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."
A train departs from Rigasa station in Kaduna, Nigeria [File: TJ Benson/Al Jazeera]
HT RoP : Nigeria: Families of missing train passengers bemoan govt silence. Relatives of the abducted passengers say government inefficiency led to the attack and is delaying rescue efforts.
Almost two weeks after an attack on a Nigerian passenger train killed
eight people and more than 150 remain missing, families say they are
yet to get updates from the Nigerian government.
On March 28, suspected bandits detonated a bomb on the tracks and
opened fire on the train just outside the northwest city of Kaduna,
stopping the train on its tracks. As many as 168 passengers remain
missing and are believed to have been abducted by the armed group.
Families of abducted passengers say they have been in anguish since
and accuse the Nigerian government of neglect and an information
blackout. “An answer is all we have always wanted,” Amriah Sani* who asked for
her real name to be withheld to avoid endangering the safety of her two
family members in captivity, told Al Jazeera.
