Rudyard Kipling"
“When you're left wounded on Afganistan's plains and
the women come out to cut up what remains, Just roll to your rifle
and blow out your brains,
And go to your God like a soldier”
General Douglas MacArthur"
“We are not retreating. We are advancing in another direction.”
“It is fatal to enter any war without the will to win it.” “Old soldiers never die; they just fade away.
“The soldier, above all other people, prays for peace, for he must suffer and be the deepest wounds and scars of war.”
“May God have mercy upon my enemies, because I won't .” “The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his.
“Nobody ever defended, there is only attack and attack and attack some more.
“It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived.
The Soldier stood and faced God
Which must always come to pass
He hoped his shoes were shining
Just as bright as his brass
"Step forward you Soldier,
How shall I deal with you?
Have you always turned the other cheek?
To My Church have you been true?"
"No, Lord, I guess I ain't
Because those of us who carry guns
Can't always be a saint."
I've had to work on Sundays
And at times my talk was tough,
And sometimes I've been violent,
Because the world is awfully rough.
But, I never took a penny
That wasn't mine to keep.
Though I worked a lot of overtime
When the bills got just too steep,
The Soldier squared his shoulders and said
And I never passed a cry for help
Though at times I shook with fear,
And sometimes, God forgive me,
I've wept unmanly tears.
I know I don't deserve a place
Among the people here.
They never wanted me around
Except to calm their fears.
If you've a place for me here,
Lord, It needn't be so grand,
I never expected or had too much,
But if you don't, I'll understand."
There was silence all around the throne
Where the saints had often trod
As the Soldier waited quietly,
For the judgment of his God.
"Step forward now, you Soldier,
You've borne your burden well.
Walk peacefully on Heaven's streets,
You've done your time in Hell."
Five years ago Lynne Cosgrove revealed how she had talked her son, Philip, out of quitting university at 19 so he could follow his father into East Timor.She thought he had been "watching too much TV". Her husband, General Peter Cosgrove, who is soon to retire as Chief of the Defence Force, was then commanding the international peace-keeping forces in Timor, and yesterday he gave away one of Canberra's best-kept secrets. Philip Cosgrove never let go of his military aspirations - despite his mother's best efforts.
Futhermore, he was one of the Australian soldiers injured when a car bomb exploded outside the Australian embassy in Iraq in January. "He received some minor injuries but they were not too bad - others were more seriously injured than him," General Cosgrove told ABC radio yesterday. "He was lucky, but I knew fairly quickly and I was able to reassure his mum that he was fine."
Private Cosgrovereturned home at the weekend from a six-month rotation with the Australian Defence Force security detachment in Iraq. Only now is his father willing to give details of how he was able to keep such a story so low key, and why. First, whenGeneral Cosgrove and his wife farewelled their son at the airport on December 29 last year, the defence chief was discreet. "My wife and I attended as private citizens, just Mum and Dad. I wore civvies that day and there was a little bit of media interest in the boys and girls who were going over, but I actually snuck away when the media arrived," General Cosgrove said.
And his son, Private Cosgrove, took his name tag off his uniform. "It's a velcro arrangement, so he just slipped it in his pocket while the media were about." General Cosgrove said he didn't want to put any undue pressure on his son or the troops he was with in the dangerous environment of Iraq.
"I may have been over-protective but I just thought it prudent under the circumstances there should be no particular pressure on either my son or the other soldiers by having somebody with a well-known name as one of the young private soldiers on the front line, so to speak, in Baghdad." Private Cosgrove's passion for the military was inspired by East Timor - and no doubt his father's achievements there - telling journalists in 1999 that he had been "interested in joining up for a long time but seeing Aussie troops going into Timor, my interest peaked".
General Cosgrove, who has an older son, Stephen, and a younger son, David, said that while Philip was in Iraq he prayed every day that he would be all right. But with little more than six weeks left as Chief of the Defence Force, and with his son safely home, his mind had to go to the rest of the Australian troops in the Middle East. With that in mind, he plans a farewell visit to Iraq before his retirement. The source...
