Afghanistan Revisited

Look on the bright side. At least we don't have press-gangs anymore.

'the world would be a better place if the parents had to eat the sprouts'

What an odd thing to say. I trust you treat death as an inconvenience? Maybe you just lost your soul in Thailand.

Your comment isn't very funny and the irony is flimsy but thanks for passing a comment anyway.

Don't know who made the 'sprouts' comment. Wasn't me.

Your poem seemed to be about signing up as an alternative to prison. My comment about press-gangs was meant to show that things haven't changed much. I could have phrased it differently I suppose.

It's a poem about young kids joining up because there's not much else out there for those considered unacademic or not interested in pursuing a professional desk job. It's a poem about how working class kids are expendable and plentiful and for those soldiers who are invalided out of the army whose lives will change forever and sadly not for the better (and who the army quickly forget about).

More importantly to me, the poem is a reference to my 18 year old nephew who left for Afghanistan last week and I would like him and all of his comrades to come back safe and well without killing anyone on the other side of what is a pointless pr exercise for the US and the UK.

I guess my retort was probably in haste and I took it too personally which was unfair on you so I apologise to you Chuck. It's a heart on sleeve issue for me.

Okay, honestly? I kind of take this as a bash on those in the military. What, are you saying that all of us that were in that situation are doomed to make the wrong choice anyways? Cause ya know what? I WAS in that situation, but I have enough mental and intestinal fortitude to avoid making the wrong decision. I understand being anti-war, but maybe saying that all a lot of us have to look foward to is drugs, long-term unemployment, or prison is a little too harsh, don't you think? A little tact, man. That's all I'm asking.

OK. It's obviously a sensitive issue for you. But you make it sound as though youngsters have no choice. I'm sure a lot of them sign up for all kinds of reasons.

Very True Chuck

I guess all my poem has done is prove the power of words and how they can stimulate debate.

My principle idea was to show the cruel irony for someone who joins up to get them out of a life that offers nothing who then survives a war but is traumatised by the experience and who ends up back in the life that he or she ran away from that's all.

Anyway I think that's all I'll say on this particular poem but thanks to you and Reaver for your comments.

Jack

a 'bash at the`military?' You're off beam Reaver it's a direct aim at the politicians and despots who push loyal and courageous soldiers into a war that could be avoided. It's also about those soldiers who once the army has finished with them offer very little support and life gets tougher for them. I'm not for one minute suggesting every soldier will descend into a silent post war madness.

Tact isn't the issue here.

Well I have my own ideas about what's going on in Afghanistan. But basically it's a volunteer army. I hope your nephew comes home safe.

I join in that sentiment re: your nephew.

I think what it really says is that we are all feeling very powerless over this war. There's never been any debate about it, there's been no spectacular opposition to it and the kids are coming home in a mess if they come home at all.

It's all a lot more complex than these few lines can begin to express but I think it's time we all talked and took some responsibility for this war - instead of thinking it's all about someone else.

I spent the best part of a year in Afghanistan in 1974/5 and have lost some very good friends in this war - and they were innocent bystanders. I suspect that we would all feel rather differently about it if it was taking place in our back yard.

I think this is a very effective poem. The irony of the way out of the war for such a young man is a point worth making. What do we, as a society, do with our fighters once they come home? Are they valued enough? And does civilian society have a proper place for them, or for other young people?