Welcome to Liberia.
Capitol Monrovia.
Their flag is copied from the American flag. In fact, the capitol is named for U.S. President James Monroe. The U. S. Founded this country in West Africa, as a home for freed slaves. It is in many ways an amazingly beautiful place.
Looks can be deceiving though.
They say Lucifer was the most beautiful Angel. Yeah, looks can be deceiving.
All of this I am writing down here happened way back in the late 1980s into the 1990s.
Here now, 2024, I look at the news, Africa is still insane. Haiti has followed along the same path. Pundits and politicians flail around desperately for ways to pretend to care and “do something” while doing nothing that doesn't profit them.
Only now, here in America, I am hearing , mostly idiot pundits in media talking about Civil war. Fucking morons have no clue.
Anyone else notice ain't no combat vets that have seen actual civil war talking like it's a good thing? I also noticed media is not talking to vets from the Balkans , or Somalia, or West Africa, or Central Africa.
I have already taken a safari thru hell, I don't want it here.
But , just like all those other places, the same sort of filthy greedy narcissistic politicians and pundits are working diligently to create the same evil here.
There ain't nothing civil about war.
The French, moved self propelled 155mm howitzers pretty quick. Thing is, that shits noisy as hell and there's no way to be covert about it. They rolled right along the roads, made great time.
Problem was, Taylor knew they were coming. We watched and reported the camp evacuation. By 0300 , the camp was empty.
Why didn't we do anything?
Well, first, our Rules Of Engagement said, observe and report. Second there were Hundreds, heavily armed people, and there were only Six of us. No Artillery support, no air support, no reinforcements. We had, Six 7.62 Rifles , seven handguns and twenty four grenades.
Exactly what could we do? Disobey orders and die for no purpose but killing , mostly fucking whacked up kids?
Called in the Sitrep. Then after the camp was cleared we snuck in the empty shanties and huts. I don't know what we were really looking for. What kind of Intel were we really going to find?
Throughout this debacle, we, never had direct comms with the French units set up some ten kilometers away. Our chain neglected to call off the strike. I gotta give the French credit. They laid down pretty accurate fire. Ground bursts, airburst with flechettes, American made.
They Bracketed the site. We had the choice of Diving into the river to GTFO or charging straight into the fire. We had nowhere to go, no cover, nothing. We ran.
At some point a freaking bug bit me right in the middle of my torso. It stung like hell. I doubled down and kept running. No time to worry about bug bites.
Things got hazy.
Somehow , I was kneeling in this shallow, crater I think? I was yelling at Top to get up, out of the mud. We had to move. I was slapping the back of his helmet and yelling.
A couple sets of hands grabbed me, and dragged me out of the crater. I was still screaming at Top to get the fuck up. My legs wouldn't work. The guys hauling me stumbled and we tumbled to the ground. I was wondering why I was all wet, the guys were running their hands all over me. I looked over , at Top.
That's when I realized that , I was Bleeding kind of bad. And, that When I was slapping Tops helmet, kneeling. I had been kneeling in my Best friend. I don't remember anything after that, there.
I woke up in Aviano, the Airbase in Italy. They were prepping me for transport, gonna fly me back to Pope in North Carolina. I talked to a nurse , told him it hurt, asked wtf, He left, came back a few minutes later with a Doc, while the nurse injected something into an I.V. lead sticking in my arm.
Doc was telling me how lucky I was. An anti personnel flechette ,from an airburst, had punched through and through me. In , just to the side of my solar plexus, out at the top of my left ass cheek. There were a few other flechettes that had not done major damage. Stuck in my rifle stock, my ruck, my helmet.
I drifted off back unconscious again.
Woke up again getting off loaded from the C-141 at Pope.
Great fucking safari and all for nothing.
I didn't reenlist.
Yeah, I am still pissed.
I still miss Top, each and every Day.
When I sailed on cruise ships years ago primarily on Sitmar cruises in the late 70s and 80s and the line sailed under the Liberian flag. Monrovia. This one is so the cruise ship like to take advantage lose Liberian laws of the sea. At the time I assumed Liberia was probably the correct country. You confirmed this with your pose. Thank you for your bravery to post hard to believe truth.
"...ain't no combat vets that have seen actual civil war talking like it's a good thing?"
No one who actually knows jack shit about history would talk about it like it's a good thing either.
Of course, most folks these days don't know jack shit about history.