AN AIRMAN's WAR

[Maureen K Clifford]

Have our servicemen not also committed such horrible deeds on the population of the countries in which they have fought? Of course they have - I heard one vet refer to himself as a child killer and he was. years after the event totally traumatized about fighting a war against 10 year old kids - God alone knows how he coped when he was actually there. In war you do what has to be done and follow orders.

Of course you don't want those things to happen and that is just my argument - going to war doesn't stop any of this it compounds it.

I don't have a beef with our serviceman - I come from a service background - I have a major beef with politicians and heads of Government that puts its populace into such a position .

The fact that Hiroshima is such a thriving and modern city as it is today speaks volumes for the work ethic and dedication and can do attitude of its population who were not bowed by the atrocities committed but rose like the phoenix to be once again a force to be reckoned with. However with supposed shelf life of plutonium I am bloody sure I wouldn't want to be living there.

[Vic Jefferies]

I read a poem written years ago concerning the bombing of Hiroshima that ended by asking the question "what if we had lost?"
However the point I was trying to make in the poem is the complete detachment between those dropping bombs and the effect of those bombs on people the pilot or "airman" never sees or knows.
A very impersonal almost surreal part of warfare.

[Dennis N O'Brien]

Interesting - I wrote a poem called "Drone" sometime ago and posted it on

another site - I'll post it here as well.