Wry Reminscence of Combat Vet on His Peer Group

Peer Group

"me & the boys got the highest rate

of alcoholism & drug abuse & divorce

& mental illness & suicide

than any other group

in America.

It’s good to see us win

for a change."

-- by Bill Shields. Anthologized in "From Both Sides Now: The Poetry of the Vietnam War and Its Aftermath," Edited by Philip Mahony.