Rochester's 98th Division Loses a Man

[OnTheRocks]

Killed by hostile fire while training Iraqi troops

 

 

 

 

My sincere condolances to his family.

[Tux of Borg]

My father retired from the 98th Division just a few years ago.

[swede316]

He Was A Mate

 

He was a mate, a real good mate 'e was,

A friendly sort of feller, liked a joke;

And if it had to happen, it's a shame

It had to happen to such a decent bloke.

 

But - ah, fair dinkum, don't it make you wonder

What God in Heaven's thinkin' about up there;

The way He chooses who to sacrifice

To me somehow it doesn't quite seem fair.

 

You'd think He'd want to take a bloke like me

Who'd be no loss to no-one here on Earth;

But no, He always seems to pick the best

Whose life amounts to ten times what mine's worth.

 

But I suppose He'd say it's not His fault,

It's us and how we treat our fellow man;

And if too many good blokes' lives are lost

We can't just blame it all on His great plan.

 

He slung us here on Earth and said "Righto,

Get on with it you blokes, the world is yours";

But all we've done is fight among ourselves

And destroy each other with our endless wars.

 

Now, there's a sort of aching here inside,

I can't quite put my finger on what's wrong;

But a soldier can't afford to feel this way,

He's got to grit his teeth and carry on.

 

So how's a bloke supposed to deal with this?

I know they trained me well, I can't complain;

But this is somethin' you don't learn about

When they teach you how to play the soldier's game.

 

They teach you how to shoot and how to kill,

You even learn which enemy to hate;

But nowhere in their training do you learn

How to live with the loss of a real good mate.

 

Lachlan Irvine

 

This poem just seemed right...God Bless