SCREAMING IN SILENCE BY TONY MCNALLY

screaming in silence updated

This revised version on my promotional video now has the correct number of British servicemen killed in the Falklands War at 255...R.I.P.

Mr Cameron MUST stop these vile witch-hunts against our brave troops

Over the past few years, I have been watching the disturbing growth of an insidious enemy, an enemy that represents a very real danger to the fighting capability and morale of our Armed Forces.
This is an enemy that seems to have almost magical powers. Not only can it slow down an infantryman in the thick of a firefight, but it could also cause a Typhoon pilot not to drop his bombs or the captain of a destroyer not to engage with a threatening vessel.
Furthermore, it is an enemy feared by every serviceman and servicewoman in this country. Worse still, it is an enemy many will continue to fear even after they have hung up their berets.
The enemy to which I am referring is not ISIS or, indeed, any form of terrorist or conventional combatant.No, for this is an enemy that carries neither bombs nor bullets — but bundles.
These bundles consist of legal documents and supposed evidence gathered by an army of ambulance-chasing lawyers, and which are then thrown like grenades at soldiers who are supposed to have committed the most heinous war crimes and vile abuses while they were serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Though there can be no doubt that every soldier should, of course, obey the Laws of War and Rules of Engagement, it is to my genuine dismay as a former Army officer and Armed Forces minister that our troops should be subjected to lengthy, spurious and stressful legal probes that have little to do with military reality and justice and everything to do with enriching grandstanding lawyers.

Absurd
Just yesterday, we learned of a new and particularly fatuous example of this vile and unpatriotic witch-hunt.Read More HERE  


(RG) Here is a poem I wrote about the latest persecution of our Armed Forces 

BETRAYED


As a young boy I always wanted to be a soldier
Counted the seconds as I got older
Then came the day and I joined the ranks
Not for me working in shops or banks
Then they sent us of to War
My Mother cried as I closed the front door
I shot a Taliban who killed a soldier
Now I rot in prison accused of murder.

© Tony McNally

The glorious dead

No more do I worship……
man made idols in the sky
God fearing is mere words 
Exorcised now are they that don’t exist…
Label how you feel it
It matters not…..
Religion to me if you call it such
Is……
My brothers…..
I am not worthy to receive you,
but only say the word
I will be at your side with a full magazine
Venerated are those that fell
Glory be as you march
through the halls of Valhalla
Its you I truly love
Once a year I drink at your alter
Salute
To the glorious dead.


© Tony McNally

WHISPERS

Snow flakes….

Gently fall and melt

Crossing from this realm

It’s beautiful

No pity please

Valhalla awaits

Read my name

On granite walls

Listen for a soldier coming home

 On a name whispered in the wind

Across the Glen

Remember us….

We lived we loved

We fell….

We will always be

Soldiers…..

©  Tony McNally

All that glitters is not gold

Just like enemy tracer rounds

They can hypnotise you as they fly

Seeming to have no sound

Ours are green there’s are yellow

They bounce of rocks and disappear

Writing their name in the black sky

They can fill a soldier with fear

Your shoulder ache as you blast away

Flashes illuminating your mates

Sustained fire to the enemy front

Sending your foe to their fate

Back home in Blighty on Bonfire night

Sends you back thirty years to that hill

Where all that glittered was not gold

Not then for fun more to kill.

© Tony McNally

What happened to Great Britain?

What happened to Great Britain?
I don’t recognise her any-more
Migrants pouring through her borders 
More and More and More

A sea of foreign faces
New Religions taking hold
Ex servicemen sleeping on our streets
Once proud and brave an bold

Why am I a Racist?
For flying my own flag
The blood of many died defending it
Now we watch it burn and sag

Imagine bringing back our fallen soldiers
From world war I & 2
They would be shocked to see it now
I wish it wasn't true

The east is moving west
Soon we will all be gone
A race removed from history
What did we all do wrong?

What happened to Great Britain?
I don’t recognise her any-more
Please someone lend me a small boat
To paddle from these shores.

© Tony McNally

I lived and smelled the ......

Crack…..
Branch breaks on the tree
As the cold wind howls
Takes me back
Where no bird song was heard
No need to dive down….
This time..
Feet wet but warm
No brown peat water
Dissolving my toes
Unlike….
My young feet back then
When youthfulness protected
To the summit I walk
Leisurely stroll
Through Wordsworths beauty
At the top I sit……
Reflect of a time long gone
As clear as yesterday’s quick kiss
No bullets to load….
Grenades to ready….
Just a flask of hot coffee
Wake up and smell it….
A hint of whisky
For the Glorious dead.

© Tony McNally

AGELESS

Thirty-three years I’ve been here on this hill
Still I’m the age of 18
Il wait at my post for my mates to return
Who get older each time it does seem

You have put on a few pounds
Your hair it’s gone grey, but I remember that look in your eyes
When we loaded our rifles and charged up this hill Explosions lighting up the skies

I wish you could stay longer but I know you must go
But don’t worry I will always be here
To watch over this hill, looking out for the foe
This soldier does have no more fear

Farewell my true comrades, drink and sing songs
In the land of my forefathers over the sea
One or two won’t make it back next time
But they will be sitting on this hill with me

Eventually I know you will all be here, a battalion together Ah men
Then we will all march at once through the doors of Valhalla
The Gods have work for good soldiers again.

