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WarrenH
Homosapien
United Kingdom
1775 Posts |
 Posted - 06 September 2006 : 08:39:56 AM
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The Truth, The Whole Truth and Nothing But The Truth Soldiering
Your alarm goes off, you hit the snooze and sleep for another 10
minutes.
He stays up for days on end.
__________________________
You take a warm shower to help you wake up.
He goes days or weeks without running water.
__________________________
You complain of a "headache", and call in sick.
He gets shot at as others are hit, and keeps moving forward.
__________________________
You put on your anti war/don't support the troops shirt, and go meet
up with your friends.
He still fights for your right to wear that shirt.
__________________________
You make sure you're cell phone is in your pocket.
He clutches the cross hanging on his chain next to his dog tags.
__________________________
You talk trash about your "buddies" that aren't with you.
He knows he may not see some of his buddies again.
__________________________
You walk down the beach, staring at all the pretty girls.
He walks the streets, searching for insurgents and terrorists.
__________________________
You complain about how hot it is.
He wears his heavy gear, not daring to take off his helmet to wipe his brow.
__________________________
You go out to lunch, and complain because the restaurant got your
order wrong.
He doesn't get to eat today.
__________________________
Your maid makes your bed and washes your clothes.
He wears the same things for weeks, but makes sure his weapons are
clean.
__________________________
You go to the mall and get your hair redone.
He doesn't have time to brush his teeth today.
__________________________
You're angry because your class ran 5 minutes over.
He's told he will be held over an extra 2 months.
__________________________
You call your girlfriend and set a date for tonight.
He waits for the mail to see if there is a letter from home.
__________________________
You hug and kiss your girlfriend, like you do everyday.
He holds his letter close and smells his love's perfume.
__________________________
You roll your eyes as a baby cries.
He gets a letter with pictures of his new child, and wonders if they'll ever meet.
___________________________
You criticize your government, and say that war never solves anything.
He sees the innocent tortured and killed by their own people and
remembers why he is fighting.
__________________________
You hear the jokes about the war, and make fun of men like him.
He hears the gunfire, bombs and screams of the wounded.
__________________________
You see only what the media wants you to see.
He sees the broken bodies lying around him.
__________________________
You are asked to go to the store by your parents. You don't.
He does exactly what he is told.
__________________________
You stay at home and watch TV.
He takes whatever time he is given to call, write home, sleep, and
eat.
__________________________
You crawl into your soft bed, with down pillows, and get comfortable.
He crawls under a tank for shade and a 5 minute nap, only to be woken by gunfire.
__________________________
You sit there and judge him, saying the world is probably a worse
place because of men like him.
If only there were more men like him!
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If you support your troops, resend this to everyone you know,
if it gets to another veteran who hasn't received it yet, it will
bring back memories.
"Ying tong, ying tong, what a miss mash of cods wallop and gungafof. Never in my life have I had the pleasure of reading a concoction of trype and onions."
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Turretmuppet
Dinosaur
United Kingdom
396 Posts |
Posted - 06 September 2006 : 10:23:29 AM
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| American....and written by a civilian. |
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Ankhsy
Homosapien
United Kingdom
7087 Posts |
Posted - 06 September 2006 : 10:34:21 AM
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Indubitably American...with words like "cell phone".
"It's hard to work in a group when you're omniscient."
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Edited by - Ankhsy on 06 September 2006 10:35:17 AM |
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Turretmuppet
Dinosaur
United Kingdom
396 Posts |
Posted - 06 September 2006 : 10:46:00 AM
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| ...and like nobody, I mean nobody, crawls under tanks for a nap |
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John Prigent
Homosapien
United Kingdom
8413 Posts |
Posted - 06 September 2006 : 1:14:10 PM
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Actually, Turret, soldiers have been crawling under tanks for shelter ever since 1939. It's not encouraged, but it does happen. Do try to make your comment factual.
Cheers
John |
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Turretmuppet
Dinosaur
United Kingdom
396 Posts |
Posted - 06 September 2006 : 1:25:51 PM
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| Only since 1939, John? I know you were in the Army, but were you on Tanks? The Infantry are scared stiff of them and I don't know of any Tankie who would kip under one, shell-scrape beside, maybe. You will always get the odd exception but 'napping under tanks' was just an ignorant civilian comment. |
Edited by - Turretmuppet on 06 September 2006 3:27:51 PM |
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Ankhsy
Homosapien
United Kingdom
7087 Posts |
Posted - 06 September 2006 : 2:03:47 PM
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Turret has a point. You can lie 'beside' a tank for shade and rest. Out in Iraq, the heat 'under' a tank would be unbearable.
"It's hard to work in a group when you're omniscient."
