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."
Iraq’s Christians take up arms to fight Islamic State
Thursday, February 05, 2015
Eye On The World : MANILA TRAINING CENTER, Iraq (WSJ)
— Hundreds of Christian men are picking up rifles for the first time at
a former U.S. military facility in the hills of northeast Iraq and
training to reclaim their towns from Islamic State militants who stormed
the country last year.
Fresh recruits to a new Iraqi Christian militia said their families were
abandoned to militants by government forces last summer and they seek
to create a force that will keep their towns and villages safe even
after Islamic State is defeated. “I want to defend our own lands, with
our own force,” said Nasser Abdullah, 26 years old, who is helping lead
younger recruits in training. Sunni neighbors in nearby villages, the recruits said, supported the
Sunni extremists of Islamic State as militants seized one Christian
village after another in the Nineveh plains, where Iraqi Christians and
other minorities live. As Islamic State fighters advanced, Kurdish forces assigned to the
region fled under attack, leaving exposed vulnerable communities. “Those who betrayed us won’t be allowed to live among us,” said Firas
Metr, a 27-year-old electrician and recruit with no military experience.
“We need to protect ourselves, now and in the future.” Some 30,000 Christians have since fled the Nineveh plains. Just one
Christian town there, Al Qosh, and three smaller villages remain free.
Across Iraq, more than 150,000 Christians have been displaced since
Islamic State began its rampage, according to Iraqi Christian community
leaders. More than 2,000 men have signed up to fight, but it wasn’t clear whether
they could afford to train them all. Organizers hope the U.S. will
help. The U.S. National Defense Authorization Act, approved in December, names
local security forces in Iraq as potential beneficiaries of as much as
$1.6 billion to train and equip fighters against Islamic State. Those
funds should support “local forces that are committed to protecting
highly vulnerable ethnic and religious minority communities in the
Nineveh Plain and elsewhere,” said a statement accompanying the act.
