An Operator

by Ford Sypher

We were the green eyes
With black rifles
That moved so silently
Through the night

You would not hear us
Until the breach
You would not hear us
Until we reached
To pull off your sheets
And rip you from your sleep

Our world was the night
We were gone before the dawn
Before the light

We took Crowes
Counted Feathers
And Chargers alike
Left bodies
But made sure the kids
Had glow-stix to play with at night

The women would cry
The men no different
The small children amazed
Trembled indifferent?

Their eyes the most piercing
Knowing our crimes
And soon recognizing in time
That it was we
The “Dirty Unit”
That had taken their Fathers
Their Brothers
And all in their prime

Our trips ran together
One place than another
The missions the same
Dispatch him
Then his brother

Some day we’ll come home
Our bodies old and broken
Our youth long gone
Our stories not to be spoken

Ford Sypher is a former Army Ranger Team Leader with the 3/75 RGR RGT. While serving Ford deployed five times in support of the Global War on Terror, with three deployments to Iraq and two to Afghanistan, from 2006-2010. Ford’s passion is poetry and learning how to better express emotion through the arts.