We Mighty Warriors

by James Loomis

My days as a mighty warrior
Were told to never end
Once a Marine Always a Marine
It’s your life, your code

The enemy is clear
Well sort of….
Killing the enemy in war
It’s only one squeeze away.

Those Mighty warrior days have gone
Once a person they called “Bull”
Over two hundred and forty pounds
The Animal Mother they wanted.

Now the Bull is on a budget
A mighty warrior’s meal
Reduced to Top Ramen and PBJs
Though we fight on.

Fake offers and interviews
Broken promises and hunger
The world we once walked
As Mighty Warriors
The proud and few.

Now almost under two hundred pounds
The once spearheaded Bull
The one who put himself in front of the weak
Is frail, broken

We Mighty Warriors fight now to survive
Then our day comes.
11th day of the 11th month
Free meals for those Warriors.

The Mighty Warrior spends hours
Hunting his food
From place to place armed
With a paper saying he served.

Served as a Mighty Warrior, now to feast
His one day, through bloodshot eyes.
Over tight belt to hold pants too big.
His shameful glare at the mirror
The Mighty Warriors count
364 days till their next feast.

James Loomis never saw anything in this world that made more sense than the Marine Corps at a time of war. He served two tours in Iraq as an infantry machine gunner from 2005-2007; the first lasted nine months and the second eight. He wrote “We Mighty Warriors” about his own change from Marine to civilian in August 2008, which led him to years of unemployment and poverty.