"The Afghanistan Marathon" by Dennis Serdel

Photo source: Huffington Post / "Afghanistan: NATO Air Strike Kills 11 Children" April 8, 2013

The following poem was written by Dennis Serdel, Vietnam 1967-68 (one tour) Light Infantry, Americal Div. 11th Brigade, Purple Heart; United Auto Workers GM Retiree. It is re-published here with his permission. I added the graphics.

Afghanistan Marathon

It is the Afghanistan Marathon

Runners Race beginning in Lashkar

Gah in Helmand Province

& ending In Kabul so the US

Dictator Stooge Karzai could crown

the Winners.

The first bunch to take off

were Afghanistan Civilians, then off

went the Afghanistan Fake Soldiers,

coming up behind them were

the Taliban with all kinds of weapons,

then after that, the American Soldiers

were bringing up the rear.

The air & the road was so Hot

that Human Beings handed out

Water in cups to the Runners.

Half way in the Marathon

the Taliban set up IED's

in the pressure cooker race

& took off some of the American Soldier's

legs, killed three & wounded

more, they had to be choppered

out to the hospital & it really made

the US Top Brass mad

because they had bets on which

Army Unit would win,

So they sent two drones to cripple

the Taliban & it worked as the US

Soldiers passed the Taliban,

Arms, Legs lay everywhere.

The Afghanistan Fake Soldiers

began shooting the American Soldiers

until the US Air Force took some of them

out as the Rest tore off their Uniforms

& Ran & Escaped back to their War Lords,

Who were Not happy, because they

had bets on the Winners too.

Three quarters of the way,

the American Soldiers set up an ambush

& killed & crippled the

rest of the Taliban

but the damn Civilians who started

out First, were getting Closer & Closer

to the Finish Line

So at the last minute, the US Air Force

sent so many drones in 

that they killed all the Civilians,

arms, legs, heads cut off

lay everywhere

& the Winners were the US Mountain

Infantry who found it easy to run

at Sea Level where the air was thick

but the bastard Karzai

said they cheated & would Not

make them the Winners & would Not

give them their Trophies

But he gave them to the few remaining

Taliban Patriots on the long bloody road

& Kept the Winners Money that

the Americans gave him for Himself

instead of the Winners.

The American Brass

were so mad, that they sent a 100 drones

out to kill any Afghanistans who were

at Funerals in the next few days

burying their Dead & then they'll bury more.

This Long Afghanistan Marathon War

has killed so many Afghanistan Children

Mothers, Fathers, GrandFathers / Mothers

for All these years, they can only Estimate

how many Died, it's in many thousands.

But at least we know

how many, American Soldiers

have been killed so far,

it's a Marathon,

an Afghanistan War Marathon

supposed to end next year

or the year after that,

no one seems to know

where the Finish Line is.

Written by Human Being Dennis Serdel for Military Resistance