By Michael Shave

In 1961, as a 17 year old, my service (REME) began amongst some very intelligent and witty National Servicemen. Against

Beside that track in jungle green (Bare the bayonet, beat the drum.), Sweat-soaked, dirty, thus unseen (Bare the bayonet, beat

Tap, pause; tap, pause; tap, pause. A lonely sound which echoes round an ancient hall. And to its beat In

I Remember Shouldn’t sauce for the goose should be sauce for the gander? When first I joined the Army they

When I was stationed at Enoggera, as a young platoon sergeant with 9RAR, a Merino ram was offered, and accepted,

The subject matter for this poem suggested itself very early one morning at the Battle Inoculation Range when I and

In this age when bullying is such an item of concern I cannot help smiling whenever I recall my youth

WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT   When hit by a high velocity bullet, The skull explodes and its contents spray Through shattered

Stand at ease; Attention; Move to the right in threes. Orders, orders, orders, Some of which were these. But really

You bastard Putin, what’s it for? Sending people off to war What reason gave you any right To send your

Just Infantry The Russians in Ukraine I feel for those Infantrymen Without the knowledge Of fire-and-movement; Who have been conscripted

After A Day at War (South Vietnam, 1969) In the gloom of each day when it’s dying Standing to is

The Obscenity of Conscription (and PTSD) He sits at the table nursing his beer, Scruffy, unwashed, a bit smelly I

A man remembered, Peter Bunn; In those days vigorous, full of fun. While we ‘The Company’ gain in skill (Training

I stand beside these rank, grassed, mounded piles of soil ‘Neath which the mouldering dead lie in repose. Their type

Read Par I to III here And so in frenzied lust it ends, the killing; Vengeful hatred why they fought.

Describe a successful ambush to me, please: Teutorburger Wald (Part one) Caesar cries. An anguish riven home By news that

There is a soldier whose actions in Afghanistan are being investigated. A helmet cam of him shooting an apparently unarmed

As a gathering of Infantry Veterans meet in the Australian capital to commemorate their Battalion’s participation in the Vietnam War,

A certain Australian Infantry warrant officer, a notorious recruit drill instructor, on arrival at Tan Son Nhut airport for war