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SergntMac
01-25-2003, 07:14 AM
A Patrolman's Departure, by Gabriel L. Nathan

They are standing straight and stoic, standing glove-to-glove,
It is raining, it is freezing, but they stand still for pain and love.
Their hat-brims hide their pain, and the torture in their eyes,
They cannot help but feel the void, when one of their own dies.

The service now is over, the widow staggers out,
all arms now at attention as the bagpipes cry and shout.
Flag-d***** casket on six shoulders, could this day get any worse?
A salute’s the silent answer, as they push him into a hearse.

Speeches done, songs sung, it’s time for the ride,
the cortege is enormous, like a head-of-state has died.
The lights roll infinitum and the grief is creeping past,
us citizens just stand here, we are all watching to the last.

We wonder over the pageantry, our heads shake in despair.
We debate that, as the three times seven shots pierce our air.

"oh, this didn’t have to happen...What an awful, tragic day...In this sea of pain and anguish, how will Justice find its way?"

But, as the ranks disperse, as they trudge back to their cars,
we know that the killer sits behind four walls of iron bars.

"They’ll put aside their grief, as they’ve been trained so well to do..."
for even crafty killers, can’t evade this mass of blue.

So, the funeral is over, the mayor has gone home.
Now I'm hearing some people question "are we well within the zone?"

"To put on such a costly show, for cops just pounding pavement..." And I ask myself how...Do we...measure a slain cop’s final payment.

To say the cost is inappropriate, to question that with scorn,
shows that you know nothing of the target that is worn.

On every cop’s vest, or, shirt, over every trooper’s heart,
It looks like a bulls eye, but it is just a star.



As a member of my Department's Pipe Band, I've seen too many of these days in my life. I pray I never see another.

SergntMac.

martyo
01-25-2003, 07:22 AM
Sarge:

I represent and have worked with a number of P.O.'s

I second that emotion.....

WolfeBros
01-25-2003, 10:15 AM
Amen Brother

cyclone03
01-25-2003, 02:17 PM
Thanks Mac.

Alao thanks for pulling the detail.

Beadhead
01-25-2003, 04:09 PM
Sarge, I'm glad to see you're not the author, otherwise I'd have to stop calling you a poet. Sentiment aside (if that's possible), that's one maudlin piece of work.

Mikeenh
01-25-2003, 04:32 PM
Great job Sarge. I did 15 years on a SMALL time part time department. I'm also a Vietnam vet. I bought a bumper sticker in Washington near the Vietnam memorial that says "For those that fought for it, freedom has a flavor the protected will never know"
The same goes for the men in blue.Makes you proud!

jgc61sr2002
01-25-2003, 04:57 PM
:up: Excellent Job Sgt. I was in the NYC Police Department for 35 years. A ranking officer for 27 years. Did all my time in patrol precincts, from beat officer to platoon commander. I know where you are coming from. We should start a chapter of police officers and former police officers. There seems to be quite a number on this board. Keep up the good work. Will be in Ill this summer and may take the MM and possibly swing by the Big Windy. See ya. John :) :)

Long Live #3
01-25-2003, 05:36 PM
Sarge, that was beautiful. :bigcry: :cry:

chapel1
01-25-2003, 09:28 PM
Thank's MAC!

Moparzz
01-27-2003, 05:41 AM
Know the feeling Sarge. I've had to pull that Class A out of the closet too many times in my 25 years as a firefighter. I spent 2 weeks up in Worcester Mass. when I lost 6 Brothers during Dec. 99. I was just beggining to get that resolved when 9/11 hit. Never thought I would see that kind of thing. Whether it is a single Brother or Sister lost, or hundreds as we saw just over a year ago, it takes a piece of us every time.

P74vic
01-29-2003, 03:38 PM
A veteran state trooper was fatally injured early today when he apparently was dragged more than a tenth of a mile by a motorist he stopped on an Interstate 64 exit ramp near Gaskins Road.

Trooper Michael Blanton, who was one of the department's top DUI enforcement officers, was pronounced dead about 4 a.m. at Medical College of Virginia Hospitals.

State police said Blanton stopped a 2000 BMW rental vehicle for speeding about 2:30 a.m. on the westbound I-64 exit ramp the leads to northbound Gaskins Road. Henrico County police received a call a short time later about a BMW that had crashed on Gaskins.

When police arrived, they discovered the wrecked vehicle and the injured trooper. A man, apparently the driver of the BMW, was found at a service station about a quarter mile away and tried to flee when approached by a Henrico officer. He also had been injured.

Police are still investigating the cir***stances of the stop but sources said it appeared Blanton had been dragged by the car he had stopped.

see video.......................

http://media.mgnetwork.com/wwbt/videopopup/index.html?vid=MGBAKAW7JBD