Morality In A War Zone

If faced with defacing the home
Of citizens
In this mortar-shell-pocked
Shithole of a desert town
or not

Would I dare to say what I feel?
Would my morals rise up
And get in the way
Of everyone else's good time?

We're taught, in battle school,
"Dehumanize the enemy"
It makes them easier to kill.

Then some shit-in-a-suit,
Sitting in the UN
Quotes the Geneva Convention about
"The Rights of Prisoners of War"

Where was my sarge's right
When that dude used a hollowpoint bullet
To shoot him in the gut?

He got awful thirsty
before the medics
loaded him into the chopper.

I think I can

I wanna think I won't

Ah, fuck it

I likely will.