A Library of Specimen Writings

"Nothing changes more constantly than the past; for the past that influences our lives does not consist of what actually happened, but of what men believe happened."
by Gerald W. Johnson [American Heroes and Hero-Worship (1943)]

• Absolute War by George S. Patton Jr
  
• A Code of Chivalry
  
• A Difficult Lesson by David Bogner
  
• Aftermath by Siegfried Sassoon
  
• A Glossary of Diplomatic Terms by eDiplomat
  
• A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall by Bob Dylan
  
• Air Force Blue by Marilyn Scott & Keith Textor
  
• A Last Good Kiss for Dickey Chapelle by Ed Lynskey
  
• A March in the Ranks by Walt Whitman
  
• A Meditation on the Divine Will by Abraham Lincoln
  
• America Needs to Wake Up! by Phil Ouimette
  
• American Fighting Man anonymous
  
• American Soldier by Toby Keith & Chuck Cannon
  
• America the Beautiful by Katharine Lee Bates
  
• America Will Always Stand by Randy Travis
  
• Plane Language FORTHCOMING
  
• And Then There Were None by Eric Frank Russell
  
• An Irish Airman Foresees His Death by William Butler Yeats
  
• Any Soldier To His Son anonymous
  
• A Pittance Of Time by Terry Kelly
  
• Arlington by Trace Atkins
  
• Armed Forces Honor Code of Ethics
  
• Army Blue traditional
  
• Army Dreamers by Kate Bush
  
• Articles of Confederation
  
• As Head of the Division of Provision for Revision by George S. Patton Jr
  
• A Soldier anonymous
  
• A Soldier's Burial by George S. Patton Jr
  
• A Soldier's Christmas by Michael Marks
  
• A Soldier's Prayer by George S. Patton Jr
  
• A Tribute to Samuel R. Bird anonymous
  
• Auld Lang Syne traditional
  
• Ballad of the Green Berets by Barry Sadler & Robin Moore
  
• Ballad of the Quiet Fighter traditional
  
• basic dog commands
  
• Basic Rules for Patrolling
  
• Battle by John Davidson
  
• Belt Line Girl by Agnes Sis Cunningham
  
• Between the Wars by Billy Bragg
  
• Billy Boy by Millard Lampell
  
• Birds on the Western Front by Saki [Hector Hugh Munro]
  
• Blood Chit
  
• Blowin' In The Wind by Bob Dylan
  
• Bring Them Home by Pete Seeger
  
• Channel Firing by Thomas Hardy
  
• Christmas 1966 on Operation Sierra by Michael W. Rodriguez
  
• Chronology of the Vietnam War
  
• Citizenship in a Republic by Theodore Roosevelt
  
• Climbing Terms FORTHCOMING
  
• Code of an Army Officer
  
• Code of Conduct
  
• Coining Rules
  
• Colonial Resolves
  
• Constitution of the United States of America FORTHCOMING
  
• Courage, Cowardice and the Wordsmiths by Stephen Rittenberg
  
• Cost Of Livin' by Ronnie Dunn
  
• Cruel War traditional
  
• Culture War by Lee Congdon
  
• Dear Uncle Sam by Loretta Lynn
  
• Death the Leveller by James Shirley
  
• Deck of Cards by T. Texas Tyler
  
• Declaration of Arms
  
• Declaration of Independence
  
• Defiant Gesture
  
• Deliberate Distortions Still Obscure Understanding of the Vietnam War by Harry G. Summers Jr
  
• Diving Terms
  
• Dixie by Daniel Decatur Emmett, et al
  
• Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night by Dylan Thomas
  
• Down Under Military Glossary
  
• Draft Dodger Rag by Pete Seeger
  
• Drink Before the War by Sinéad O'Connor
  
• Dulce Et Decorum Est by Wilfred Owen
  
• Dying Soldier by Carter Family
  
• Eighth of November by Big Kenny & John Rich
  
• Embarrassed by Robert J. Grady
  
• Espionage Act 1918
  
• Fear by George S. Patton Jr
  
• Fiddlers' Green traditional
  
• Fifty-thousand Names on a Wall by George Jones & Jamie O'Hara
  
• Fixin' to Die Rag by Joe McDonald
  
• Flag Terms FORTHCOMING
  
• For The Fallen by Laurence Robert Binyon
  
• For Soldiers by Humfrey Gifford
  
• Freedom by Blary O'Gary [Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce]
  
