"The Amphibious Force" - by Parker O. Ekren

"The Amphibious Force"
by Parker O. Ekren - BM2c
Submitted August 27, 1999

Going through my notes I found this verse which I wrote during our cruise on the Mediterranean. The thousands of amphibious reserves, with a few months of training and no previous sea experience, did a great job although the regular Navy looked down on them. We can still manage to laugh at ourselves. We were civilians doing our duty and sailing flat bottom Large Slow Targets.

"THE AMPHIBIOUS FORCE"

To be Navified is beyond hope,
For to us a line is still a rope.
That isn't baker, it's just red!
Our narrow bunk is just a bed.
Passing signals to one another,
Is always a confounded bother.
We know what it's all about,
We pull up close and then we shout.
Raising our eyes to the sky,
We watch the wispy clouds sweep by.
Cirrus, Stratus leave us cold,
Can this darn weather be foretold?
The stars and us have some relation,
But we don't know a constellation.
However, the universe can't scare us,
We set our course by old Polaris.
The freeboard's like a big main sail,
The shallow draft makes helmsmen pale.
But we boys from behind the plow,
Just cut a furrow with the bow.
To the front we track our way,
Carrying Arab, Frog, Goumier.
We're in the mood for reparations,
For damage done by Allied nations.
Our endless moves are tactical,
Antithesis of practical.
It is easy to forget our plight,
If we can get ashore at night.

Chorus

Thru sweat, thru water, mud and sand,
Come the reserves of the Amphibious Command.
Heart's aflutter and heads abared,
Too damn dumb to ever be scared.