We Are The Old Guard

We are the Old Guard
We are legion
We are mostly invisible
You look right through us

We are regarded as old men, as broken youths
As less than people, as diminished men
We are honored as if we are already dead
We are celebrated as if we cannot contribute again

But we are strong

An old man remembers how to lead with a machine gun
A young man with a cane a can still direct artillery
A man in a wheelchair can still thread a needle at 500 yards

My cane is not necessary to crush a windpipe
My wheelchair is not necessary to give accurate cover fire
My missing leg is not necessary to man a turret
My missing eye is not necessary to walk a foot patrol

We are broken, we are diminished,
We are old, we are traumatized
We are incomplete, we are disfigured
We are young, we are crippled

But

We are not incapable of waging war again
We are not incapable of the hellish task
We are not incapable of the bloody campaign

We are the Old Guard
We are the Veteran
We are Legion
We are the survivors
We are