• Freedom Is Not Free by Kelly Strong
  
• Gates of Fire by Michael Yon
  
• General Orders for a Sentry
  
• Gettysburg Address by Abraham Lincoln
  
• G. I. Jive by Johnny Mercer
  
• God Bless America by Irving Berlin
  
• God Bless The USA by Lee Greenwood
  
• God Of Battles by George S. Patton Jr
  
• Goodbye to the Way We Were by Gerard van der Leun
  
• Grafted Into the Army by Henry Clay Work
  
• Group Four by Henry G. Lee
  
• Grown-Up Christmas List by Linda Thompson-Jenner, et al
  
• Hail Columbia by Joseph Hopkinson
  
• Hard Crackers Come Again No More anonymous
  
• Hell Week an excerpt from The Commandos by Douglas C. Waller
  
• Heraldic Terms FORTHCOMING
  
• Here Dead We Lie by A.E. Housman
  
• Hire a Vet? Don't Do Him Any Favors! by David A. Sodamann
  
• Historical Perspectives on Future War by Robert F. Baumann
  
• Home by Dierks Bentley, et al
  
• I Ain't Marching Anymore by Philip David Ochs
  
• I am the Infantry
  
• I Believe by Eric Levi
  
• I Didn't Raise My Boy to Be a Soldier anonymous
  
• If by J. Rudyard Kipling
  
• I Just Came Back from a War by Wynn Varble & Darryl Worley
  
• In Flanders Fields by John McCrae, et al
  
• Insignia: The Way You Tell Who's Who in the Military by Jim Garamone
  
• Instrument of Peace adapted from the prayer of St Francis
  
• Invictus by William Ernest Henley
  
• I Was A Soldier by Daniel K. Cedusky
  
• I Was There by Stacey Randall
  
• Johnny, I Hardly Knew Ye traditional
  
• Keep the Change by Hank Williams Jr
  
• Kellogg - Briand Pact
  
• Kum Ba Yah traditional
  
• Lessons Learned ... Iraq
  
• Life and Death Decisions Weigh on Junior Officers by James Dao
  
• Lives in the Balance by Jackson Browne
  
• Long Trip Out by Thomas Pynchon
  
• Made in America by Toby Keith, et al
  
• Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence
  
• Memorial Day Establishment Orders by John A. Logan
  
• Mercenary's Song by George S. Patton Jr
  
• Merry Christmas, Snake by Robert A. Hall
  
• Military Earthworks Terms (NPS)
  
• Military Schools
  
• Mil-Lingo Quiz
  
• Mil-Lingo Quiz Key
  
• Mil-Speak Quiz
  
• Mil-Speak Quiz Key
  
• My Prime of Youth by James Shirley
  
• My Rifle by W.H. Rupertus
  
• My Youngest Son Came Home Today by Eric Bogle
  
• Nine Principles of War
  
• Nine Rules for Personnel of MACV
  
• No Man's Land by Eric Bogle
  
• None Dare Call it Terror by Karen McKay
  
• Old Veteran on a Courthouse Lawn anonymous
  
• One Tin Soldier by Dennis Lambert & Brian Potter
  
• On Memorial Day by Mark Helprin
  
• On Recruiting and Maintaining an Army by George Washington
  
• On Sheep, Wolves, and Sheepdogs by Dave Grossman
  
• On the Road to Tokio by the Almanac Singers
  
• Ordered to Vietnam by W. Michael McMunn
  
• Over There by George M. Cohan
  
• Parachuting History
  
• Parachuting Terms
  
• Paratrooper's Prayer by James G. Morton
  
• Peace, Brother, Peace by Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil
  
