Battlefield Luxuries

Political man got no clue,
Just about zero idea,
His primary skill is spreading manure,
So people stay livin' in fear.
Military man got duty,
Same thing every day,
Gettin' it done for some guy in a suit,
Who's sittin' safe out of the way.

Who's sittin' safe out of the way.
Who's sittin' safe out of the way.

The Air Force guys get three squares,
Served every day in the mess,
The Navy runs on a ration o'rum,
They wouldn't take anything less.
Army guys get a green rain coat,
Just about keepin' 'em dry,
The techincal term is "Boots on the Ground",
Ain't nobody need to know why.

Ain't nobody need to know why.
Ain't nobody need to know why.

Cavalry man got coffee,
Brewin' up fresh in the tank,
Artillery man got cable TV,
Available at any rank.
Infantry man got wet feet,
He aint havin' no fun,
Sittin' in the dark with an MRE,
Waitin' for the order to come.

Waitin' for the order to come.
Waitin' for the order to come.

---

Edited by bassMonkey on Gennaio 24 2023 11:50

Good lyrics for a song man! "Infantry man got wet feet, He aint havin' no fun, Sittin' in the dark with an MRE, Waitin' for the order to come."
Been there, done that, remember the feeling.

Thank you TeeGee.

[notes]
This is particularly dedicated to all the men (and women!) of Infantry regiments.
I must apologize for using Cavalry/Artillery/Infantry Man but
I could not come up with anything gender-neutral that worked with the
mood of the lyric.

The daily rum ration was a fixture of Navy life for many years in many countries but
(as far as I know) has now been abolished in all that adopted it starting with the
United States in 1862 and ending with New Zealand as recently as 1990. It makes
perfect sense given the equipment they need to handle, but the tradition of
"Splicing the Mainbrace" ("Besanschot an!" in the German Navy) persists on special
occasions - Wikipedia informs that it was a tradition with many US submarine crews
in WWII after a successful action (though mostly involving whisky & beer).

"Cavalry" evokes images of the horse-mounted trooper (7th Cavalry, Scots Greys etc)
but the horses have been gone for a long time (the honour of last successful mounted
cavalry charge going to Poland for their action at Schoenfeld at the end of WWII).

There are still ceremonial mounted troops of course but many cavalry units became
mechanised/armoured regiments after reorganisations mergers etc. They perform the
traditional light/heavy cavalry functions depending on equipment (AV's - Tanks)
so recon, shielding, flanking and a little bit of shock and awe when needed.

The MRE probably needs little explanation but it's an acronym for (Meal, Ready to Eat).
A 1200 calorie single meal in a pouch designed to last three weeks, survive a parachute
jump and be heated up with a flameless heat source provided in the package.
Created for the US Army by food scientist Dr Abdul Rahman as long ago as 1968 and
becoming standard issue in the '80s. There are lots of variations now encompassing
vegetarian, halal and kosher and you can even buy them online to add to your
extreme hiking supplies.

Haute cuisine they are not but they do the job they are designed for (No worse
than Airplane food IMHO). As good as a Big Mac and fries if it's all you've got and,
if you asked anyone who served before they arrived on the scene, a lot better than
what came before!

---

Edited by bassMonkey on Gennaio 26 2023 11:33