WEBVTT

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I have a little bit
of a cold tonight,

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so if you can bear with me.

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But it's important to
me if any of these poems

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be read, it be the next when
I tell this story everywhere

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I go because--

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maybe you'll see why
in a small story.

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When my unit came
back from Iraq,

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we were arrayed out
on a parade field.

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And there's about a brigade's
worth plus augmented,

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so it's several
thousand soldiers.

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And the colonel came
out-- it was a sunny day--

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giving a speech.

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And there were
friends and family

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in the bleachers,
banners, reporters,

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the whole nine yards.

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And at one point, the
colonel asked for silence

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while he listed
the names of those

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who did not come back with us.

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But he did not say the name
of Private First Class Bruce

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Miller, Private
First Class Bruce

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Miller, who was in
second squad, bravo team.

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I was in third
squad, alpha team.

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And I feel to this day, in some
way, that erasure took place

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because he was--

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he didn't die what might be
considered a soldier's death.

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But when I read the
poem, I hope in,

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some small way, it
revises that thinking,

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because I'm quite certain he
did die a soldier's death.

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"Eulogy.

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It happens on a
Monday at 11:20 AM,

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as tower guards eat
sandwiches and seagulls drift

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by on the Tigris river.

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Prisoners tilt their
heads to the west

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though burlap sacks and
duct tape blind them.

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The sound reverberates down
concertina coils the way piano

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wire thrums when given slack.

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And it happens like
this, on a blue day

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of sun, when Private Miller
pulls the trigger to take

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brass and fire into his mouth.

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The sound lifts the
birds up off the water,

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a mongoose pauses
under the orange trees,

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and nothing can stop it now,
no matter what blur of motion

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surrounds him, no
matter what voices

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crackle over the radio
in static confusion,

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because if only for this
moment the earth is stilled,

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and Private Miller has
found what low hush there

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is down in the eucalyptus
shade, there by the river."

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He was a really sweet kid.

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He was 23, but he seemed
kind of like 19 or something.

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He seemed younger than most
of the guys in the platoon.

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Maybe I should back
up a little bit,

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because you guys don't really
know where I come from, Fresno.

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And Taylor had that
nice introduction,

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but a little bit to
add to that maybe,

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just so you know the narrative.

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We started in Kuwait,
crossed the border

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on the 3rd of
December, 2003, convoy

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that passed Baghdad
to a small town called

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Balad right south
of the Tigris River.

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And we worked out of there
for about three months or so,

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doing raids, patrols,
things like that,

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and a variety of missions.

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And then we moved up to Mosul in
the northern part of the city.

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Late spring, about
April of 2004,

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there was a spike in violence.

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And they blew many of the
bridges and the roadways

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and the center of the country,
which effectively cut off

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the supply route
north and south.

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So my company along
with few other companies

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were formed into a task force
and sent down to Baghdad.

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And our job was to live
north and south of Baghdad.

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And each day we would
escort these crazy--

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if you want to talk
about courageous,

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somebody from Wisconsin or
something with a little helmet

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driving a big
18-wheeler, while we

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were in this big vehicle, nine
of us, with weapons and stuff.

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And we'd escort
them back and forth

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throughout much of
the early summer.

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And then once that sort
of died down a bit,

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we moved back up to Mosul
and finished out our time.

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That kind of gives
a sketch, right?

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Hopefully.

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