Poem: When The Guns Fell Silent

[scratch]

When the guns fell silent
Not a noise to be heard
Not a soldier, not a mouse
Not a prayer, not a heart
Who will look up to the sky and shed a tear
Who will be left of the brave who are still here
Who will clean the guns for the next politician
No more valor fought face-to-face
No more regret in the eye's haste

Just one more beat of the heart to be felt
Just one more prayer to be sent up in hope
Just one soldier to say no
Just one soldier to stand up and say, "me".

I shall go
That others may live
I shall go
What will you give

A tear?
A dollar?
A hug?
A swallow?

Don't turn me away
I went before you
To give of myself for your tomorrow

[yamahonkawazuki]

  very nice

[bill14224]

Good poem.  I think some vets may have a little too dim of a view about the public not appreciating them, and I think it goes back to the hippies spitting on soldiers coming back from Vietnam.  I worked with one of those soldiers and he never forgave them and I can't blame him, but it's not nearly that bad these days.  Today's young people as a group are not nearly as militant and foolish as the hippies were.  Sure, we have loudmouth leftists all over the media who create that impression, but most of us are never on TV and we like our boys and girls in uniform just fine and we would never turn our backs on them.  But you won't find us on the TV, we're down the street.  Many people, particularly the media, thought our effort in Iraq was a waste of men, time, and money.  It's turning out quite a bit better than that and the last chapter has yet to be written.

It is the politicians, particularly those who lean to the left, with the help of a left-leaning media, who use our military as if it were toilet paper.  Now we're in Afghanistan and almost no one is complaining, and they should be.  The media is almost silent about Afghanistan but we had years of 24/7 coverage on Iraq, including a daily body count.  See a disparity?  The only way we can "win" in Afghanistan is to lay waste to the whole place, which I do not advocate.  They called Iraq a quagmire for political purposes.  They had a large portion of the public on their side, and they were wrong.  However, Afghanistan is a quagmire if there ever was one.  The quagmire has just begun.  I expect Afghanistan to serve as an example to younger Americans why we shouldn't get involved without vital American interests at stake, a real plan that we are dedicated to, and an exit strategy.

Why do people seem to hate history and refuse to learn from it?  Many Europeans rolled their eyes when we won our independence from England.  They understood that our American experiment went against human nature, which is largely tyrannical.  They understood that corruption and greed would eat liberty away like rust.  The only reason France helped us is because they hated England.  We were supposed to guard against corruption, greed, and big government from our beginning, and we soon failed.  By the time of the Civil War we had a federal government that was running amok.  Thomas Jefferson wrote about his concerns about judicial activism in federal courts he saw happening before he died in 1826.  As a result we are now not much different than western Europe politically.  Learning from history can save countless lives and property, but who cares?  Jersey Shore is on!

[yamahonkawazuki]

Good poem.  I think some vets may have a little too dim of a view about the public not appreciating them, and I think it goes back to the hippies spitting on soldiers coming back from Vietnam.  I worked with one of those soldiers and he never forgave them and I can't blame him, but it's not nearly that bad these days.  Today's young people as a group are not nearly as militant and foolish as the hippies were.  Sure, we have loudmouth leftists all over the media who create that impression, but most of us are never on TV and we like our boys and girls in uniform just fine and we would never turn our backs on them.  But you won't find us on the TV, we're down the street.  Many people, particularly the media, thought our effort in Iraq was a waste of men, time, and money.  It's turning out quite a bit better than that and the last chapter has yet to be written.

It is the politicians, particularly those who lean to the left, with the help of a left-leaning media, who use our military as if it were toilet paper.  Now we're in Afghanistan and almost no one is complaining, and they should be.  The media is almost silent about Afghanistan but we had years of 24/7 coverage on Iraq, including a daily body count.  See a disparity?  The only way we can "win" in Afghanistan is to lay waste to the whole place, which I do not advocate.  They called Iraq a quagmire for political purposes.  They had a large portion of the public on their side, and they were wrong.  However, Afghanistan is a quagmire if there ever was one.  The quagmire has just begun.  I expect Afghanistan to serve as an example to younger Americans why we shouldn't get involved without vital American interests at stake, a real plan that we are dedicated to, and an exit strategy.

Why do people seem to hate history and refuse to learn from it?  Many Europeans rolled their eyes when we won our independence from England.  They understood that our American experiment went against human nature, which is largely tyrannical.  They understood that corruption and greed would eat liberty away like rust.  The only reason France helped us is because they hated England.  We were supposed to guard against corruption, greed, and big government from our beginning, and we soon failed.  By the time of the Civil War we had a federal government that was running amok.  Thomas Jefferson wrote about his concerns about judicial activism in federal courts he saw happening before he died in 1826.  As a result we are now not much different than western Europe politically.  Learning from history can save countless lives and property, but who cares?  Jersey Shore is on!

well said. ive told protesters. hell gripe at the president. hte one now, and before. dont disrespect the soldiers. they are just following orders.