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."
Blazing Cat Fur : At first glance, the village of Fontany 5 exudes a sleepy suburban calm. But below the surface of this Crimean Tatar settlement of about 500 people, there is fear.
Russian troops are stationed just a few kilometers away on the streets
of the Crimean capital, Simferopol. And rumors are in the air of looming
attacks against Tatars. Mudasir Kafodar, a 55-year-old ethnic Tatar, holds his young
granddaughter in the garden of his two-story stone house as his other
six grandchildren played nearby. “We want to live in peace. But Russian troops have entered our territory
-- Ukrainian territory -- and armed men are walking around. It scares
us – not just me, but all of us,” Kafodar says.
Tatar girl dressed in traditional costume doing a folk dance
“They don’t say anything. They don’t explain who they are. But it’s clear they’re not Ukrainian -- they’re Russian.” Kafodar was born in Uzbekistan and in 2000 moved back to Crimea, which
he considers his homeland. His parents -- now 93 and 85 -- were deported
by Stalin in 1944. He has built his own family's ancestral home from
scratch and now fears losing it. Tatars make up roughly 12 percent of Crimea's 2 million inhabitants.
Most were deported to Soviet Central Asia by Josef Stalin during World
War II, accused of collaborating with the Nazis, and only returned after
Ukraine won its independence in 1991.
