The battle line

His heart and mind was racing,
he struggled to hold back his tears,
He had no choice now
and had to face his greatest fears.

He saw flame and fury
out of the corner of his eye,
no one had prepared him
for this the hour of his demise.

There was nothing he could do
but stay still and stare,
as he lived out the realities
of his greatest nightmare.

The yelling and screaming,
the violence mere inches from his face,
what had driven him to come to this place?

Then suddenly, it stopped.
He left and thought that he’ll be fine,
unless the corporals called on him once again,
to come to the admin line.

 

By Ian O’Loughlin

 

 

FILE PHOTO (September 2011): Soldiers from Mentoring Task Force – Three (MTF-3) move away from a helicopter landing zone, after loading Australian casualties wounded by an improvised explosive device on a Bushmaster, in the Chora Valley, southern Afghanistan. Photo by Able Seaman Jo Dilorenzo.

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