The Class of ’69

It will be almost forty years
since we alighted, eyes wide,
excited – perhaps scared,
on the roadside beside the
Mess. Forty blessed years
that claimed a few lives,
some wives, waistlines and
many a head of hair.

That day was irreverent,
an anti-climax; okay,
we knew the ropes,
were greeted with
knowing winks – we’d
be alright. But those other
poor bastards were in for
the show of their lives!

It has been some show
hasn’t it? When OCS for
us ended the main event
went ballistic, we were
spread to all corners of
the current madness,
which the Army insisted
was just a local effect.

More fool us for believing!
But here you see sanity complete
in familiar faces worn
with real smiles and eyes
shining – hands outstretched
in greeting. Hello again
my friends, you bastards!
The Class of ’69.
© I.D. Carswell 2007