Soldiers home from Afghanistan

"Hegel remarks somewhere that all great world-historic facts and personages appear, so to speak, twice. He forgot to add: the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce." - Karl Marx (1852)

(Hey, if Ken "Cakewalk in Iraq" Adelman can quote Karl Marx's famous "ash heap of history" phrase, I can quote the old boy, too.)

Halfway around the world tonight
In a strange and foreign land
A soldier packs his memories
As he leaves Afghanistan
Back home they don't know too much
There's just no way to tell
I guess you had to be there
For to know that war was hell

And there won't be any victory parades
For those that's coming back
They'll fly them in at midnight
And unload the body sacks
Living, we'll be walking down
A long and lonely road
Cause nobody seems to care these days
When a soldier makes it home

- Arlo Guthrie, "When A Soldier Makes It Home"

Arlo wrote that songs years ago. It was inspired by his work with veterans' groups. The song is about the human similarity of the experiences of Soviet soldiers in their Afghanistan War and those of American soldiers in the Vietnam War.

Now it could be about American and European NATO soldiers there right now.

"Second time as farce". But farces aren't always funny. Arlo's song continues:

They'll say it wasn't easy
Just another job well done
As the government in Kabul falls
To the sound of rebel guns

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