Skip to content
FREE STANDARD SHIPPING! Use code SHIPNOW at checkout
FREE STANDARD SHIPPING! Use code SHIPNOW at checkout

Men in the Machine

Men in the Machine (The Silent Fallen)
by Rex J. Taylor

View the PDF

We were all trained by the machine.
The machine trained us all to be able to turn love, caring, & killing on and off like the flipping of a light switch.
One moment we cared about everything.
Then we get an order to flip the light switch
So our innate ability to wreak pain & suffering upon others takes over.
For some of us the pain & suffering of others is like candy it is an addiction.
They crave for more.
The ones that crave the pain & suffering of others often remain in battle they thrive on the carnage.
Never to leave the machine except in death, or retirement even then most do not survive more than a few years after they are out.
Then there are the few that are trained by the machine that have feelings.
They take a good long look around and watch the pain & suffering to their own people & people that are foreign to them.
They see small children & adults lying dead in piles along the road and around bombed out buildings.
This sickens them but they continue to fight for the machine.

Are they safely at home or not from their tour of duty?
I truly feel for the ones that separate from the machine that have feelings.
Some return from the machine to be a more loving, caring person, and appreciate life.
Some return mentally & physically scared for life and end up with a twisted outlook on life.
For which they continue the battles brought on by the machine once they return home.
They continuously relive the brutal pain, suffering, & lose of their friends and the people foreign to them.
This involves dreams & nightmares of things that happen during the battle & the brutal aftermath of the battle.
Where friends & foreigners alike are found either dead or are what we call the walking wounded.
The walking wounded are all people Men, Women, & Children they are seen walking, crawling, and limping around the battle zone and outlying areas.
These people are bleeding, in pain, and suffering from their wounds.
Some are burned. Some are bleeding. Some are missing arms and legs.
For some there wounds are so severe they cannot see or hear anything due to the scrap metal from road side bombs, mortar rounds, or from the aerial ordinance that has dropped around them.
The worst thing for the ones that return is to live with the death of a friend you knew while working for the machine.
These people cannot stand just hint of conflict even fighting between children.

Sometimes they take their problems out on their families and friends.
Sometimes they inflict pain upon themselves in the form of self abuse like burning & cutting themselves, or attempts or suicide.
(These signs of self abuse are a shout out for help).
This helps for a while.
Most find themselves seeking professional help but no one understands.
So they shut themselves off from the people they love & care about and they shut down emotionally.
No one understands the things they had to do or the things they had to endure during their tour of duty.
Some of the things are so horrific there are no words to describe it.
Some choose the easy way out and end their lives on their own.
They know there are people in their lives that love and care for them.
But the people that care about them cannot understand their problems.
So the demons that haunt them win overall it is not their fault.
If only someone could understand them.
They may have been saved.

I have written this in memory of all that have fallen in battles & after the battles worldwide.
Who have left behind Wives, Husbands, & Children.
I feel the fault is within the machine.
Even thought we all willingly signed the contract exception to those who were drafted back in the day.
People should never have to see or endure the battle or the aftermath of battle.
It robs them of the life they could have had and a chance to be happy.
This has happened to someone I knew in my life (Took his own life).
This is my reflection of what he may have been going through I may never know.
For I have my own inner demons that haunt me from my own past to slay.
For this is not a battle that easily fought.
This is my salute him to all those that have fallen past and present.
I hope they have all found the eternal piece they were looking for.
(For They Are The Silent Fallen)

Previous article Lineage of the USMC Eagle, Globe and Anchor

Leave a comment

* Required fields