The Infantry Charge of 2307

Well, we heard the big guns roar behind the battle line;

Every member of the Corps, by our officer’s design,

Affixed his bayonet to his trusty laser gun.

The order, as of yet, had not come to anyone,

But we knew we’d have to charge at the foemen’s barricade,

So, in battle armor large, in a phalanx we arrayed.

Our satellites looked down at the enemy’s artillery

Which was set up in a town that our cavalry would pillory.

The UAV’s report went directly to the Colonel

(Who was resting in the Fort, with an injury internal)

The plan that he devised had been centuries rehearsed,

It would have been recognized by Napoleon the First.

But for every gee-whiz gadget, and with all of our  technology—

The upper management has yet to send us an apology.

The strategies they made were completely obsolete

And so our whole brigade met a horrible defeat.

All our battle droids broke ranks, and we knew our fate was sealed–

So we took our hover tanks and retired from the field.


 

This poem makes me a little uncomfortable, because I could see it being misinterpreted as making light of warfare.  It’s not meant that way.  Rather, it’s supposed to be making fun of science-fiction movies, novels, games etc. where they have all this advanced technology and use maneuvers that would have been primitive in the 1700s.

5 Comments

  1. Strategy and tactics always lag behind technology. WWI saw trench warfare because the generals still thought cavalry charges and bayonet charges would win out over Machine Guns and they only used tanks to mash down barbed wire. 1.2 million dead at Verdun and 600 thousand dead at the Somme and the trenches stayed the same.
    Not matter the technology fighting a war half way around the world is futile because of logistics be it the British in the 1770’s or today in Afghanistan.

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