Lads?

Lads?

"Come on lads, hurry up,

Soon there'll be no sun".

Yes, lads we were, boys in fact,

Not yet twenty-one.

"Soon you'll leave Canungra

And go home to your folks,

Then it's off to Vietnam

With all the other blokes.

"You're lucky lads, to have a chance

To fight for this great land,

just like your Dads before you,

You'll come home a man.

"Heroes, every one of you,

We won't let you down,

Medals, glory, RSL

And freedom of the town".

So away we went to do our duty

Just like our Dads before,

We did our best, but could not win

This politicians' war.

This was a war without a front

No lines to go behind,

This was a war without the rules

The blind were leading the blind.

Where was this cunning enemy

Who lived beneath the ground?

In the jungle? In the village?

No, mostly all around.

A war of nerves, but, just hang on

It's only just a year -

Weapons, claymores, choppers -

Why won't the wharfies send our gear?

Where's the wire? Where's the ammo?

And the mail's delayed again,

Are these the same Australians

We came here to defend?

We're short of men, work twice as hard

To live another day

In this leech-infested jungle

Where we sleep on the wet red clay.

The invisible enemy with his trip-wires

Plays a waiting game,

He knows our pattern, watches us,

His traps will kill and maim.

Riots in the street back home,

"Murderers" we're branded,

"They're killing kids and using napalm"

Each of us feels stranded.

We fought so hard to win the battles

But found there was no glory,

In your lounge room on the box

You were told a different story.

We count each day a blessing

Now close to leaving here,

Some of us won't make it

How things change in just a year.

Men we've grown to deeply care for

With whom we work, we trust, we fight,

Soon we'll see no more of,

Now shadows in the night.

On coming home we heard them cheer,

We heard some jeer,

Emotions of pride, anger, rage were felt,

Our reward for one lost year.

Yes lads we were, boys in fact,

But now well over twenty-one.

Some still battling with their thoughts,

Others sleeping with a gun.

© 11 Feb 1999

R. S. KEARNEY

(Bob 'Dogs' Kearney, was the Platoon Sergeant for 7 Platoon Charlie Company)

All the survivors of the war had reached their homes

and so put the perils of battle and the sea behind them.

Homer,The Odyssey