When the situation called for such drastic measures

You can actually stay awake for long periods of time
It's not a very pleasant thing to do but you can
As long as you can convince your own mind you can

You will find that your body will indeed follow along
Sleep deprivation was a necessary evil during the war
Being short handed some often pulled double duty

During the daytime many of us worked our main jobs
But during those times when the enemy was close by
We'd also pull a second shift as security policemen

Regardless of how tired you may have been at the time
When Intel came of VC activity and we might be attacked
We'd pitch in to do whatever was needed to protect us

You would stay wide awake and very alert to every sound
We all knew that if you had nodded off and fell asleep
There was an excellent chance you would never wake up

For the VC were masters of this slow crawl maneuvering
Where they'd slither in like a snake waiting to strike
You'd never hear them but they were out there watching

They'd move so quietly getting closer and closer to you
Just hoping that you were exhausted and would doze off
Then they could silently slip in to slit your throat

I must admit that it never did happen at our own base
But it had happened at the Can Tho Army Airfield base
It was a great motivator to keep alert and stay awake

So during my year over in Vietnam I learned many things
One was what we had called the mind over matter game
You found out you had more endurance than you ever knew

© Terry Sasek - Alwaysawarrior - all rights reserved.

It always amazed me just how much endurance the human
mind and the human body could muster up when it was
absolutely necessary during the war.

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A FAR GREATER ENDURANCE