Peter,
Kipling also followed this track in his brief:
“I could not dig, I would not rob
and so I lied to please the mob.
Now all my lies are proved untrue
And I must face the men I slew.
What tale will serve me now among
Mine angry and defrauded young?”
And related to the courage of the defenders at Thermopylae, the patriotism of the War of Texas Independence noted that “Thermopylae had her messenger of defeat. The Alamo had none.”
The sentiment in your contemporary edition of the verse doesn’t ring true for me. It’s typical sentimental anti-war stuff, suggesting that those who are prepared to go into combat believe in advance in the likelihood that they’re going to die. I haven’t observed it to work that way. Most soldiers who actually go into combat realize that there’s a chance they may become casualties, but they also have the conviction that it’s much more likely they’re coming out alive, and that their job is to make the other SOB die for his country. Their attitude is more likely to be embodied by the slogan “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, because I’m the meanest [substitute vulgar phrase here] in the valley.”
With you, I also hope that this doesn’t come to pass, but the attitude of resignation and futility your poem suggests won’t find much concurrence in people who know that discipline, training and battlefield leadership make a difference.
As Hector’s realistic couplet points out, there’s more confusion and ignorance and exasperation than theatrical lamentation in combat service. The attitude is best expressed by this, from one of my troopers who was fed up with the boredom and mindlessness of the daily routine while waiting for something to happen:
“Oh, f**k this f**kin’ f**kin’ around”.
Jerry
[This message has been edited by Jerry H Jenkins (edited October 06, 2002).]
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