Poetry: Medal Of Honor & The $1 Value Meal

A British military contractor has been on the offensive with slanderous and libelous statements about this hero of the highest order.

(CLEVELAND / SALEM) - As we reported in a recent article, a Marine who received the Medal of Honor for his heroic rescue of 36 human beings, has been under assault by a British military contractor for alleged "drinking" problems and also for supposedly for having "mental" problems.

Of course none of this was on the radar of the contractor BAE Systems, until after former Marine Sergeant Dakota Meyer blew the whistle on the company's attempt to sell high-powered sniper scopes to the Pakistani military.

All politics aside, this Marine received the Medal of Honor for his actions in the Pesh Valley, Kunar province, right on the border with Pakistan's Northwest Frontier.

While we all would like to assume such technology would be no problem in Pakistan's hands, Meyer believed something else might be at hand; something few people other than those with his experience in this border region, might know.

Had it simply been a legitimate business deal, the whole matter might have quickly blown over. The company instead has been on the offensive with slanderous and libelous statements about this hero of the highest order.

That doesn't sit well with guys like Luke Easter and I. We served in the Marine Corps, we will always share that esprit de corps and and we constantly watch out for our brothers and sisters as much as possible.
- intro by Tim King, Salem-News.com

Medal Of Honor & The $1 Value Meal

Sergeant Dakota Meyer, U.S. Marine is the quintessential hero,
However, his job prospects after discharge are zilch point zero,
Our nation's Congressional Medal he saved 36 in fierce combat,
He’s chillin at home without gainful employment & that’s a fact.

Dusty, dinghy, deserted and densely populated is Afghanistan,
Watch CNN or read the paper, but you will never understand,
Neither can a tour behind the scenes give a good frame of mind,
There is no vicarious pleasure just thinking about the front lines.

So, as Paul Harvey would say, “and now the rest of the story,”
Far from courage on the battlefield, the blood, guts and glory,
Dakota is experiencing retaliation blowing the whistle on BAE,
Believing a contractor was selling hardware to Pakistan military.

Not food supplies, cellular technology, pigs, camels or horses,
That serious weaponry that could be used against U.S. forces,
The kind he faced from death-defying odds to rescue 36 lives,
And in the process putting smiles on moms, dads, kids & wives.

This British systems contractor has his character under assault,
For alleged drinking, being mentally unstable, it’s his own fault,
Salem-News is just trying to figure out how this guy is still alive,
Not even grizzly bears dare to get honey from a packed beehive.

Any inquiries if Pakistan is buying high-powered sniper scopes?
Has someone in the Pentagon, White House, aided him? Nope!
Our chief Tim who spent many dark moons embedded at night,
Bullets flying overhead is choked-up telling the story to his wife.

It’s one thing to cover a story in places like Afghanistan and Iraq,
With a certainty when dreaming of home yes soon you’ll be back,
But to, “Ooh-Rah, Semper If” head on in the middle of an attack,
Only to get bombarded behind enemy lines and catch more flack?

He directly disobeyed orders putting his own life at risk to save,
The average Joe will call him crazy but it’s, “none but the brave,”
Against the fanatical Taliban denying girls the right to attend school,
Their barbaric stone-age treatment of women as only men can rule.

With Staff Sgt. Juan Rodriguez-Chavez, awarded the Navy Cross,
Lieutenant, Gunny, Army 1st Class, Navy Corpsman, lives were lost,
The age-old inner-service rivalry means exactly jack-squat in the heat,
I know this sounds corny but Tim’s wife Bonnie thinks it’s kind of neat.

This story has endless possibilities but enough is enough it’s time to go,
With all the illegal alien crap going around Chavez was born in Mexico,
The enemies we fight are not the only ones with a hefty case of bigotry,
Since there’s still a battlefield in America of racial and religious equality.

But not to get off track as the focal point is on an authentic hero denied,
The right to voice those concerns and be heard because he almost died,
General Mac Author said, “old soldiers never die they just fade away,”
Exactly what the, “powers that be” want for some young soldiers today.

Some of you might say Dakota can rest on his laurels or sell movie rights,
Whereas everybody enjoys action plus drama and we love combat fights,
Not only that this guy is neither actor nor a stuntman. Yeah! He’s for real,
Medal Of Honor and $1 gets a double cheeseburger from the value meal.

By Luke Easter & Tim King

Luke Easter is a poet who writes about things that are very close to the heart of Salem-News.com. Another former U.S. Marine, Luke heals the world with an approach that reaches people on a different level, one known for centuries, yet too often forgotten in the one we live in.

We live in a world of social & economic injustice. The main reason for founding America in the first place was to relieve the oppression of the King of England. Patrick Henry said it best, “give me liberty or give me death.” And yet, all too often death seems to be the only way out. Why is there such a high suicide rate especially among teens, in the land of the free & the home of the brave? What makes headlines? Good news? Ha! More depressing stories than anything else. I feel poetry takes an edge off the hurt of bad news while still delivering it but in a, “glitzy” sort of way. Giving a different perspective. Kind of like slap in the face as opposed to a knife in the back. At least with the slap you’ll live to see another day and you will know whom it’s from. I wasn’t here for the beginning of the world but at 59, I just might be here for the end.

Even though it’s still a knife, rhyme poetry helps to dull the blade. And that’s my job. You can write to Luke Easter at: lyricsfromlucas@aol.com

Tim King is a former U.S. Marine with twenty years of experience on the west coast as a television news producer, photojournalist, reporter and assignment editor. In addition to his role as a war correspondent, this Los Angeles native serves as Salem-News.com's Executive News Editor. Tim spent the winter of 2006/07 covering the war in Afghanistan, and he was in Iraq over the summer of 2008, reporting from the war while embedded with both the U.S. Army and the Marines.

Tim holds numerous awards for reporting, photography, writing and editing, including the Oregon AP Award for Spot News Photographer of the Year (2004), first place Electronic Media Award in Spot News, Las Vegas, (1998), Oregon AP Cooperation Award (1991); and several others including the 2005 Red Cross Good Neighborhood Award for reporting. Serving the community in very real terms, Salem-News.com is the nation's only truly independent high traffic news Website. You can send Tim an email at this address: newsroom@salem-news.com

Poetry: Medal Of Honor & The $1 Value Meal

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