A Salute to the Army

I kept a countdown calendar when I was in the Army, as did many of the guys. As your number of remaining days dwindled down, you were ultimately considered "short". I had less than 90 days remaining when I wrote A Salute to the Army, and it expresses just how much I loved it all.


A Salute to the Army

Pressure’s building up inside
My time is drawing near
I count the days ‘til I complete
This third and final year

I’m looking back remembering
The suffering and pain
The leaders so incompetent
And half the time insane

I think back to the NCOs
So ignorant and lazy
Selected trash from broken homes
And each a little crazy

And think about the officers
Whose job it is to lead
An adolescent clan of kids
A motley bunch indeed

They scream and shout the whole day through
That nothing’s getting done
Harassment is their only job
And only source of fun

To sum it up I’ll simply state
Civilian life is swell
Those lifer dudes and black-striped kids
Can all go straight to Hell

But one thing that the Army does
I must admit is clever
Without so much as trying
They make three years last forever


Steven Pein
16 May 1968
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