Goodnight Saigon lyrics meaning.?

Question

What does Parris Island refer to? I searched a little myself and came up with a Marine academy in South Carolina but it doesn't seem to match the lyrics except in the beginning. later in the song it refers back to Parris Island in the verse:

and the night seemed to last
as long as six weeks
on Parris Island
we held the coastline
they held the highland

this i would assume would refer to a place much closer to the front lines than South Carolina.

Answer 1

could it mean that a night in Saigon lasted as long as six weeks on Parris Island (presumably before he shipped off)? It was a training ground. According to wikipedia, Parris Island had a lot of the Vietnam recruits pass thru.

We met as soul mates
On parris island
We left as inmates
From an asylum
And we were sharp
As sharp as knives
And we were so gung ho
To lay down our lives
We came in spastic
Like tameless horses
We left in plastic
As numbered corpses
And we learned fast
To travel light
Our arms were heavy
But our bellies were tight
We had no home front
We had no soft soap
They sent us playboy
They gave us bob hope
We dug in deep
And shot on sight
And prayed to jesus christ
With all our might
We had no cameras
To shoot the landscape
We passed the hash pipe
And played our doors tapes
And it was dark
So dark at night
And we held on to each other
Like brother to brother
We promised our mothers wed write
And we would all go down together
We said wed all go down together
Yes we would all go down together
Remember charlie
Remember baker
They left their childhood
On every acre
And who was wrong?
And who was right?
It didnt matter in the thick of the fight
We held the day
In the palm
Of our hand
They ruled the night
And the night
Seemed to last as long as six weeks
On parris island
We held the coastline
They held the highlands
And they were sharp
As sharp as knives
They heard the hum of our motors
They counted the rotors
And waited for us to arrive
And we would all go down together
We said wed all go down together
Yes we would all go down together

Answer 2

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RE:
Goodnight Saigon lyrics meaning.?
What does Parris Island refer to? I searched a little myself and came up with a Marine academy in South Carolina but it doesn't seem to match the lyrics except in the beginning. later in the song it refers back to Parris Island in the verse:

and the night seemed to last
as long as six...

Answer 3

He's rhyming from the point of view that a Marine would have..so he referenced Parris Island

Answer 4

wtf have you heard of google?