Sappers

[Subdeacon Joe]

[Cold Lake Kid, SASS # 51474]

The Greatest Generation.

[Rip Snorter]

I doubt many such young men exist these days.  Bless 'em all!

[Subdeacon Joe]

17 minutes ago, Rip Snorter said:

I doubt many such young men exist these days.  Bless 'em all!

 

Look up and read some of the award citations of MoH and Silver Star out of the wars of the past 20 years.  I would guess about the same percentage now as then.

[Rip Snorter]

7 minutes ago, Subdeacon Joe said:

 

Look up and read some of the award citations of MoH and Silver Star out of the wars of the past 20 years.  I would guess about the same percentage now as then.

Certainly there are heroes in all our "small" wars, and though the percentages may be the same, the absolute numbers in a mass mobilization were incredible.  Actually I was thinking more about the current draft age crop and the education / indoctrination they have received and many still receiving.  There will always be some who go to the sound of the guns, but I think not like generations past.

[Subdeacon Joe]

41 minutes ago, Rip Snorter said:

Actually I was thinking more about the current draft age crop and the education / indoctrination they have received and many still receiving. 

 

I had thought of that, but then I thought about our demographics and the press.  Mostly we see in the press a tiny minority mostly from large blue city enclaves and blue inner cities.  Even in California, get east of the Coast Ranges and you find a completely different attitude about America.  I believe that given the same kind of threat we saw in the late 1930s and 1940s our young people would turn to as they did then.  

[Blackwater 53393]

It seems that time after time, when the chips are down, our young men from each generation step up and set the bar higher for the next generation.  The ones who make the news are seldom the ones who rise to the occasion when push comes to shove!!  Those same loudmouth whiners who present themselves as disadvantaged or mistreated are the ones who disappear when it comes time to stand and deliver!  The same quiet, sturdy, get the job done types always come out and show their mettle while the rest of them bluster and wring their hands!!

 

 I see those young men and women all the time because I ignore the ones that make the news and the pointless waves.  They’re there!  You don’t have to look too hard.

 

 

[Uno Mas SASS #80082]

Sappers

When the Waters were dried an' the Earth did appear,
 ("It's all one," says the Sapper),
The Lord He created the Engineer,
 Her Majesty's Royal Engineer,
 With the rank and pay of a Sapper!
 
When the Flood come along for an extra monsoon,
'Twas Noah constructed the first pontoon
 To the plans of Her Majesty's, etc.
 
But after fatigue in the wet an' the sun,
Old Noah got drunk, which he wouldn't ha' done
 If he'd trained with, etc.
 
When the Tower o' Babel had mixed up men's bat,
Some clever civilian was managing that,
 An' none of, etc.
 
When the Jews had a fight at the foot of a hill,
Young Joshua ordered the sun to stand still,
 For he was a Captain of Engineers, etc.
 
When the Children of Israel made bricks without straw,
They were learnin' the regular work of our Corps,
 The work of, etc.
 
For ever since then, if a war they would wage,
Behold us a-shinin' on history's page --
 First page for, etc.
 
We lay down their sidings an' help 'em entrain,
An' we sweep up their mess through the bloomin' campaign,
 In the style of, etc.
 
They send us in front with a fuse an' a mine
To blow up the gates that are rushed by the Line,
 But bent by, etc.
 
They send us behind with a pick an' a spade,
To dig for the guns of a bullock-brigade
 Which has asked for, etc.
 
We work under escort in trousers and shirt,
An' the heathen they plug us tail-up in the dirt,
 Annoying, etc.
 
We blast out the rock an' we shovel the mud,
We make 'em good roads an' -- they roll down the khud,
 Reporting, etc.
 
We make 'em their bridges, their wells, an' their huts,
An' the telegraph-wire the enemy cuts,
 An' it's blamed on, etc.
 
An' when we return, an' from war we would cease,
They grudge us adornin' the billets of peace,
 Which are kept for, etc.
 
We build 'em nice barracks -- they swear they are bad,
That our Colonels are Methodist, married or mad,
 Insultin', etc.
 
They haven't no manners nor gratitude too,
For the more that we help 'em, the less will they do,
 But mock at, etc.
 
Now the Line's but a man with a gun in his hand,
An' Cavalry's only what horses can stand,
 When helped by, etc.
 
Artillery moves by the leave o' the ground,
But we are the men that do something all round,
 For we are, etc.
 
I have stated it plain, an' my argument's thus
 ("It's all one," says the Sapper),
There's only one Corps which is perfect -- that's us;
 An' they call us Her Majesty's Engineers,
 Her Majesty's Royal Engineers,
 With the rank and pay of a Sapper!

Rudyard Kipling

Not much has changed...

[Rip Snorter]

Hard to beat Kipling!

[Subdeacon Joe]

2 hours ago, Rip Snorter said:

Hard to beat Kipling!

 

Just sneak up behind him and sap him with an axe handle.

 

[Rip Snorter]

1 minute ago, Subdeacon Joe said:

 

Just sneak up behind him and sap him with an axe handle.

 

The old boy was savvy, could have been a good way to get shot.

[Uno Mas SASS #80082]

20 hours ago, Rip Snorter said:

The old boy was savvy, could have been a good way to get shot.

Heard about the sword cane the ol' gent favored. 

[Rip Snorter]

5 minutes ago, Uno Mas SASS #80082 said:

Heard about the sword cane the ol' gent favored. 

Thanks! That is certainly something of interest I had not heard about even as a serious Kipling fan.  Will see if I can search out corroboration and a picture.

[Utah Bob #35998]

Kipling is me literary hero.