20 years on

What was it all for?

“You know, education, if you make the most of it, if you study hard and you do your homework, and you make an effort to be smart, uh, you, you can do well. If you don’t, you get stuck in Iraq.” ~John Kerry

I remember that sand storm, like I still remember the single solitary tree in the desert we rolled past.

Twenty years ago twenty-year old me was sitting on the line in Saudi Arabia, waiting for the word. And then one clear night, it came, marked by fireworks from hell. I did my tour and I got out, miraculously whole and hale. Unlike many of my generation. Unlike many of the sons of my generation. The forever war goes on and on to this day in Iraq and Syria, while the same clowns in power try their best to make proxy war on (nuclear armed) Russia.

And for what?

For my own government to treat me and those like me as internal enemies?

I say never again.

I say, just as it is important to stop giving money to those that hate you…

Stop giving your sons to those that hate you.

Stop it.

Don’t be the first to die.

We're way behind we're living on the edge of time
We must get rich becoming poor became a crime
Many promises where made but in the end
The first to die has always been the working man

They tell our kids in school it's like that don't ask why
We gotta work until we're old enough to die
The more we learn the more we still don't understand
The first to die has always been the working man

We're the first to fight, We're the first to die
And the last to find the bloody reason why
Again and again since I don't know when
The first to die has always been the working man

To keep your job you have to do the best you can
Building houses for unhandy business men
And when you're all used up nobody gives a damn
The first to die has always been the working man

I need a drink. And don’t thank me, thank my recruiter.

If you’re wondering where my next review or sample is, well I’ll let you know when I find it ‘em at the bottom of the bottle.