>T'WAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS,
>
>HE LIVED ALL ALONE,
>
>IN A ONE BEDROOM HOUSE,
>
>MADE OF PLASTER AND STONE.
>
>I HAD COME DOWN THE CHIMNEY,
>
>WITH PRESENTS TO GIVE,
>
>AND TO SEE JUST WHO,
>
>IN THIS HOME, DID LIVE.
>
>I LOOKED ALL ABOUT,
>
>A STRANGE SIGHT I DID SEE,
>
>NO TINSEL, NO PRESENTS,
>
>NOT EVEN A TREE.
>
>NO STOCKING BY MANTLE,
>
>JUST BOOTS FILLED WITH SAND,
>
>ON THE WALL HUNG PICTURES,
>
>OF FAR DISTANT LANDS.
>
>WITH MEDALS AND BADGES,
>
>AWARDS OF ALL KINDS,
>
>A SOBER THOUGHT,
>
>CAME THROUGH MY MIND.
>
>FOR THIS HOUSE WAS DIFFERENT,
>
>IT WAS DARK AND DREARY,
>
>I FOUND THE HOME OF A SOLDIER,
>
>ONCE I COULD SEE CLEARLY.
>
>THE SOLDIER LAY SLEEPING,
>
>SILENT, ALONE,
>
>CURLED UP ON THE FLOOR,
>
>IN THIS ONE BEDROOM HOME.
>
>THE FACE WAS SO GENTLE,
>
>THE ROOM IN SUCH DISORDER,
>
>NOT HOW I PICTURED,
>
>AN AUSTRALIAN SOLDIER.
>
>WAS THIS THE HERO, OF WHOM I'D JUST READ?
>
>CURLED UP ON A PONCHO, THE FLOOR FOR A BED?
>
>I REALIZED THE FAMILIES,
>
>THAT I SAW THIS NIGHT,
>
>OWED THEIR LIVES TO THESE SOLDIERS,
>
>WHO WERE WILLING TO FIGHT.
>
>SOON ROUND THE WORLD,
>
>THE CHILDREN WOULD PLAY,
>
>AND GROWNUPS WOULD CELEBRATE,
>
>A BRIGHT CHRISTMAS DAY.
>
>THEY ALL ENJOYED FREEDOM,
>
>EACH MONTH OF THE YEAR,
>
>BECAUSE OF THE SOLDIERS,
>
>LIKE THE ONE LYING HERE.
>
>I COULDN'T HELP WONDER,
>
>HOW MANY LAY ALONE,
>
>ON A COLD CHRISTMAS EVE,
>
>IN A LAND FAR FROM HOME.
>
>THE VERY THOUGHT BROUGHT,
>
>A TEAR TO MY EYE,
>
>I DROPPED TO MY KNEES,
>
>AND STARTED TO CRY.
>
>THE SOLDIER AWAKENED,
>
>AND I HEARD A ROUGH VOICE,
>
>"SANTA DON'T CRY,
>
>THIS LIFE IS MY CHOICE;
>
>I FIGHT FOR FREEDOM,
>
>I DON'T ASK FOR MORE,
>
>MY LIFE IS MY GOD,
>
>MY COUNTRY, MY CORPS."
>
>THE SOLDIER ROLLED OVER,
>
>AND DRIFTED TO SLEEP,
>
>I COULDN'T CONTROL IT,
>
>I CONTINUED TO WEEP.
>
>I KEPT WATCH FOR HOURS,
>
>SO SILENT AND STILL,
>
>AND WE BOTH SHIVERED,
>
>FROM THE COLD NIGHT'S CHILL.
>
>I DIDN'T WANT TO LEAVE,
>
>ON THAT COLD, DARK, NIGHT,
>
>THIS GUARDIAN OF HONOR,
>
>SO WILLING TO FIGHT.
>
>THEN THE SOLDIER ROLLED OVER,
>
>WITH A VOICE SOFT AND PURE,
>
>WHISPERED, "CARRY ON SANTA,
>
>IT'S CHRISTMAS DAY, ALL IS SECURE."
>
>ONE LOOK AT MY WATCH, AND I KNEW HE WAS RIGHT.
>
>"MERRY CHRISTMAS MY FRIEND, AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT."
>
>This poem was written by an Australian Peacekeeping soldier stationed overseas.
The following is his request. I think it is reasonable . PLEASE. Would you do me
the kind favour of sending this to as many people as you can?
>
>Christmas will be coming soon and some credit is due to our all of the service
men and women for our being able to celebrate these festivities. Let's try in
this small way to pay a tiny bit of what we owe. Make people stop and think of
our heroes, living and dead, who sacrificed themselves for us.
Nice thought, but you've been had. The original author is unknown, but it's almost certainly a US creation. Here's just one example:
http://www.geocities.com/usmcrecruiter2000/tribute.html
Internet netiquette from the mid-80's onwards demands that you delete or sit on chain mail rather than spread it around. Chain mail is insidious
as spam and pyramid marketing scams.
Ben (vbug) alreadys knows my views on spreading chain mail like this, particularly when the people behind it just want to see how far the thing
spreads. They are extremely unlikely to agree with the poem's sentiments.
If you really want to help out Australian soldiers, volunteer at your local RSL or join Legacy. I'm sure they'd be happy to have
your assistance. Spreading chain mail does not help any ex-servicemen.
Andrew
hmmmmm well
Just thought it was a nice thought!!!!
matt
My Dad who was in WW 11 told me how one night in Tabruk when they had cease fire for Christmas, he was in his trench listening to the voices of the
German's and tinking of home, wife, family, and how the voices he heard would also be doing the same thing. My dad taught me a lot of things and
that is tolerance and understanding of other even in those circumstances.
