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'Contact, wait out !'

Afghanistan


‘ Big bird, big bird, hot zone ‘

I scream into the mike

Can’t let the chopper land here

And let the enemy strike



Not fair to put their lives at risk

It’s bad enough our own

Fifteen British soldiers

Ambushed and alone



‘ Helmand Province ‘ we were told

Was quiet this dark night

‘ Patrol the eastern valley,

Till early morning light ‘



Then came the first explosion

‘ Big Jimmy ‘ taken out

Walking proud one minute

He was our best lead scout



‘ Zero, this is Bravo-three,

Contact, hit, wait out ‘

I scream into my radio

So much noise I shout



‘ Gormless Eddie ‘ next man down

Hit by one stray round

Though heavily outnumbered

He stood and fought his ground



‘ Medic, Medic ‘ came the shout

A screaming comrade dying

A medic crying for himself

He died by me whilst trying



We were going down like flies

An ambush perfect set

Caught out in the open

No cover we could get



‘ Chippy, Chalky, Half-pint ‘

They went down one by one

By then I’d just stopped counting

My mind switched off and gone



This was my nineteenth birthday

My last year as a teen

A battle hardened soldier

Such horrors I have seen



To watch your best friends blown apart

Their blood, and limbs, and bone

The nightmares of the battlefield

I just want to go home



Nine young soldiers lost that night

Though some of us survived

Four were badly wounded

But six of us alive



And in the next day’s papers

Small paragraph’s re-formed

‘ Nine brave soldiers lost their lives,

Next-of-kin informed ! ‘



All our Soldiers

Tom Mcgreevy
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