I am the Infantry--Lord of Battle! For two centuries I have kept our Nation safe, purchasing freedom with my blood. to tyrants, I am the day of reckoning; to the suppressed, the hope for the future. Where the fighting is thick, there am I...I am the Infantry! FOLLOW ME!

I was there from the beginning, meeting the enemy face to face, will to will. My bleeding feet stained the snow at Valley Forge; my frozen hands pulled Washington across the Delaware. At Yorktown, the sunlight glinted from the sword and I, begrimed and battered...saw a Nation born.

Hardship...and glory I have known. At New Orleans, I fought beyond the hostile hour, showed the fury of my long rifle...and came of age. I am the Infantry!

West I pushed with wagon trains...moved an empire across the plains...extended freedom's borders and tamed the wild frontier. I am the Infantry! FOLLOW ME!

I was with Scott at Vera Cruz...hunted the guerrilla in the mountain passes...and scaled the high plateau. The fighting was done when I ended my march many miles from the old Alamo.

From Bull Run to Appomattox, I fought and bled. Both Blue and Grey were my colors then. Two masters I served and united them strong...proved that this nation could right a wrong...and long endure. I am the Infantry! FOLLOW ME!

I led the charge up San Juan Hill....scaled the walls of old Tientain....and stalked the Moro in the steaming jungle still...always the vanguard. I am the Infantry!

At Chateau-Thierry, first over the top, then I stood like a rock on the Marne. It was I who cracked the Hindenburg Line...in the Argonne, I broke the Kaiser' spine...and didn't come back till it was "over, over there." I am the Infantry! FOLLOW ME!

A generation older at Bataan, I briefly bowed, but then I vowed to return. Assaulted the African shore...learned my lesson the hard way in the desert sands...pressed my buttons into the beach at Anzio...and bounced into Rome with determination and resolve. I am the Infantry!

The English channel, stout beach defenses and the hedgerows could not hold me...I jumped into Normandy's shore....broke out at St. Lo, unbent the Bulge...vaulted the Rhine...and swarmed the Heartland. Hitler's dream and the Third Reich were dead.

In the Pacific, from island to island I hopped...hit the beaches and chopped through swamp and jungle...I set the Rising Sun. I am the Infantry!

In Korea, I gathered my strength around Pusan...swept across the frozen Han...outflanked the Reds at Inchon...and marched to the Yalu. FOLLOW ME!

Around the world, I stand....ever forward. Over Lebanon's sands, my rifle steady aimed...and calm returned. At Berlin's gate, I scorned the Wall of Shame. I am the Infantry!

My bayonet....on the wings of power...keeps the peace worldwide. And despots, falsely garbed in freedom's mantle, falter...hide. My ally in the paddies and the forest...I teach, I aid, I lead. FOLLOW ME!

The world's headlines roar when evil men are put to flight, as I descend by parachute into the night. Grenada's students rescued, Noriega's drug dealers imprisoned, Haiti's curse lifted...I lead the way into battle through the darkest nights. I am the Infantry!

I fight from the Sky, over the land, across the sea..through desert sands...to free a Kuwaiti city, across frozen mountains to keep the peace in Balkan lands--I hold the key to peace or war: FOLLOW ME!

Where brave men fight...there fight I. In freedom's cause...I live, I die. From Concord Bridge to Heartbreak Ridge, from the Arctic to the Mekong...The Lord of Battle!

Always ready...then, now and forever. I am the Infantry!

FOLLOW ME!

FEEDBACK!

E-mail 1st TSG (A)

#1..."Why did you reword our poem to change a classic line. The history of calling the Infantry Queen of Battle is from chess, where the queen is the only piece that can go anywhere, in any direction and defeat any other piece."

REPLY:

I changed it from "Queen" because we are all-male--with no females.

Second, the queen takes her orders from the King, we should not be second to any other branch. The chess analogy is not shared by enough people these days to warrant its continuation in my opinion.

You should also note I updated the poem to the present day, the "official" poem stops at the 1970s, like the "History of the American Paratrooper". This is unacceptible. There is 20+ years of Infantry/Paratrooper history missing. If you do not know your past, you will not know your present or where you are going.

We need in Infantry branch to start taking risks and start writing the new chapters in our history, and this includes OPERATIONAL MANEUVER from the AIR. We are selling us short as these kind of simpletons that lust to close with the enemy and that's it. Infantry is more than that. Its the LORD of battle, it decides the issue and keeps the peace, its decisive. Infantry is the force that can seperate the good people from the bad guys. It can keep the peace we earn by combined arms--which means using tanks and other combat engineering means to leverage the terrain.

We need decisive infantry, that determines the issue, seizes the victory, its time to update our poem and our mentality to "LORD" of battle. Why should Armor branch be the mixers longing for an optimal combined arms effect? We need it in the Infantry, in the Airborne and Air Assault brigades to be precise.

#2..."I know you didn't intend it this way, you probably used it like 'Lord of the Dance', but a lot of Christians, such as myself, don't feel comfortable using the term Lord for anyone, or anything, other than God.

Second, the King doesn't tell the Queen what to do in chess, she goes wherever she wants to, that's one of the reasons they used the analogy."

REPLY:

Hmmm..never thought "Lord of battle" was taking away from the "Lord of Lords", but we can make this clear. Infantry in the U.S. needs to change its crusty, musty, hide-bound ways. An infantry that "lords" over the other parts of the battleforce is what we need, an infantry that is a team player to operational maneuver, not just a bunch of people longing to get into a bloody fight to do "its own thing". Chess is dead in the 21st Century landscape of America. It cannot compete with first and third person shooter video games like "Call of Duty", "Tomb Raider", "Bloodstone" and "Iron Fist 2"...If infantry is going to be that piece that can move anywhere, than it needs to get some light AFVs into its light infantry force structure or they are going to sit on the sidelines when it comes time to operationally maneuver like the march on Baghdad in 2003, or worse yet stay home as America sits powerless as an evil Army gobbles up its neighbor because we were too heavy to get there with the forces with the vehicular mobility means (Kosovo). Being sent to flood areas with troops on foot and unarmored is a recipe for national economic and moral exhaustion--as seen today in Iraq/Afghanistan, too. The Lord of Hosts wants us to "redeem the time for the day is evil" by relevent actions.