Given today’s date, I felt it might be appropriate to post the following which was passed on to me earlier...Like GB, Canada has many troops in such as Afghanistan. Both countries have suffered casualties and no doubt will suffer more...

Lest we Forget

Your cell phone is in your pocket.
He clutches the cross hanging on his chain next to his dog tags.

You talk trash about your 'buddies' that aren't with you.
He knows he may not see some of his buddies again.

You walk down the beach, staring at all the pretty girls.
He patrols the streets, searching for insurgents and terrorists.

You complain about how hot it is
He wears his heavy gear, not daring to take off his helmet to wipe his brow.

You go out to lunch, and complain because the restaurant got your order wrong.
He doesn't get to eat today.

Your maid makes your bed and washes your clothes.
He wears the same things for weeks, but makes sure his weapons are clean.

You go to the mall and get your hair redone.
He doesn't have time to brush his teeth today.

You're angry because your class ran 5 minutes over.
He's told he will be held over an extra 2 months.

You call your girlfriend and set a date for tonight.
He waits for the mail to see if there is a letter from home.

You hug and kiss your girlfriend, like you do everyday.
He holds his letter close and smells his love's perfume.

You roll your eyes as a baby cries.
He gets a letter with pictures of his new child, and wonders if they'll ever meet.

You criticize your government, and say that war never solves anything.
He sees the innocent tortured and killed by their own people and remembers why he is fighting.

You hear the jokes about the war, and make fun of men like him.
He hears the gunfire, bombs and screams of the wounded.

You see only what the media wants you to see.
He sees the broken bodies lying around him.

You are asked to go to the store by your parents. You don't.
He does exactly what he is told even if it puts his life in danger.

You stay at home and watch TV.
He takes whatever time he is given to call, write home, sleep, and eat.

You crawl into your soft bed, with down pillows, and get comfortable.
He tries to sleep but gets woken by mortars and helicopters all night long.

REMEMBER our Troops, and do not forget them LATER!

Lest we forget -

excellent thankyou

Very well put = thanks

I think it cheapens the sacrifice of conscripted soldiers fallen in defence of our countries to lump them together with members of a volunteer force engaged in a police action. It's a shabby political move to try and extend Remembrance Day to include members of the forces in Afghanistan.

Right on 'Q' dbd...I expected little else from you ......and I doubt anyone else did either...

One strives to keep up a good standard in the face of opportunism. There is already perfectly adequate poetry for the day.

And why shouldn't we remember them???

They are still out in those places putting you 1st and not themselves so that you may sleep well at night.

And whatever you believe about the why's and wherefores of them being in those places they are still there and should be remembered for it!!!

They're not though. Firstly, they've chosen to join a paid army so they're not putting the public before themselves any more than someone who has chosen to be an accountant. It's a career choice. Secondly, invading Afghanistan is a project having nothing to do with the defence of the west, I'd be no more or less secure if Afghanistan were to be the 51st State.

It's cheap politicing to try to include them today, next you'll be wanting to include police, firemen and garbage collectors.

Maybe not the garbage collectors!!!

Whatever...

Today should indeed be a day of remembrance for all those killed and maimed in battle, wherever and whenever that was.

However, that's no excuse for the appalling doggerel posted above. "your maid makes your bed and washes your clothes," "he sees the innocent tortured and killed by their own people and remembers why he is fighting" - I guess this is aimed at rich American high school kids, but it's still unbelievably crass. As dbd said, there is already perfectly adequate poetry for the day. Might I suggest the following, written by Herbert Read (1893-1968), which makes a better attempt than most to describe the horrors of trench warfare from the perspective of a participant:

"The Happy Warrior"

His wild heart beats with painful sobs,
His strin'd hands clench an ice-cold rifle,
His aching jaws grip a hot parch'd tongue,
His wide eyes search unconsciously.

He cannot shriek.

Bloody saliva
Dribbles down his shapeless jacket.

I saw him stab
And stab again
A well-killed Boche.

This is the happy warrior,
This is he...

Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of disappointed shells that dropped behind.

GAS! Gas! Quick, boys!-- An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling
And floundering like a man in fire or lime.--
Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.

In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.

If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,--
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.

Irrespective of poor spelling, or crassness, given that most UK and prob Canadian , US and other European children now won't have any "direct" link with the first world war and are often shielded from other conflicts, any method that helps them connect or "remember" should be applauded.

Indeed - Lest THEY forget!

Whether you agree with them being there or not, those guys are still fighting for our freedom and protection, and you should be bloody thankful for that.

As above, they're not. If they want to go and invade Afghanistan there's nothing I can do to stop them but it's not in any way related to the freedom and protection of the public in Canada. Indifference is more appropriate than gratitude.