Beyond the spectacular folds of the Flinders Ranges lies some charming old, sleepy country towns, set amongst fields of purple that stretch to the horizon.A rare radio signal found us listening to The Herd's remix of Redgum's I Was Only 19, the iconic and powerful song about the Vietnam war. As the signal blew behind us to static we swapped to the iPod and listened to a long ago recorded podcast that told the story of the original version by John Schuman, together with the story of The Herd's revisiting and reworking of the lyrics.
Redgum was a soundtrack to many roadtrips back when I was nineteen or so. Now I'm not. The nineteen year old soldiers are still dying though for conflicted, confused and constructed reasons in lands they would have struggled to find on a High School geography lesson map. The whump of the Huey's blades have been replaced by the thunderous scream of an F-16, and the ladders of falling explosives by laser guided missiles. Agent Orange might not be needed in the already defoliated hills of Afghanistan and the sands of Iraq, but we are still blowing up wedding parties and creating one legged orphans.
In the back the kids are bored and have lost interest for now in looking out the window. May they remain so, with all their limbs attached.
Outside this small circle of quiet there is a purple bloom for each spill of unnecessary blood. Lest we forget.
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