When the Afghans see the truth of the matter better than we do, you realize just how doomed we are over there. This is nothing but a way for the big brass to add to their chests and egos.
http://kabulpress.org/my/spip.php?article39416
FORD O' KABUL RIVER
Rudyard Kipling
Kabul town's by Kabul river --
Blow the bugle, draw the sword --
There I lef' my mate for ever,
Wet an' drippin' by the ford.
Ford, ford, ford o' Kabul river,
Ford o' Kabul river in the dark!
There's the river up and brimmin', an' there's 'arf a squadron swimmin'
'Cross the ford o' Kabul river in the dark.
Kabul town's a blasted place --
Blow the bugle, draw the sword --
'Strewth I sha'n't forget 'is face
Wet an' drippin' by the ford!
Ford, ford, ford o' Kabul river,
Ford o' Kabul river in the dark!
Keep the crossing-stakes beside you, an' they will surely guide you
'Cross the ford o' Kabul river in the dark.
Kabul town is sun and dust --
Blow the bugle, draw the sword --
I'd ha' sooner drownded fust
'Stead of 'im beside the ford.
Ford, ford, ford o' Kabul river,
Ford o' Kabul river in the dark!
You can 'ear the 'orses threshin', you can 'ear the men a-splashin',
'Cross the ford o' Kabul river in the dark.
Kabul town was ours to take --
Blow the bugle, draw the sword --
I'd ha' left it for 'is sake --
'Im that left me by the ford.
Ford, ford, ford o' Kabul river,
Ford o' Kabul river in the dark!
It's none so bloomin' dry there; ain't you never comin' nigh there,
'Cross the ford o' Kabul river in the dark?
Kabul town'll go to hell --
Blow the bugle, draw the sword --
'Fore I see him 'live an' well --
'Im the best beside the ford.
Ford, ford, ford o' Kabul river,
Ford o' Kabul river in the dark!
Gawd 'elp 'em if they blunder, for their boots'll pull 'em under,
By the ford o' Kabul river in the dark.
Turn your 'orse from Kabul town --
Blow the bugle, draw the sword --
'Im an' 'arf my troop is down,
Down an' drownded by the ford.
Ford, ford, ford o' Kabul river,
Ford o' Kabul river in the dark!
There's the river low an' fallin', but it ain't no use o' callin'
'Cross the ford o' Kabul river in the dark.
2 comments:
The U.S. Army had a lot of problems with its officers in WW2. Constant replacement of deficient officers. By the end of the war in Europe they had mostly found a reasonable bunch.
The Germans also tended to staff at a lower level. If memory serves me correct, Rommel in WW1 was in charge of a company as a lieutenant.
In any case, US military forces do not have a history of universal acheivement. For obvious reasons we tend to remember our successes and forget the failures.
I googled "Ford o' Kabul River" to find the story behind this poem. Kipling’s poem recalls the 1879 mass-drowning of forty British hussars who were attempting to ford the Kabul river. The following year, a further six British cavalry drowned at another Kabul River ford. This second incident prompted a British officer to ask: 'Is it that the extension of railways, both at home and abroad, is depriving our splendid English cavalry of the opportunities they had in former days of becoming expert, not only in crossing fords, but even in swimming their horses through dangerous rapids? Or is the old story... that the British light (?) horseman is still overweighted with his own multifarious and complicated accoutrements, that, once submerged, he has small chance of coming up again?'"
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