Saturday, October 20

The Young British Soldier And The Futility Of The Afghan War


There's very little new to this world, so much so that we should be able to learn from history - but we rarely do. I came across the poem The Young British Soldier by Rudyard Kipling. As it's quite long I've just included the two final verses. It shows the futility of fighting in Afghanistan - but we haven't listened have we? Maybe some of us have but governments rarely take notice of what 'the people' think.

The two final verses of The Young British Soldier:

If your officer's dead and the sergeants look white,
Remember it's ruin to run from a fight:
So take open order, lie down, and sit tight,
And wait for supports like a soldier.
Wait, wait, wait like a soldier . . .

When you're wounded and left on Afghanistan's plains,
And the women come out to cut up what remains,
Jest roll to your rifle and blow out your brains
An' go to your Gawd like a soldier.
Go, go, go like a soldier,
Go, go, go like a soldier,
Go, go, go like a soldier,
So-oldier of the Queen!

~ Rudyard Kipling

See also 67 Not Out Posts:
Is Afghanistan History Repeating Itself?
Afghanistan The Ultimate Sacrifice

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2 comments:

  1. I had just been over to Rob and Trish's site and was trying to figure out what
    "Dona Nobis Pacem" meant,so I Did a Google image search and found this poster -

    http://qums.org.au/img/posters/2012-Armed-Man.jpg

    And since the poppy is a symbol of fallen soldiers and Afghanistan's number one export,I thought it was worth sharing here.

    ReplyDelete
  2. We so need to leave that country and get out. I don't have any idea what the war there was ever about.

    ReplyDelete