When I was a young soldier, with a chip on my shoulder


    I set out to prove myself to those who were older


    Op Broken Gunner we joked, "no doubt we''ll be smoked"


    I never thought that I too would be broke


    We took up our cannons and let bullets fly


    We vented our hatred, imagined foes they did die


    Our first week had passed us in the blink of an eye


    With not a single cloud hung in the summer sky


    We held the defensive, We made our great stand


    Then an elderly officer came up with a plan


    We abandoned our water, sleep and food can


    So we could prove we were hard to this elderly man


    We mocked battles, across open fields we fought


    We skirmished for days, almost fifty degrees hot


    And the first troops were claimed by foot rot


    We made for the forests, hopeful for a cot


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    Instead by a friend, I was nearly shot


    We were dragging on, half dead on our feet.


    We couldn''t believe it was only two weeks


    Grimey and beaten, lucky for hour''s sleep


    When the Colonel came by, he said "What a reek!"


    Our numbers nearly halved, the cannons were short staffed


    In grim humors we gaffed "At least we weren''t draft!"


    The last week of the shoot, our complaints became moot


    Our bitterness took root and we, grimly resolute


    We would see it through to the end, our duties not shirked unto friend


    We would cry "Full Send!", unbroken despite the starts of a bend


    I was a man of iron, convinced I''d not break


    My pride as a soldier now fully at stake


    That night we took up our rifles, bullets none to fake


    And made for the forest, searching for enemies to take.


    I was still new to the gear called ''night vision''


    While I donned the monocle, I did listen


    To the wisdom of veterans'' many a mission


    I was tip of the spear, I''d lead this incision


    I''d outlasted many others, I''d been taken by none


    Not dehydration, hunger, exhaustion nor burning sun


    I can do this, I thought as I took up my gun


    One day, this leaf would make a fine champion


    So in that dark forest I took off half at run


    My questing foot found a root left unseen


    And just like that, it shattered my dream


    I went to the ground without so much as a scream


    Twisting as I fell to protect an expensive machine.


    We laughed and joked about my potent youth


    Adrenaline and bruised pride, both hid the truth


    T-6,7,8 had all slid from their booth


    I pressed on headless, my life changed by this sooth


    Before dawn I lay down to rest, proud to be one of the best


    I though upon my knowledge gained, later I awakened pained.


    I tried to stand but could not, I checked my feet, finding no rot.


    At dawn''s light to my Sargent I say, ''I''ll sweat it out, I swear I''m okay"


    But he saw I was not, so I was taken away.


    The pain was great but fleeting, yet it destroyed my pride


    Taken from my team, I croaked out my goodbye


    It is an ugly thing to see soldiers cry


    Nobler by far should I simply die


    I longed for that, for a time.


    Five years ago now, my service long ended.


    I think back to the fine soldiers I''ve befriended.


    All faiths and creed, from which they''ve descended.


    I''d thought us all invulnerable, a fact now contended.


    I was but a man, and a man can be rended.