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."
Insertion was done on foot, it took us a night of forced marching, the distance covered was 21 miles. We were cold, whenever we stopped, as the wind blew into our already soaked clothing, with sweat. Everyone was reminded to have a drink now and then, the weather being cold compared to the Malaysian climate.
Above : Resting before the march, the Officer on the ground beside me is the Liasion Officer, Lieutenant Abdul El-Yusoffe an ethnic Lebanese. The rest are signallers and umpires attached to the Malaysian contingent. Click on image to enlarge.
One will not realise how thirsty one is, due to the cold. The Aussies who were attached to us, always looked very comfortable with the weather except for us Malaysians. The insertion was done at night, we had to be careful as no lights were used, especially when were crossed dry river streams which had bridges made of pipes with gaps, to prevent cattle from wandering off. This exercise was a counter insurgency exercise and called "Exercise Black Adder". I hate snakes.
It was towards the end of winter and snakes hibernate. Once we reached the location we based up, into an all round defence position. Later as we moved up after running into some of the exercise "enemy", engaging them and destroying them at will, it was time to base up. It was a very nice spot, all the platoons were located at different areas. The area I moved into was a very nice spot, there was a log. In Malaysia snakes normally slither away as quick as they can, when they see human beings or sense them approaching. In Australia they stay put especially when they are hibernating. I plopped my butt on the log, one of my soldiers who was little bit observant was gesticulating at me. Guess he did not want me to panic. There, not far from me was one big fat snake, in the hollow of the log. It was yellowish, mingled with the brown of the log and the dead leaves. It was a "Tiger Snake". We had earier gone through the book of snakes in Australia, They have the most deadly snakes in the World.
Left : The deadly Tiger Snake. Click on image to enlarge. This snake is the one most likely to be trodden on as it does not escape when it first detects human footfalls approaching.
My principle in life is simple, kill any snake that crosses my path or is near me. I told the soldier to kill it. My soldier took out his entrenching tool and swung at it. It took up the attack position on the first hit, the entrenching tool virtually bounced off it, on the first hit. It's mouth opened, it was yellowish. Another soldier joined in with his entrenching tool. The Australian Officer who was acting as our liasion came running and said, "Sir, you are killing our wild life", with a shocked tone in his voice. To which most of us in one resounding voice told him to "F*&^% Off !!!!" We also told him that we kill ours and continued striking until it was totally killed.
