ramblings and things

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Squaddie

For Stan who reminded me, though I never forgot, some friendships are for ever, and some memories never fade.

You've got to have been a squaddie
To understand the life;
The friendships that are sometimes
Closer than a wife.
You can see them on the streets
Seldom on their own.
Squaddie life doesn't support
Much time spent alone.
You can hear the friendly banter
In their general talk
See the self pride
In their walk.
I can still talk with them
Though the gap is forty years,
For I have lived their life
Faced some of their fears,
And a Rupert is always a Rupert
Calling the rules of the game,
And bullsh is always bullsh
However they change the name:
And you know to the public
You're just scum, no more,
Until they decide
To send you off to war.
(Past leaders took their men to battle
Fighting at their side
Now they just mouth platitudes
As they and theirs just hide).
No, you've got to have been a squaddie,
Part of that special band,
Got to have lived the life
To really understand.






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Squaddie