Expendable

I wrote Expendable in January 1968, about seven months before I got out of the Army. It expressed the growing civilian and military discontent over the war in Vietnam.

Expendable

The Captain took his band of men
And led them to the fray
The men all prayed that they could live
To see another day

This day would prove to be the last
For half a dozen boys
Expendable and wasted lives
Like worthless little toys

It started with a single shot
From where they could not say
The Sergeant dropped and breathed his last
The first to die this day

The young Lieutenant grabbed the Sarge
He looked about to cry
But rifle fire stopped his tears
He was the next to die

The Captain ordered “open fire”
Their rifles sounded loud
Four more would die, the jungle brush
Was soon to be their shroud

They give their lives so willingly
As heroes they all die
They sacrifice their precious lives
Yet most do not know why

It’s someone else’s war out there
Yet we’re the ones who fight
I ask you if you think it’s just
Can such a thing be right

The politicians push the war
But soon they’ll be the ones
Who scream and cry “please stop the fight
We’ve lost our precious sons”


Steven Pein
6 January 1968
.