• Peggy and the Soldier traditional
  
• Phonetic Codes & Signal Flags Representing the Alphabet
  
• Pledge of Allegiance by Francis Bellamy
  
• Prayer anonymous
  
• Ragged Old Flag by Johnny Cash
  
• Rain by Edward Thomas
  
• Range Finding by Robert Frost
  
• Reginald's Peace Poem by Saki [Hector Hugh Munro]
  
• Reporting from the Front by Michael Marks
  
• Reporting to Heaven anonymous
  
• Revolution by John Lennon & Paul McCartney
  
• Rules for Rogers' Rangers by Robert Rogers
  
• Rules for Survival adapted from Laurence Gonzales
  
• Rumors of War by Billy Bragg
  
• Sally, Don't You Grieve by Woody Guthrie with Cisco Houston
  
• Sample C-Ration Menus
  
• Seven Army Values
  
• Seven Laments for the War-Dead by Yehuda Amichai
  
• She Calls Me Raymond by Brett Eldredge
  
• Shiloh by D. Worley, W. Varble, & D. Poythress
  
• Shootist Creed by Glendon Swarthout
  
• Side by Side by Arthur Stern
  
• Sit Down Young Stranger by Gordon Lightfoot
  
• Sky Pilot by Barry Jenkins, et al
  
• Smile, Smile, Smile by Wilfred Owen
  
• Soldier by Charles Truman Lanham
  
• Soldiers and Jesus by James Otto & Chris Wallin
  
• So Long, It's Been Good To Know You by Woody Guthrie
  
• Somebody's Darling traditional
  
• Some Gave All by Billy Ray Cyrus
  
• Some Geo-Political Rules on Combat adapted from Thomas L. Friedman
  
• So ... What Was Vietnam REALLY Like? by Mike Rice
  
• Standing Orders of Rogers' Rangers by Robert Rogers
  
• Stars and Stripes Forever by John Philip Sousa
  
• Still In Saigon by The Charlie Daniels Band
  
• Summer Side of Life by Gordon Lightfoot
  
• Swinging the Lead by A.B. Banjo Paterson
  
• Taps traditional
  
• Tears of God by Josh Turner
  
• Tenting Tonight On the Old Camp Ground by Walter C. Kittredge
  
• The Americans – a Canadian's Opinion by Gordon Sinclair
  
• The American's Creed by William Tyler Page
  
• The Army Air Corps by Robert MacArthur Crawford
  
• The Army Bean anonymous
  
• The Army Goes Rolling Along adapted by H.W. Arberg
  
• The Art of Naming Operations by Gregory C. Sieminski
  
• The Ballad of Rodger Young by Frank Loesser
  
• The Battle Cry of Freedom by George Frederick Root
  
• The Battle for Lima Site 85
  
• The Bivouac of the Dead by Theodore O'Hara
  
• The Caisson Song by Edmund L. Gruber
  
• The Case for the Vietnam War by Walt W. Rostow
  
• The Charge of the Light Brigade by Alfred, Lord Tennyson
  
• The Conquered Banner by Abram Joseph Ryan
  
• The Conquerors by Phyllis McGinley
  
• The Dashboard by Monty Criswell & Chris Young
  
• The Day It Snowed In Vietnam by Jim Schueckler
  
• The Declaration of Arbroath by Bernard de Linton
  
• The Easter Egg by Saki [Hector Hugh Munro]
  
