Lawrence Hall, HSG
[email protected]

   A Band of Brothers in Which Some are More Brothers than Others

                          Dedicated to the Secretary of Defense


  There were thirty million English who talked of England's might,
  There were twenty broken troopers who lacked a bed for the night.

                     -Kipling, “The Last of the Light Brigade”


American soldiers are a band of brothers
Of course the regs apply to some but not to others

Those who fight in the field are sometimes led
By generalissimos comfy back home in bed

If a private in battle really shows his mettle
His commander awards himself another medal

And when that combat action is called to a halt
The private nurses his wounds; the Pentagon single-malt

A poor homeless veteran might suffer hunger and need
His old general is cozy at Walter Reed

They say that Army recruiting is totally flat
Oh, yes, dear brother, there are reasons for that!