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John Prigent
Homosapien
United Kingdom
8413 Posts |
Posted - 06 September 2006 : 2:05:36 PM
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Nope. It is discouraged, and doen't happenunder exercises conditions, but it has been happening ever since 1939 under actual battle conditions. I've seen enough photographs to know what I'm talking abut. Even deep slit trenches dug where the tank could be driven over them as top cover. When under bombardment a soldier will dive under the nearest available cover. Deliberately making a nest under a tank is frowned upon because if the ground gives under its weight anyone under it is likely to become rather flat - but it still happens. Infantry don't like having tanks around because they make tempting targets, I agree, but that has nothing to do with taking shelter under one when shelling is likely.
Cheers
John |
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Ankhsy
Homosapien
United Kingdom
7087 Posts |
Posted - 06 September 2006 : 2:08:09 PM
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I thought the crawling under the tank was for rest before the gunfire? Otherwise, I'm all for crawling under one for protection.
"It's hard to work in a group when you're omniscient."
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John Prigent
Homosapien
United Kingdom
8413 Posts |
Posted - 06 September 2006 : 2:10:11 PM
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It isn't really a clever idea - quite apart from ground settlement, a tank is a target and you really don't want to be under one if it's hit! But they do still do it.
Cheers
John |
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Turretmuppet
Dinosaur
United Kingdom
396 Posts |
Posted - 06 September 2006 : 2:13:03 PM
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So, soldiers don't nap under tanks then! You might have seen the photographs, John, but I served on tanks. No-one sleeps under them!
The infantry don't like being near tanks, because they are small and squishy, hence 'Grunt'....Go Right UNder Tracks. |
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John Prigent
Homosapien
United Kingdom
8413 Posts |
Posted - 06 September 2006 : 3:12:14 PM
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Sorry, Turret, they have done for years. If you don't believe my photographic evidence of what happened in WW2 just because _your_ experience is that soldiers don't sleep under tanks, that's your privilege.
Cheers
John |
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Turretmuppet
Dinosaur
United Kingdom
396 Posts |
Posted - 06 September 2006 : 3:26:21 PM
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| John, this wasn't about World War Two, it was about a mawkish, sentimental American civilians view of soldiers in Iraq in the here and now. I f you can find me a shedload of contempory pics of grunts under tanks, then fine, but pictures of Americans don't count anyway, because they don't play cricket. |
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John Prigent
Homosapien
United Kingdom
8413 Posts |
Posted - 06 September 2006 : 5:28:34 PM
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Turret, you said "nobody" without specifying that you only meant modern usage. Unit discipline is a lot more intense nowadays, with an all-Regular force. But since soldiers have always sought overhead cover against shelling it wouldn't surprise me to find them under Abrams in Iraq no matter how hard their sergeants yell.
Cheers
John |
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WarrenH
Homosapien
United Kingdom
1775 Posts |
Posted - 06 September 2006 : 5:39:19 PM
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How interesting this poem has generated a number of responses, Most saying that it's "American" - Got it from South Africa, and the term "Cell Phone" is used there.
Now whether this is American or not is not the question, The main point of this poem, is that these people are ensuring you all have the right to say what you want to whom you want.
So instead of jumping up and hammering the soldiers that we PAY for, stop and think what they have been told to do by the Government that YOU voted in! Guilty by Association? I think so.
I do not care what the politics are of this situation, I try and look at the bigger picture and what we would lose if no action was taken.
Sit back and read it again, and think what our boys are doing to ensure that we have our "civil liberties".
Yes John I have seen soldiers under tanks. Should shelling start, that will have one of the first places I would have gone - 60 tonnes of steel above me. that'll stop most shells - pity the buggers inside though.
Have a heart, think and pray for them as they are doing a Thankless Task and generally come back home to the scorn of the people that he has protected.
"Ying tong, ying tong, what a miss mash of cods wallop and gungafof. Never in my life have I had the pleasure of reading a concoction of trype and onions." |
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Turretmuppet
Dinosaur
United Kingdom
396 Posts |
Posted - 06 September 2006 : 6:02:02 PM
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But the poem was about 'modern usage', John.
OK, a bit of arty is coming in. Challenger nearby, engine running, lets nip under there shall we, they won't mind because they can't see us. Problem is, what do tanks do if they're somewhere they don't like? Reverse, and boy are they hard to steer going backwards, closed down. "I say, chaps, what was that small, insignificant lump I just felt"
Infantry hate tanks, if you've been near one when it's moving, even very slowly, you'll now why. With just the engine ticking over they're still damn scary. Being beside one firing is even more of a hoot.