• The Enemy in Your Hands MACV
  
• The Hand that Signed the Paper by Dylan Thomas
  
• The Hearts-and-Minds Myth by Ralph Peters
  
• The History of Rank by The Institute of Heraldry
  
• The House I Live In anonymous
  
• The Last Fallen Hero by The Charlie Daniels Band
  
• The Last Laugh by Wilfred Owen
  
• The Legacy of Tet by J.R. Dunn
  
• The Low Road anonymous
  
• The Man He Killed by Thomas Hardy
  
• The Moon and the Dead by George S. Patton Jr
  
• The Next War by Wilfred Owen
  
• The Night Watch by William T. Edmonds
  
• The Nomenclature of Martial Knives and Related Cutlery Terms FORTHCOMING
  
• The Patriot Game traditional
  
• The Price of Duty by James Webb
  
• There's a Star-Spangled Banner Waving Somewhere by Bob Miller & Paul Roberts
  
• The Soldier Has Come Home by Barry Sadler
  
• The Star Spangled Banner by Francis Scott Key
  
• The Times, They Are a-Changin' by Bob Dylan
  
• The Toys of Peace by Saki [Hector Hugh Munro]
  
• The Unintended Consequences of Limited Objectives by Karen McKay
  
• The Unknown Soldier anonymous
  
• The Unrest-Cure by Saki [Hector Hugh Munro]
  
• The Volunteer by Elbridge Jefferson Cutler
  
• The War Drags On by Donovan Leitch
  
• The Warrior Mentality by Ernest R. Emerson
  
• The Working Party by Siegfried Sassoon
  
• They're Either Too Young Or Too Old by Frank Loesser & Arthur Schwartz
  
• This Is My Country anonymous
  
• This is No Case of Petty Right or Wrong by Edward Thomas
  
• This War Can Still Be Won by Fernando M. Luján
  
• Tin Soldier by Stiff Little Fingers
  
• Tomorrow's Wars by Victor Davis Hanson
  
• Tramp! Tramp! Tramp! by George Frederick Root
  
• Travelin' Soldier by Bruce Robison
  
• True Face of the Vietnam Vet by Malcolm McConnell
  
• Twenty-Eight Articles: Fundamentals of Company-level Counterinsurgency by David Kilcullen
  
• Two Soldiers traditional
  
• UCMJ Punitive Articles
  
• UCMJ Riot Act
  
• Universal Soldier by Buffy Sainte Marie
  
• V-Home
  
• Vietnam by Jimmy Cliff
  
• Viet-Nam Military Terms
  
• Virginia's Black Confederates by Walter E. Williams
  
• Waiting for the Barbarians by Constantine P. Cavafy
  
• War by Norman Whitfield & Barrett Strong
  
• War Baby by Mick Jagger
  
• War is Kind by Stephen Crane
  
• War Pigs by Black Sabbath
  
• War Powers Act
  
• Warren's Address to the American Soldiers by John Pierpont
  
• Was My Brother In The Battle? by Stephen Foster
  
• We All Got That S.O.B. by Richard X
  
• West Point slang
  
• What a Soldier Gives anonymous
  
• What the Flag Means by Mark Heffron
  
• What the Soldier Did anonymous
  
• Where Have All The Flowers Gone? by Pete Seeger & Joe Hickerson
  
• Wild West Show by Big Kenny, John Rich, & Blair Daly
  
• Willie McBride's Reply by Stephen L. Suffet
  
• Why is the Colonel Called Kernal? by Raymond Oliver
  
• Yankee Doodle traditional
  
• Yankee Doodle Dandy by George M. Cohan
  
• You're a Grand Old Flag by George M. Cohan
  
• Your Flag Decal Won't Get You Into Heaven Anymore by John Prine
  
• You've Got to Stand for Something by Aaron Tippin
  

Public Notice: This webpage of specimen compositions contains copyrighted materials, which are either in the Public Domain, or are replicated under the Fair Use provision of the Copyright Act (Title 17 USC Section 107). These materials have been made available as a public service, to encourage understanding and to advance education in the fields of human rights, conflict resolution, social justice, and sociopolitical issues. These materials are distributed without profit to all interested persons. Any person making further use of these materials is solely responsible for such re-publication, and may be subject to restrictions or penalties, for which COMBAT magazine is not liable. Reprint permission must be obtained directly from the author or copyright holder.