not God nor Country

Bob McNamara preached that men are cogs
each interchangeable in the machine
and Kissinger contemned that we're mere dogs
disposable as pixels on a screen.
But that's not what it feels like in the dirt
the guys you bunk with might as well be kin
it wounds us all if anyone gets hurt
as if platoon-mates shared a common skin.
Conscription forges new identities
and honor binds the men who share your mess
well-drilled to uphold barracks loyalties
and die before we'd come home with one less.
Let Menelaos catch his harlot's fleas!
each man in battle fights for Patrokles