REDGUM, OZ AND KIDS

Daily Strength is becoming more to me than I first imagined it could.  Not only is it a place to share symptoms/treatments and help cope with my illness, my journalling is now almost all online, and open to others, something I could not have foreseen.  Communicating in this way is very new to me, I am generally a very self-contained and private individual, and while I do so with a little trepidation am finding the time I spend here therapeutic and thought provoking. After a "conversation" with Jiminator I unearthed a Redgum cassette (yes, I still have the old technology to play it) and it brought back memories of a fantastic ballad which every time I listen, brings great emotion and never fails to bring tears to my eyes.   So for Jiminator and everyone else who experienced or was touched by "Vietnam" (which is all of us really, parents, siblings, partners, children and friends) this is for you, from those who understand in Australia. ***********I Was Only 19 (A Walk in the Light Green)John Schumann: Universal Music Publishing Pty LtdMum and Dad and Denny saw the passing out parade at Puckapunyal, (1t was long march from cadets). The Sixth Battalion was the next to tour and it was me who drew the card… We did Canungra and Shoalwater before we left.And Townsville lined the footpath as we marched down to the quay; This clipping from the paper shows us young and strong and clean; And there's me in my slouch hat, with my SLR and greens… God help me, I was only nineteen.From Vung Tau riding Chinooks to the dust at Nui Dat, I'd been in and out of choppers now for months. But we made our tents a home, VB and pin-ups on the lockers, and an Asian orange sunset through the scrub. And can you tell me, doctor, why I still can't get to sleep? And night time's just a jungle dark and a barking M16? And what's this rash that comes and goes, can you tell me what it means?God help me, I was only nineteen.A four week operation, when each step could mean your last one on two legs:it was a war within yourself. But you wouldn't let your mates down 'til they had you dusted off, so you closed your eyes and thought about something else.Then someone yelled out "Contact"', and the bloke behind me swore. We hooked in there for hours, then a God almighty roar; Frankie kicked a mine the day that mankind kicked the moon: - God help me, he was going home in June.1 can still see Frankie, drinking tinnies in the Grand Hotel on a thirty-six hour rec. leave in Vung Tau. And I can still hear Frankie lying screaming in the jungle. 'Till the morphine came and killed the bloody row And the Anzac legends didn't mention mud and blood and tears, and stories that my father told me never seemed quite realI caught some pieces in my back that I didn't even feel… God help me, I was only nineteen.And can you tell me, doctor, why I still can't get to sleep?And why the Channel Seven chopper chills me to my feet? And what's this rash that comes and goes, can you tell me what it means? God help me,I was only nineteen. ********************So today I am setting aside Lupus (et al) putting on some Redgum and maybe some Joplin and Cohen, just losing myself in the music.......