© Tony McNally

The Emerald Isle

Over the emerald sea we went

To make it a better place

Patrolling the streets

We could feel the hate

Anger in every face

The petrol bombs, burning cars

Shouts of “Contact wait out,”

Drop down to ground

Firing position

This is a War, no doubt

Get up move quick hard target

Smoke is stinging my eyes

Then the mob is gone

An eerie silence

Our helicopter hovering in the sky

A huge explosion

The day goes black

Ears ringing I can hardly breathe

Sirens wail women scream

My brain finds it hard to conceive

Still alive, grab hold of my weapon

Look around to look for my mates

Civilian bodies scattered on the ground

Like children’s dolls

Was this always to be their fate?

Brain re-engages

Still scanning the rooftops

Brick commander screams, “ Follow me.”

Hard target back to the Saracen 

Please save me Lord is my silent plea

I was saved that day now its thirty years on

Only veterans those events I do talk

Was eighteen when I crossed the Emerald Isle

To my brothers I would say

It was only with you that I could walk that walk.

© Tony McNally

The Criac

Subdued mumbled laughter
Cigarettes blinking like fireflies
Men together
Hot tea sipped
Tales of romance
Exaggerated
Eyes flicking in the mist
Weapons held close
Ammo checked
Completely in the moment
At ease with each other
Random chat
Football
Fighting
More sex
No eye contact
Macho men
Preparing
For history
Last drink of tea
Fag butts crushed underfoot
All at once
They turn
Like the tide
“Listen Inn.”

Then it began.

© Tony McNally

Cant vote wont vote

 I wont be voting Mr politician
Because I've got no fixed abode
Once a proud British soldier
Now I walk a lonely road
I swapped the medals on my chest
For a blanket and some food
I no longer guard the Queen
She will not think I'm rude
I don’t have a TV set
Politicians I despise
My own film is in my head
I can still hear those men’s cries
Of comrades long gone now
They will be with me to the end
We once made a vow
This Country we would defend
Some say that not to vote
Would be an awful shame
Be we veterans no the truth
Your all the bloody same.

© Tony McNally

I AM AN AIR DEFENDER

I'm a Air Defender
Here to protect the skies
We have a saying
“If it flies it dies.”
So go about your business 
Knowing we are here
When you hear that jet engine
We understand your fear
It’s `Weapons Free`
The missile fires
Aircraft hit and destroyed
You’re safe again
At least for now
So please don’t be annoyed
When you hear our geny roar
You know you can be sure
That Air Defenders have your back
For air attack, we are the cure

© Tony McNally

Tu eris Non occides,

Thou shalt not Kill
They told me at school
To love they Neighbour
Seemed to be the rule
Then I became a soldier
Rules seemed to change
They gave me a rifle
I practiced on the range
We killed wooden images
Of Russian soldiers
The recoil of the rifle
Bruising the shoulders
Then one day it was War
Padre blessed us on the ship
We sang “Onward Christian Soldiers “
Prayed we wouldn’t get hit
So we were the good guys?
They were the bad?
We were given the green light
To kill was not so bad?
We won our War and went home
Handed back our weapons
Went home and hugged our families
Trying to ignore our nightmare demons
Back to, Thou shalt not kill
I suppose will be the rule
Until you’re Country says
Pick up that gun you fool.

© Tony McNally

Then it began……

Id read about it

Watched it on TV

Dreamt about it

Here is yours

WAR……

Then it was over

I stopped reading about it

Watching it on TV

Dreaming about it?

Then it began

Again

Again

Again

Again…….

When will it  end?

© Tony McNally

THE BIG BAD UGLY BEAR

Putins come to Cornwall
He wants to give the RAF a scare
He has also been to Bournemouth
With his big bad ugly bear
He is drinking a bottle of vodka
And smoking a fat cigar
With his finger on the nuclear button
Cameron thinks he has gone too far
Next week he is going to Blackpool
In his big bad ugly bear
He wants to see the tower
Is there nobody Vlad doesn't fear?
Putin has been seen over Scunthorpe
Waving at the RAF
Then he’s off to fly over the Falklands
To see if we have any planes left
He knows with the MOD defence cuts
He can do whatever he wants
In his big fat ugly bear
He Taunts and Taunts and Taunts
Oh Putins coming to London
Oh Da Da Da Da Da Da Da !!!!!!

© Tony McNally

(RG) This is a lighthearted poem about Russian bombers testing out the British RAF and the serious reason that we cannot do much about it nowadays due to the massive military cuts that have seriously downgraded the UK Armed Forces.

THE LADS

A sea of burning foaming waves

Black sky suddenly alight with Flames

Quiet mountains

Now engulfed in violence

Screams echo between the rocks

Heroic deeds

Life taken in an instance

A brother falls

Your heart torn out

Onwards you go

Into the pages of history

Just survive this hell

No thoughts of home

Slam home another magazine

Cordite burns your nostrils

Meaning your still of this earth

To move towards a wall of bullets

Why?

Because you’re a soldier

More fear of failing your comrades

Than dying for your Regiment

Crack thump

Down

Then up

One more bound

I will survive

The dawn light

Will see me home

The class of 82.

© Tony McNally

OLD YOUNG MEN

I saw you smile

But it didn’t hide the fear in your eyes

Checking our weapons again

No nasty surprise

Thumbs up and you were gone

In the mist the chopper did rise

Will we meet again?

Nobody knows

Then it was my turn

Off to War we go

Both of us young men

A soldier no doubt

This was our moment

In the Chopper I shout

“If I die in a combat Zone

Box me up and send me home”

When the guns fell silent

We met again

Not recognising each other

As bearded skinny old men

Our smiles had gone

A different look in our eyes

No hugs or handshakes

Nervously still staring at the skies

We did our duty

Made it through

Two young old men

The class of 82.

 © Tony McNally

(RG) During the Falklands War I left my best mate and went to War, at the end of the fighting we both met up again in the Capital Stanley, we were filthy bearded and had lost so much weight we didn’t recognise each other.