We are all human
Was a nice thought, Matt. :thumb
Don't get me wrong, it is a nice poem, and I'm sure the original author (whoever he or she is) meant it too.
Just that the act of spreading it around is not that helpful.
My granddad was captured by the Japanese and spent most of world war two building the Burmese railway. When he got back after the war, he and my
grandmother held Christmases like you wouldn't believe, even during the after war rationing periods. Their example was instilled in my Mum as how
Christmases were run, and this has been passed down to me and my brother.
I hope most people realise that only a few people are as lonely and desperate as the subject of the poem. But they do exist, and if you want to help
them, don't spread this poem, go assist at the RSL or Legacy. Charity starts at home.
Andrew
[Edited on 7-12-2002 by vanderaj]
I agree with matts thought but share Andrews views on spam.
I will keep my knowledge and opinions to my self I think about the Army, it's role and the political machine behind it. This is not the
place...
...but on a happier note I am a regular at the dawn services and this year just gone I took the boys. An eary mist blew through the crowd and ceremony
right on dawn. It was spooky and I wasn't the only only one looking around.
I hold reverence to our those lost in war and injured both physically and mentally from the fight for freedom. I was once a soldier, many of my
ancestors and in-laws also protected ours and others shores were also servicemen as well.
Let we forget the dead and the living.
On a lighter note - go to a ham raffle, there great fun. 
Quote:
Most of the guys I work with are ex-military (the security industry is full of ex-military, for some reason). The funniest bloke was a guy by the name
of John who used to be ex-NZ SAS. This guy is a complete psycho and very funny to work with. He'd do barrel rolls on the floor and stuff like
that. Scary too in turn.
But most of the guys (including my boss) have a similarly dim view of their time as you, Steve. They enjoyed the mateship, but not necessarily the
people they had to report to or the machine they were working for. But all of the guys are professionals. They loved telling me stories about joint
exercises they held with the Yanks.
My friend Brett has one of the best stories. He worked in the Townsville airbase as an electronics dude (basically HF radios etc). After an exercise,
one of the American planes needed its radar checked, and one Australian guy with a small trolley trundled up to the plane. The pilot couldn't
believe that only one guy was going to service his plane! In the US, there would be a small team of specialists who did nothing but radar, but here
most of the guys were fully accredited LAMEs and could do most repairs. :-)
Andrew
You will get no better mates than those in a platoon because your lives depend on them and their actions. I have had many civilian roles in sales,
gardening, management, security of course, teaching and tourism / catering but none has fromed the bond that I remember well from my service days. I
recognised a couple of years ago that that was what I was missing and civilian employment could not fulfill the same security and trust I was
guranteed when I was in my platoon.
I think this is why I am so strongly compelled to apply for the police service as they are very close but sometimes to close unfortunately but like
any criminal in a uniform or not they can't be too smart if their forfieting the integrity and income for a few quick bucks.
Don't get me wrong, the Australian Military along with the Navy and RAAF are highly organised defences but I was just in an underfunded, poorly
managed unprofessional company. This situation has fortunately rectified itself but it was mine and another ten resiginations that closed it down and
later it reopened with a better commanding detail.
I have many fond memories, plenty of stories - some sad most laced with humor and embarrisment but most of all I miss the mateship for sure.
The Australian Soldier is a thinking soldier. Unlike many other countries where soldiers are mere droids, our soldiers and officers are intelligent
beings and can make decisions and work within a breadth of responsibility given to them to get the job done. This way the officers only had to say
"this is what I want done" and the soldiers decided how it was to be done where as foreign countries depent on the officers to decide the
best plan of action. A unique aspect of the Australian Army and one of which I was proud to be in for a time.
It is the mateship that gets people through. Dad always talked about his mates. As family we usually only got the humourous stories or Dad would paint
pictures of the countries he ha leave in, hence my love of travel. I used to live in the images my dad created, he was a good story teller.
I grew up with Dad's mates coming to visit or we would go visit them. They would sit outside together and talk in their circle. It was a great
loss for Dad whenever one of his mates past away, and when Dad died those that were left came to the funeral, very sad. I organised a piper for
Dad's funeral as he used to talk about the long marches, how exhausted they all were but when they got to the edge of the town/destination the
pipers would be there to march them in. Dad said they would all pick up their step with the pipers. Another image.
When I was travelling across the US by train is was speaking to an American guy of Dad's era, he had so much respect for the Australian soldier.
I think the mateship stood out to him and also that they appeared to be classless in a sense, rank was less obvious.
War is a senseless thing, so many innocent lives affected because of the greed and power hungryness of a few people at the top, or some crazed
extremist.
I'm out of here too, not the place to talk politics
I read an interesting account from WW1 about Christmas. Here's a little excerpt:
"Temporary truces have been negotiated in some of the bloodiest conflicts in history. One of the most inspiring instances was in the trenches of
France during the first Christmas of World War I. The Germans were singing silent night on Christmas Eve. The British, who were in their trenches a
couple of hundred yards away, joined in. After singing together for a while, one man walked out onto the "battlefield." A man from the other
side came out to join him and the two sides spent the night, exchanging brandy, cigarettes and even playing soccer. On December 26, they continued
fighting."
Is there a Kombi in here somewhere?
No Kombi,
but those of us who have been away (even though it was just Bosnia) and are looking at going away again don't mind understanding that some other
people understand.
I have seen the poem lots of times (US Aust and even German) its the thought that counts.
Merry Christmas all (just in case I forget to say it later before I head home for some leave), and I hope you and yours have a safe and enjoyable time
over the hols
Penguin
:bounce