It Is The Soldier...
It is the Soldier, not the minister who has given us freedom of religion.
It is the Soldier, not the reporter who has given us freedom of the press.
It is the Soldier, not the poet who has given us freedom of speech.
It is the Soldier, not the campus organizer who has given us freedom to protest.
It is the Soldier, not the lawyer who has given us the right to a fair trial.
It is the Soldier, not the politician who has given us the right to vote.
It is the Soldier who salutes the flag, who serves beneath the flag, and whose coffin is draped by the flag, who allows the protester to burn the flag.
Original poem by Charles Michael Province.
7 comments:
That's very true.
I know you are an ex-squaddie, do you feel that the public respect the forces and the Government doesn't?
Yes...the government just "has" teh armed forces. The only politicians that respect them are the ones that have done some sort of service themselves...THAT SAID this isn't just Brown bashing (although currently it is) becasuse I remember reading about the Penninsular Wars and Wellesley (not yet Wellington) was decrying the government and the Treasury for not supplying the right equipment or enough of it...ring any bells?
Wars always come at the 'wrong time' though. Look at Britain WW1 and Britain and Germany in WW2 (horses and bikes to invade the Sudetenland). Politicians don't think of arming during peacetime because defence comes way down the list of priorities and Churchills idea of jaw-jaw being better than war-war makes sense.
Too right but it's not really in our nature.
That's
That's very good and very true. You could also have linked to Kipling's Tommy Atkins, which is just as true.
http://www.faxmentis.org/html/kipling.html
On the point of funds the military never has enough and squaddies have always bought their own comforts - better boots, rucksacks sleeping bags etc. The difference this time is that they are buying things like body armour.
Absolutely right TGS, funnily enough the mum in the handwriting row mentioned desert boots and webbing I bought bits and bobs of my own as well, along with everyone...but as you point out quite rightly this wasn't necessary stuff.
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