They're big and they're black and they're hairy and I be afraid of them.....Crawl under a bugger, you jest! |
Edited by - Turretmuppet on 06 September 2006 6:02:50 PM |
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Turretmuppet
Dinosaur
United Kingdom
396 Posts |
Posted - 06 September 2006 : 6:05:56 PM
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| Out of interest, John, what Regiment were you in?.......or would you have to kill me? |
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John Prigent
Homosapien
United Kingdom
8413 Posts |
Posted - 06 September 2006 : 7:57:58 PM
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That's a very old joke, Turret, isn't it? We really must think of something better for the modern army (grin). But as it happens I genuinely am unable to discuss it, still under security restrictions because I was working in a rather specialised area with a high special security clearance. Though it can do no harm to say that I started with the Royal Regiment of Artillery but ended up with a marksman rating for all hand firearms and knowledge of rather more ways to kill with one blow than I care to think about.
Cheers
John |
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Parmenion
Homosapien
United Kingdom
13892 Posts |
Posted - 07 September 2006 : 07:07:35 AM
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oooh i used to know a man who answer questions the same way, he was in WW2 with the very early version of a very special...er regiment, unfortunatly he died last year, a very nice man with alot of very bad memories, some he shared, most he would not. Its sad how much a great man like him could still suffer from something decades ago
LASCIATE OGNE SPERANZA, VOI CH'INTRATE
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Peter Croft
Dinosaur
United Kingdom
291 Posts |
Posted - 12 September 2006 : 12:18:22 AM
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Warren, old buddy:
You see burning houses, slaughtered civilians on the TV news
He sees tiny little targets in his bombsite views
You see maimed bodies of a darker skinned race
He takes gory snaps and uploads them to myspace
You see countless millions wasted on high tech toys
He sees guns and gizmos for men, little more than boys
You see guns as death and destruction in a can
He sees guns as a means to finally be a macho man
You see soldiers as some kind of wet-dream ubermensch
We see them as killers wrapped in a bloody evil stench
You go trawling the internet for some right-wing verse
While I have my own hard won wisdom to disburse. |
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Simon Scarrow
Small mammal
Uruguay
777 Posts |
Posted - 12 September 2006 : 10:16:31 AM
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| Very helpful of you Peter... |
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WarrenH
Homosapien
United Kingdom
1775 Posts |
Posted - 09 October 2006 : 7:19:20 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by Peter Croft
Warren, old buddy:
You see burning houses, slaughtered civilians on the TV news
He sees tiny little targets in his bombsite views
You see maimed bodies of a darker skinned race
He takes gory snaps and uploads them to myspace
You see countless millions wasted on high tech toys
He sees guns and gizmos for men, little more than boys
You see guns as death and destruction in a can
He sees guns as a means to finally be a macho man
You see soldiers as some kind of wet-dream ubermensch
We see them as killers wrapped in a bloody evil stench
You go trawling the internet for some right-wing verse
While I have my own hard won wisdom to disburse.
The wisdom of the innocent who see what they want to see, and fail to see what others are actually seeing.
I wept when I realised what the outside world had done to South AFrica and I must remember to thanks people like youre self, who took part in creating and another "Lead by the Gun" Democarcy!
May the all Nothingness have pity on you....
"Ying tong, ying tong, what a miss mash of cods wallop and gungafof. Never in my life have I had the pleasure of reading a concoction of trype and onions." |
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Phil
Single Cell Organism
United Kingdom
46 Posts |
Posted - 13 October 2006 : 8:00:37 PM
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I've just read through the debate and agree that it is American and Mawkish and in my experience squaddies don't sleep under tanks in maodern times as theres been too many horror stories of ground settlement ie sleep under tank with clearance of 2 foot, tank settles = dead squaddies. Tanks attract too much attention and falten squaddies the way cars flatten hedgehogs.
I do agree with the sentiment at the end as who are we to judge them.
I think Kipling summed up the publics attitude to squaddies which hasn't really changed in his poem Tommy (I think it was the title) |
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WarrenH
Homosapien
United Kingdom
1775 Posts |
Posted - 13 October 2006 : 9:48:46 PM
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Hi Phil
Welcome to the site again, The main object of the "script" was to high-light the life of a soldier and what is expected of him.
As regarding the Tank thing, the time when the poem was written, wether American or not, most tanks weighed in at about 30 tonnes, and that was heavy. Today they weigh in at around 60 tonnes. Now ask the question would I ly under neath one, NO, not because of the squish feeling, I just could not get under one! they are rather low on the ground.
Other than that my thought go out to what our soldiers have to deal with, and the crap they come home too!
"My Peace be With You ALL" for others "God Bless" |
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Stomachus Grossus
Homosapien
United Kingdom
1858 Posts |
Posted - 14 October 2006 : 12:13:27 AM
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Made me stop nad think Warren. Yes it Mawkish and sentimental but having been with soldiers in places that were unpleasent over the last few yearsI think that the first poem is right.
Having had a father who was in germany and poland at the end of the european war then in burma at the end of actual way at both death camps I know the horrors that they see and the horrors they see til there dying days.
The second is typical liberal crap from somebody who obviously does not and has not seen this type of thing first hand or know the majority of our armed forces and how they work and think.
Still to each their own
Urino -are!!!!
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Soldier
