war during peacetime ( a cold war vet's reflections)

sometimes the anticipation of war
is as bad as the war itself

Everyone KNEW it was coming
Nobody knew when

Air-raid drills, bomb shelters
what to do in case of NUCLEAR ATTACK
these were things I grew up with.

why didn't you salute the flag?
are you a commie-pinko-hippie-fag???
(no. My arm is broken, and in a sling, squarehead)

so, when it came time, and i was done with school
i signed up for a 4 year hitch
in Uncle Sam's big gray Yacht club
better known as the navy

i wanted to be an interpreter
since i'm good at languages
but MM school was behind on it's quota
so i was to become a snipe

useful skill, steam propulsion
plenty of civilian market applications
(and if you believe that, let's talk about a sweet real-estate deal)

I wanted to go to Europe
I could not have gone farther away from it
Japan, Hong Kong, Phillipines, Australia
but no Europe

it was a bit unnerving
to wake up for watch at 0600
and see a Russian cruiser matching course and speed

and all those Red Star planes
got to know them better than our own
Il-28s Tu-20s tu-16s Ka-25s

NIS, with all it's paranoia
searching enlessly fo security risks
You speak German? Are you a Commie?
No, moron, I'm a Nazi. wanna see my swastika?

All that sweating of the load
for all those decades
and in the end, not a shot fired in anger

there really is a God