[Retlaw]

Originally Posted by DtheP47

You are right DinG I don't see them whining or moaning but get real they do indeed bemoan their lot.
They've been moaning since Kiplings time and before.

Brit squaddie rewrites Kipling poem as attack on soldier?s lot today | The Sun |News|Campaigns|Our Boys

Afghanistan (with apologies to Kipling)

When you're lying alone in your Afghan bivvy,
And your life, it depends on some MoD civvie,
When the body armour's shared
(one set between three)
And the fire fight's not like it is on TV,
Then you'll look to your oppo, your gun and your God,
As you follow the path all Tommies have trod.

When the Gimpy has jammed and you're down to one round,
And the faith that you've lost is suddenly found,
When the Taliban horde is close to the fort,
And you pray that the arty don't drop a round short,
Stick to your sergeant, like a good squaddie should,
And fight them like Satan or one of his brood.

Your pay - it won't cover your needs or your wants,
So just stand there and take all the Taliban's taunts,
No generals nor civvies can do aught to amend it,
Except make sure you're in a place you can't spend it,
Three fifty an hour in your Afghani cage,
Not nearly as much as the minimum wage.

Your missus at home in a foul married quarter,
With damp on the walls and a roof leaking water,
Your kids miss their mate, their hero, their dad;
They're missing the childhood they should have had
One day it will be different, one day by and by,
As you stand there and watch to see the pigs fly.

Just like your forebears in mud, dust and ditch
You'll march and you'll fight and you'll drink and you'll bitch,
Whether Froggy or Zulu, or Jerry or Boer
The Brits will fight on 'til the battle is over.
You may treat him like dirt, but nowt will unnerve him,
But I wonder sometimes, if the country deserves him.