The Charge of the Coalition Forces

With apologies to Alfred, Lord Tennyson

Half a mile, half a mile,

Half a mile onward,

All in the desert of Death

Rode the 200 thousand.

åForward, the Coalition Forces!

Charge for the guns!π he said:

Into the desert of Death

Rode the 200 thousand.

åForward, the Coalition Forces!π

Was there a man dismayπd?

Not thoπ the soldiers knew

Some one had blundered:

Theirπs not to make reply,

Theirπs not to reason why,

Theirπs but to do and die:

Into the desert of Death

Rode the 200 thousand.

Mortar to right of them,

Mortar to left of them,

Mortar in front of them

Volleyπd and thunderπd;

Stormπd at with bomb and shell,

Boldly they rode and well,

Into the jaws of Death,

Into the mouth of Hell

Rode the Coalition Forces.

Flashπd all their M1s bare,

Flashπd as they burnπd the air

Savaging the natives there,

Charging an uprising, while

All the world wonderπd:

Plunged in the humvee-smoke

Right throπ the doors they broke;

Shiite and Sunni

Reelπd from the chopper-guns

Shatterπd and sunderπd.

Then they rode back, but not

Not the 200 thousand.

Mortar to right of them,

Mortar to left of them,

Mortar behind them

Volleyπd and thunderπd;

Stormπd at with bomb and shell,

While tank and hero fell,

They that had fought so well

Came throπ the jaws of Death,

Back from the mouth of Hell,

All that was left of them,

Left of 200 thousand.

When can the carnage fade?

O the many deaths they made!

All the world wonderπd.

Dishonor the war they made!

Dishonor the decisions made,

Honor the 200 thousand.

Adapted by Thomas Gale Moore

Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution