War - A soldiers story

Am I guilty?

What about those who told me to pull the trigger

forced me to join the cause

trained me

supplied me...

and what about those who do nothing to stop them doing that?

War is not black against white

Communist against...

anarchism, 

centrism, 

fascism, 

liberalism, 

nationalism, 

socialism,

leftism, 

libertarianism 

or any other "ism" you can think of

it's not them verses us

it's humans fighting humans

it's various disagreements

conflicts

motivations, 

both political and societal

but it's not politics 

It's not republics against democrats

It's not about getting rid of religious leaders of whatever faith

It's political leaders in hobnail boots

pulling the strings of puppets in military uniforms

with their shiny brass stars

and their polished medals 

barking orders down phone lines

ordering people like me

to kill!

kill! 

kill!

Politicians are not the ones who will do the killing

but they are the ones who send us 

the young 

fresh-faced 

ideological teenagers to war

it is we who are drafted 

forced to subscribe to their idiology

taught to kill 

to obey the orders of the puppeteers above us

forced to be shipped out to foreign shores

to kill an enemy we do not know 

teaching us to use the killing machines of war

lorded as heros

and more often than not

to be killed for a cause that isn't ours

whilst the whole world is watching

and what will you do with those who protest against war

those who didn't fall in line

do we send in the troops with guns and bullets on them?

How do we deal with that kind of person?

Or is it your right

for people protesting against the killings

to be killed themselves

beaten and mown down by your people in uniforms 

controlled

corralled 

denied their right to have their say

but they protest for us 

we who are returning in bodybags

to grieving mothers

and politically coordinated burials 

And...

why are the politicians having peacetalks whilst we are still fighting

whilst they argue about where everyone is going to sit round a table

they can't even agree what shape it should be!

Who are these people to talk about a war that I am having to fight?

Anyway - if they don't agree to our demands

we have more money than them 

so can buy more weapons 

so we can go on fighting!

And...

and what happens if I am lucky enough to survive the war?

Am I now human or am I still a soldier?

I can't be both!

What did the war do to me?

Look at me - who am I now?

How can I kill people and come home and be normal?

Is it any wonder I don't want to talk about it

You don't want to hear about what I saw!

You don't know!

You will never know!

You don't want to know how terrible war is!

Oh and don't give me a medal for what you made me do!

Where is the tolerance and respect

the regard for others 

other peoples and their beliefs

I will not fight again for my country

not because I don't love my country

but because I hate war

Killing for peace makes no sense 

Outside Looking In

I'm outside looking in

and I'm staring in bewilderment 

at an historical situation 

a political situation

which now has become a military situation 

an argument

a disagreement about rights 

a conflict of opinions 

over lands

and ownership of lands

about the rights - or not

to be on those lands

different factions

different peoples

about their faiths and beliefs 

their opinions - differing opinions

I see people that aren't listening to the words that many are saying

to the advice that is being given

from allies - those who support and supply them

to the mothers who are begging

to the men who are fighting

to children who are dying

to the politicians who are negotiating  

across borders

across contested borders

to those who launch the missiles

their supporters supplied

into lands they call their own

to kill 

to change minds

to change history 

to displace 

people they disagree with

to kill their leaders 

to cut off the heads of the groups they despise 

sat in lands that they believe are theirs

and with fingers on triggers 

and with fingers in ears

some minds set only on what has gone before

making peace a thin vaneer

as fragile as porcelain

these factions will maintain their ground

what little ground they have

but ground they will fight over

in order to keep

for although an international agreement was signed

it was one which not all could agree to

and one which many still disagree over

an agreement which stamped the borders we see now

onto the most unstable part of the world 

an arrangement not all the aggrieved partners took as gospel 

an agreement which saw people displaced from homes

political factions

and locations

neatly set-up 

on top of historical peoples

whose armed factions are prepared to fight to the last man standing 

over their right to be

to be where they believe in

to be where they believe their right is

and where they are prepared to kill 

to keep

kill or be killed

the ideologies are engrained over millennia 

in which all believe 

they are right

but as days pass

over the days I've written this piece

I've observed - and had to write more

to rewrite

for

things have got worse

a change

not for the better

not towards an end - a peaceful end

but more war...

Will this ever end?

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War

This is an arena of war 

conflict amidst primeval 

tribal

unreasoning support 

support for their soldiers 

their colours displayed

war paint across faces

stood amongst their own

flags with village names proudly displayed

allegiances laid bare as this battle commences 

Sergeants leading the men

jumping up and down they scream

arms around each others shoulders

they become soldiers of war

as if prepared to fight

prepared to die

chanting well rehearsed songs

jeering incorrect decisions 

cheering progress on the battle field in front of them

mocking those in charge 

worshiping their Generals 

mauning the loss 

saluting their warriors in winning 

the battle

winning the war 

the war that is this game

...this game of football

War Is Never

I am a pacifist 

I believe war is never the answer 

I believe one life lost in a war 

is one too many.

I was never a soldier

I never fought in a war 

I was never pushed out of the back of an aeroplane

to dangle by a thread

dropping to a probable death

high over enemy held territory - and neither was my father.

He and his father - my Grandad

lived in a pit village

my Grandad worked in a coal mine

coal mining was a reserved occupation 

and as such

miners were not called-up to fight for their country in conventional ways

he worked to dig out coal 

the coal the country needed to fight a war

for its power stations

power for its factories 

factories to make munitions 

munitions to fight a war

coal to power the trains to get it to where it was needed

so my Grandad was never a soldier either- unless you count being in the 'Home Guard' as being a soldier

ready in the evenings and weekends when he wasn't working at the pit

he never belonged to a regiment 

he never fought and died in a famous battle

he never lost endless comrades.

he never got any medals

and is not buried in a far off land

Now don't think I don't care

don't believe I can't see what those who fought and died - gave

for I know so many gave everything.

My relatives gave

but they gave in a different way.

My thinking is shaped by my history 

as much as yours is too

I don't sit and muse over my Grandparents medals - as perhaps you might

I don't have their uniforms in my loft

nor have I copies of their war records.

If you think harshly of what you've just read - read my words again.

...I believe war is never the answer.

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