foolish thoughts of battle and his part in it

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by Matt Freire

The kid unknowing is what the story is about
Keeps moving even though he doesn’t know what he's doing
The kid has lots of foolish thoughts of battle and his part in it
These thoughts don’t come true
Eat that and tell me if it tastes true
He learns a lot
Has little to talk about
Or chooses to keep muffled, to quiet his words
Does what he can
Tries to make an honest living doing an honest days work
This is not the normal soldier
This is not the normal Afghan war story you hear about
It's actually quite boring and uneventful
No one hears about the wait
No one talks about the wait
People only want action in this information world
Luckily he has some cool dreams to make him feel alive
Movies, he watches more movies in a month then he would in three in the real world
The quality of the movies he watches diminishes
Not only in actual video quality but in cinematic directorial quality
Movies that go straight to video
Movies that should never be made
Movies that were forgotten for a reason
He sits now in a sf camp secluded from the rest of the war and plays guitar in the mwr as he watches movies



Photo:
Task Force Khowst guards military age males during a raid on a suspected insurgent safe haven as part of Operation Cohort, Aug.11, 2009. Operation Cohort is a joint operation involving Task Force Khowst and Coalition Forces that focus on specific militant targets and safe havens within Khowst province in eastern Afghanistan. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Matthew Freire / RELEASED )