From Yellow Footprints to Home

I stepped off that bus in the dead of the night,

Voices cut through the silence like lightning in the sky.

Head shaved clean, no name to my face,

Just another pair of boots trying to earn my place.

Sand fleas, sweat, and miles to run,

Every single sunrise meant another battle won.

The pain built brothers where strangers once stood,

Turning scared young hearts into something strong and good.

Every mile, every bruise, every lesson carved in stone,

They broke the boy I used to be…

And built a Marine with an Eagle, Globe, and Anchor,

A promise I would carry forever after.

Through every storm, through every fight,

Standing beside my brothers day and night.

No matter where the orders send me,

Across the oceans or foreign seas,

I’ll wear these colors with quiet pride,

Semper Fidelis… until the day I die.

⸻

Then came the fleet where the real work starts,

Long field ops testing every part.

Cleaning rifles in the pouring rain,

Laughing through exhaustion just to do it all again.

Motor pools, ranges, midnight fire watch,

Learning every lesson that the schoolhouse never taught.

Some days felt endless, some nights flew away,

But we knew we’d remember every one someday.

Waiting on the word we’d all been training for,

Wondering what tomorrow held beyond that distant shore.

We were Marines with an Eagle, Globe, and Anchor,

Holding one another when the world grew darker.

Every mission, every mile,

Every letter made the waiting worthwhile.

Though fear would sometimes find its way,

Duty always won the day.

Shoulder to shoulder we’d always stand,

Serving something bigger than ourselves.

⸻

Then the birds took off before the dawn,

Leaving everything we’d ever known behind.

Different skies… unfamiliar land…

Pictures of our families folded in our hands.

Some came home with stories to tell,

Some carried memories they never could explain.

Every empty seat says someone’s name,

And none of us returned exactly the same.

⸻

Then one day the wheels touched home again,

Families waiting where the runway ends.

Mama’s tears and Daddy’s smile,

Made every lonely overseas mile worthwhile.

I hung my uniform up on the wall,

But the Marine in me never left at all.

Because once you’ve earned that title, it’s forever true,

No matter what this life puts you through.

So here’s to the brothers beside my side,

The ones still serving with courage and pride.

From yellow footprints to coming back home,

No Marine ever truly walks alone.

The haircut grows… the years roll by…

The memories fade but never die.

If you ask me who I am today…

I’m still that Marine…

Just finding a new way.