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Taliban Fighting Man

from Dust of Uruzgan by Fred Smith

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about

There is a tendency in the folksong genre to depict soldiers as victims. Perhaps this is a fair take on past wars where conscripted men were sent to fight. Coalition soldiers in Afghanistan come from volunteer armies, and in my experience, a lot of them actually enjoy soldiering. The bonds of friendship formed in the intensity of these environments are like no other.
Having said that, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have put a massive strain on people in the US military. From August 2010, I worked and lived mainly with American soldiers; many on their fourth tours of the Middle East doing year-long rotations with two weeks leave. This was putting strain on marriages - I reckon there’s a lot of hurt on the home front too.

lyrics

There’s no airport bar in Kandahar where the C-130s land. It was hot as hell in that concrete shell where the Taliban took a last stand. I was staring at the screen of the Coke machine with a weariness deep in my bones. Waiting out there for a bird to take me home.

Onto the scene came a big Marine and sat down next to me. He said: “The name is Roy and I’m here deployed with the Delta Company. We had just got back from northern Iraq when the General got on the phone. Now I’ve got two weeks leave up my sleeve and I’m waiting for the bird back home.

Well I’ve fought this year from Kush Kadir down to Kandahar. A lot of fighting patrols but as far as I know I ain’t been killed so far. Gotta trust in fate but step out the gate with my M4 clean and honed. So much fun who the hell would want to go home.

Us boys go strange living downrange no women there to keep you tame. You shit in a bag, gotta read your dog-tag to remember your own first name. And sharing a tent with 15 men means you never have to feel alone. So many friends who the hell would want to go home?!

But when the rounds come in and the 50 CALs spin and your bowels move with the fear. You learn to depend on those new best friends ‘cause your mother can’t help you here. If you come to harm it’s those brothers in arms who pack your toothbrush and comb into a box, with your iPod and sox when they send your busted body back home.

I got a pissed-off wife but I guess that’s life for a Taliban fighting man. She’s got her hands full putting kids through school god I do my best to understand. When she gets on the phone saying ‘how’s it goin’?’ man I don’t wanna get her stressed.
But how to explain that the two-way range can put a boy a little on edge.
Home on leave brings some reprieve but the couple weeks can leave you cold. Get a new tattoo, jetlagged and confused not to mention my six year old. Who knows his dad from a photograph and a voice on the end of the phone saying ‘pretty soon son your daddy’ll be coming on home’.

Still this ain’t no blues it’s the life that I choose of a Taliban fighting man. Some days it’s a joy being out here with the boys hanging with my brotherly band
I do my best and I don’t forget it was them that threw the first stone. Man so much fun who the hell would want to go home.”

Then his flight got called and he stood up tall and said “I’d best be on my way”. I said good luck because I know it can suck being home for only 14 days. There’s war and peace but the war don’t cease when you’re back in the domestic zone, so much fun who the hell would want to go home.

credits

from Dust of Uruzgan, released August 30, 2020

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Fred Smith Canberra, Australia

“Fred Smith is simply the best folk/country musician working in this country in 2020. Beyond writing some of the finest songs about Australians at war, he has created a repertoire that is wry, literate, witty, powerfully emotional and insightful.”(Bruce Elder, Sydney Morning Herald). ... more

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