Merry Christmas Afghanistan

It is what it is

Merry Christmas kid 

Here's more Magazines 

Go kill infidels 

We can turn away

But they won't go away

An old cold war chess board 

With A thirty four year checkmate 

Merry Christmas Afghanistan 

Allah's rubbish bin 

B 52'S fly by in silence 

Bombs rain down like sin 

Merry f*****g Christmas 

old Afghanistan 

Worst nine months of my life 

Playing policeman 

Author's Note

We were deployed to Afghanistan in 03, just after the initial invasion which from a military perspective was wildly successful. We were grossly under supplied thanks to the big build up for Iraq. Who ever the enemy was, they were either dead, playing local farmer or hiding in Pakistan or Iran. Our interpreter spoke Farsi, the most common of all the Persian languages which would have been Okay if it were not for the local Pashtuns who mostly spoke Pashto with a local dialect so half the time we had no clue what was up. It was freezing fucking cold in winter (coldest I've ever been in my life) We lived in plywood hooches with tar paper for insulation with old school wood burning stoves. We never engaged an enemy in any fashion. We just asked the locals questions which we rarely got answers to cause of the massive communication barrier. We searched the occasional vehicle we spotted. (The local transport of choice was Donkeys and goats) We counted the hours until the deployment was over so we could go home. As violent as Iraq was at least we were doing what we had been trained to do, engage the enemy and destroy them so we had a purpose their. Afghanistan was this weird empty void of freezing cold under supplied dysentery I've tried to blot from my memory because it was as I said in the poem, the worst nine months of my life. Freezing cold boredom wears you down in a different way than heat and moments of extreme violence does. At least the violence is exciting. Maybe you had to be there to get it. Probably. Anyway, Merry Christmas boys and girls.

Reviews

[rhythm&blues]

Of all the Christmas readings this is probably the most affecting, so sad, yet well said.

[Baby Ricochet]

Thank you R&B

[N!LoC]

a very nice xmas story... baby rico style !

[Baby Ricochet]

Thank you N!LoC

[LovingJoy]

A great poem, the second verse is excellent, and the first line of the last brings home the sentiment. An honest breakdown of a complicated region, the photo' is tragic, and the author's note is very informative for people like myself who generally depend on news for the ("photoshopped") overview.

[Baby Ricochet]

Thank you Loving Joy

[radio raven]

Like you said, It was what it was. You could do a stanza for each month, that would be interesting. That would give it a build up and fleshed out story of the cold hell. My favourite stanza is the second one. Your authors note was interesting though.

[Baby Ricochet]

Thank you Raven