That First Stone

Armchair Warriors are watching Ever ready to react and criticise. They know all the theory but not Looked through a soldier’e eyes. Young people who were, For various reasons, willing To sign away years of life And take the Queens Shilling. The training’s hard and tough But it’s not quite the same, Deep down inside they know It’s just a dangerous game, Preparation for deployment Out into a combat zone One of a field unit Never ever on their own. Part of that team Reliant on each other Shared experience turning Each member into a brother. And, until that first action Not quite sure what they’ll do, Will that training kick in And see them safely through. A tense situation whether They see action or not. Training and comradeship Are all that each has got, Until, safely back at base, Until back on safer ground It’s tine to unwind and The unit can stand down. Kit checking and kipping, Just waiting for the call, then It’s back out on patrol And they’ll do it all again. Decisions made in split seconds Can later be held to be wrong But out there at the sharp end A split second’s not so very long. And the watchers are watching That no win no fee legal bunch Waxing fat on litigation and The expense account lunch. Watching and calculating Just how much they might make When a frightened soldier Makes a stress driven mistake. Out in combat situations Where the danger is live And the natural reaction is Just to want to survive And those guardians of society Judge things they’ve not known And, with hands on their wallets Calmly cast that first stone. .