"Tommy" by Rudyard Kipling (read by Tom O’Bedlam)

A friend of mine asked me to post this, after reading the following news item three days ago (24th September, 2009) “The number of former servicemen in prison or on probation or parole is now more than double the total British deployment in Afghanistan, according to a new survey. An estimated 20,000 veterans are in the criminal justice system, with 8,500 behind bars, almost one in 10 of the prison population.“ “Tommy“ was written in 1890, yet it’s surprising how relevant it seems today. It was originally called The Queens Uniform, which makes the line about “The Widow’s Uniform“ more poignant. The Guardian published this article about Kipling, quoting his piece about the soldiers killed in the war which ends with the line, “who shall return us our children?“