Death of the Ball Turret Gunner

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 photograph by Valery Lorenzo

From my mother's sleep I fell into the State,

 And I hunched in its belly till my wet fur froze.

 Six miles from earth, loosed from its dream of life, 

 photograph by Horst

 I woke to black flak and the nightmare fighters.

 When I died they washed me out of the turret with a hose.

 photograph by Valery Lorenzo

The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner by Randall Jarrell 1945  Jarrell, too old to serve as a combat pilot, Jarrell served as a pilot 

instructor in WWII

much changes-then nothing does. still young men die to fill an old man's head with dreams of power& his hands full of money to stuff into his pockets.  the deadliest day in a ten year war

A NATO Chinook helicopter was shot down southwest of Kabul on Saturday, killing 39 troops on board. Eight of those were Afghan soldiers and 

31 were Americans, including members of SEAL Team 6.

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