SWORN TO A GREAT DIVIDE

  No one ever likes to hear about the other side of stories… especially one that involves pride and honour, the lengths that people go to just to cover things up. Being a soldier is probably the worst mistake that you could ever make if you love your life, I wouldn’t even wish that on an enemy, the worst about it all is that its young people who are enticed and taught into believing that they’re Rambo only to find out that their limbs have filed a divorce against their own bodies and that’s where the excitement ends… and that’s the last you’ll hear from that person.

 I’ll touch upon to the deceased in a minute, the cost of losing an arm or a leg seems trivial as if artificial limbs are the ‘natural’ replacement of something that was so much more to begin with… its true when they say that people do not know what they have until its gone…your hand for instance… no amount of technology will ever replace the dexterity and capability of your hand bearing in mind what you use it for in everyday life, such as playing guitar, knitting, drawing, moulding or even feeling your loved one’s face… you get the picture, nothing is replaceable!

 The treatments of those who come back alive minus certain parts of themselves get treated like shit! All they get is some manufactured limb and get called a hero…

“There’s your 15 minutes of fame mate! Grab your cash and disappear as you are of no use to us…”

OUCH! That’s right! No one ever hears that! Because it’s bad for morale, the troops need to think that they’re indestructible, the ‘good’ side always win against the ‘baddies’… that’s usually how it works………………..right?....o_O Those people appear on documentaries years after their unfortunate event to tell you about how life has dramatically changed, nothing is the same anymore… the sad thing about that is the majority of them say that they don’t regret joining the army so that it doesnt come across they made a the mistake which might offend ‘the patriots’.

 Then there’s the psychological side of things… only ‘strong minds’ (heartless) will go on fighting and killing… those who were taught about compassion and value of life have no place there, they’re usually the ones that were told that they were ‘winners’ and that they’ll come back victorious only to find themselves in the front-line being screamed at by their commanders to fight! What a nightmare. Those with ‘fractured’ minds are taken to hospitals and treated for shock, depression, reoccurring nightmare about seeing his best mate blown up in 14 pieces, sleepless nights… the list goes on… happiness will never find them……never!

 Now for the dearly departed… how deluded must one be to be told that their beloved son/daughter lost their life for freedom… whose freedom? Certainly not the parent’s that’s for sure, I’m glad that some of them have angrily reacted to such response because how callous must they be to use people like that to fight? No one ever gave them the chance to tell them that they lost their life for a cause that was never truly theirs and that is a little hard to swallow… it is if anyone ever cared.

 A lot of you didn’t know this but the news feeds in the U.S are very censored compared to the U.K as we see everything, even corpses of soldiers during daytime television, the truth never gets covered here as there are those who fight for viewers so therefore shock tactics draws people in… we see the American and British coffins coming back from Iraq while you’re watching Fox news telling you fibs about the exact numbers of casualties and then show the viewers adverts about joining the arm forces… I heard that those kind of adverts are strategically shown between football games mostly to attract the young (and the mindless).

 Personally, if I get to have kids, usually the parents always supports the career choice that the child makes but I promise you that no child of mine is signing up in some place where there’s a chance that they’ll hand me over his coffin… its not natural that the parent buries his kid… it’s the other way round! That’s how its suppose to be! There are enough dangers in life around us as it is, people get killed everyday from getting hit by buses, motorway accidents, car crashes, plane crashes, choking on food, illness, disease… so why risk your one and only life… There is no way back.

 If its pride you’re after then go ahead and join your local regiment, chances are you’ll be the next contestant to back on a wheelchair with bandages looking like Daffy Duck on a bad day, if you have lost a family member to a war then Im very sorry for your loss and please try to hold on to your other loved ones by not supporting them to sign up, that way at least they’ll live a little longer than expected all thanks to you… I say choose life because national pride will lead you to an early grave.

  when all is done and dusted... apart from your family, who else will remember your name?

Throughout this journal, I was listening to Metallicas one for inspiration and judging from the lyrics below, these are the words of a man who had no idea what life was gonna be for him after being given his uniform... these could be your words...