As you wish.

Jaeger, Hellbender - There's a distinction between the brave and heroic soldiers who fight wars and the old men who cause wars and make money from them.

The soldiers are victims of their own youth and bravery, and the fact that they can be easily manipulated to believe the bullchit. The flag follows the dollar, and the soldiers follow the flag.

Here's a favorite song. The lyrics tell an awful lot about war and how much those soldiers' sacrifices really mean in the long run after the war's been fought and the money's been made.

The Aussies invaded Turkey once. The U.S. invaded Iraq. Years later, it doesn't make a bit of difference - except to the families who had young people hurt or killed and the rich men who made a whole bunch of money.

And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda

When I was a young man I carried my pack
And I lived the free life of a rover
From the Murray's green basin to the dusty outback
I waltzed my Matilda all over
Then in nineteen fifteen my country said Son
It's time to stop rambling 'cause there's work to be done
So they gave me a tin hat and they gave me a gun
And they sent me away to the war.
And the band played Waltzing Matilda
As we sailed away from the quay
And amid all the tears, flag-waving, and cheers
We sailed off to Gallipoli

How well I remember that terrible day
How our blood stained the sand and the water
And how in that hell that they called Suvla Bay
We were butchered like lambs at the slaughter
Johnny Turk he was ready, he primed himself well
He rained us with bullets, he showered us with shells
And in five minutes flat we were all blown to hell
Nearly blew us back home to Australia
But the band played Waltzing Matilda
As we stopped to bury our slain
We buried ours and the Turks buried theirs
Then we started all over again

Those who were living just tried to survive
In a mad world of blood, death, and fire
And for ten weary weeks I kept myself alive
While around me the corpses piled higher
Then a big Turkish shell knocked me arse over head
And when I awoke in my hospital bed
And saw what it had done, I wished I was dead
Never knew there were worse things than dying
For no more I'll go waltzing Matilda
All around the green bush far and near
For to hump tent and pegs, a man needs two legs
No more waltzing Matilda for me

They collected the cripples, the wounded, the maimed
And they shipped us back home to Australia
The armless, the legless, the blind, the insane
Those proud wounded heroes of Suvla
And as our ship pulled into Circular Key
I looked at the place where my legs used to be
I thanked Christ there was no one there waiting for me
To grieve and to mourn and to pity.
And the band played Waltzing Matilda
As they carried us down the gangway
But nobody cheered, they just stood there and stared
And turned all their faces away

So now every April I sit on my porch
And I watch the parade pass before me
And I see my old comrades, how proudly they march
Renewing their dreams of past glory
I see the old men, all tired, stiff, and sore
The weary old heroes of a forgotten war
And the young people ask, "What are they marching for?"
And I ask myself the same question
And the band plays Waltzing Matilda
And the old men still answer the call
But year after year the numbers get fewer
Some day no one will march there at all

Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda
Who'll come a waltzing Matilda with me
And their ghosts may be heard as they march by the Billabong
Who'll come-a-waltzing Matilda with me?

copyright ? Eric Bogle