7th Rangers: Indonesia's President Sukarno once boasted that his campaign to "crush Malaysia" would triumph before the cock crowed on Jan. 1, 1965. Friday, Jan. 8,
Fighting Seventh
The Fighting Rangers On War, Politics and Burning Issues
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."
Indonesia's President Sukarno once boasted that his campaign to "crush Malaysia" would triumph before the cock crowed on Jan. 1, 1965. Friday, Jan. 8,
Thursday, September 07, 2006
Last week the deadline passed with the 15-month-old, British-backed federation pressed harder than ever but apparently as far as ever from being crushed.
Though the 800-mile Malaysia-Indonesia frontier on Borneo, where Sukarno began his guerrilla raids, has been the scene of only sporadic clashes of late, Indonesia has stepped up its attacks on the Malay Peninsula itself. So far, each little marauding band has been wiped out almost as fast as it arrived. Christmas week was typical: 30 raiders debarked in southwestern Johore State, took to the adjacent swampland; within hours, three were dead, the rest captured. Next day the British frigate Ajax intercepted seven sampans carrying 22 raiders trying to sneak across the Malacca Strait to Malaysia.
All told, since Sukarno first sent his guerrillas into Malaya last August, 55 have been killed and 243 captured; last week Malaysian security officials claimed that only one invader was unaccounted for. The main reason for the Indonesians' lack of success has been Britain's firm determination—continued by the Labor government—to honor her treaty obligations for the defense of Malaysia. In the past six months Britain has doubled her troop strength in Malaysia, to some 20,000, and British tommies are doing most of the actual fighting in the bitter little war. To the source in full......
