The invasions of Iran and Madagascar were shooting wars. Iceland was not (a shooting war) only because the residents surrendered without a fight, like a mugging victim, rape victim etc…
Would you insist that a woman who is raped or robbed at gunpoint was not attacked because she did not fight back?
Don’t confuse the issue by changing the topic.
It may be a fine line, but the semantics matter. Violating the sovereignty of a country by invading them with the intent to deny your enemy the use of that territory, but being prepared to defend yourself if fired upon is not the same thing as coming in with guns blazing with the intent to conquer them.
Here is the first thing that comes to mind, it’s along the same lines, sort of, kind of.
Charlie Daniels
“Lonesome Boy From Dixie”
Well there’s a peach tree on a hill in northern Georgia
Where a teenage boy sits staring at the ground.
Soon he’ll leave to join the rebel soldiers
for the Cumberland and Nashville he is bound.
He goes down to ride with the Bedford Forrest Calv’ry
He can shoot a man at a hunnert yards or more
But he knows he’s just like any other soldier.
If they spill his blood he’ll never ride no more.
Don’t you know I’m just a lonesome boy from Dixie.
Help me Lord, I feel so all alone.
Don’t you know I’m a lonesome boy from Dixie.
Gone to war and I just want to get home.
When the battle started the rebels were outnumbered
They shot his leg with an angry cannonball
The medic came and said “we’ll all be lucky
If the boy from Georgia makes it home at all”.
[Chorus]
Well there’s a peach tree on a hill in northern Georgia
Where a horse stands like a statue made of stone.
Flowers bless a grave down in the meadow.
Now the lonesome boy from Dixie made it home.
25 million dead, it’s just stunning.
Oh, and another one by Charlie Daniels
Still in Saigon
The Charlie Daniels Band
‘Got on a plane in Fresco and got off in Vietnam.
I walked into a different world, the past forever gone.
I could have gone to Canada or I could have stayed in school.
But I was brought up differently. I couldn’t break the rules.
Thirteen months and fifteen days, the last ones were the worst.
One minute I kneel down and pray And the next I stand and curse.
No place to run to where I did not feel that war.
When I got home I stayed alone and checked behind each door.
Still in Saigon
Still in Saigon
I am Still in Saigon in my mind!
The ground at home was covered with snow. And I was covered in sweat.
My younger brother calls me a killer and My daddy calls me a vet.
Everybody says that I’m someone else That I’m sick and there’s no cure.
Damned if I know who I am. There was only one place I was sure
When I was
Still in Saigon
Still in Saigon.
I am still in Saigon in my mind!
Every summer when it rains, I smell the jungle, I hear the planes.
I can’t tell no one I feel ashamed. Afraid someday I’ll go insane.
That’s been ten long years ago and time has gone on by.
But now and then I catch myself
Eyes searchin’ through the sky.
All the sounds of long ago will be forever in my head.
Mingled with the wounded’s cries and the silence of the dead
'Cause I’m
Still in Saigon
Still in Saigon
I am still in Saigon in my mind
John Prine
Sam Stone
Sam Stone came home
To his wife and family
After serving in the conflict overseas
And the time that he served
Had shattered all his nerves
And left a little shrapnel in hs knee
But the morphine eased the pain
And the grass grew 'round his brain
And gave him all the confidence he lacked
With a Purple Heart and a monkey on his back
There’s a hole in daddy’s arm
Where all the money goes
Jesus Christ died for nothing I suppose
Little pitchers have big ears
Don’t stop to count the years
Sweet songs never last too long
On broken radios
Sam Stone’s welcome home
Didn’t last too long
He went to work, he’d spent his last dime
And Sammy took to stealing
When he got that empty feeling
For a hundred dollar habit, without overtime
And the gold rolled through his veins
Like a thousand railroad trains
Eased his mind in the hours that he chose
While the kids ran around wearing other
People’s clothes
There’s a hole in daddy’s arm
Where all the money goes
Jesus Christ died for nothing I suppose
Little pitchers have big ears
Don’t stop to count the years
Sweet songs never last too long
On broken radios
Sam Stone was alone
When he popped his last balloon
Climbing walls while sitting in a chair
Well, he played his last request
While the room smelled just like death
With an overdose hovering in the air
But life had lost it’s fun
And there was nothing to be done
Trade his house that he bought on the GI Bill
For a flag draped casket on a local heroes hill
There’s a hole in daddy’s arm
Where all the money goes
Jesus Christ died for nothing I suppose
Little pitchers have big ears
Don’t stop to count the years
Sweet songs never last too long
On broken radios
“There Won’t Be Many Coming Home” by Roy Orbison
Listen all you people
Try and understand
You may be a soldier
Woman, child or man
But there won’t be many coming home
No, there won’t be many coming home
Oh, there won’t be many
Maybe ten out of twenty
But there won’t be many coming home
Now the old folks will remember
On that dark and dismal day
How their hearts were choked with pride
As their children marched away
Now the glory is all gone
They are left alone
And there won’t be many coming home
No, there won’t be many coming home
Oh, there won’t be many
Maybe five out of twenty
But there won’t be many coming home
Look real closely at the soldier
Coming at you through the haze
He may be the younger brother who ran away
And before you kill another
Listen to what I say
Oh, there won’t be many coming home
Oh, there won’t be many coming home
Oh, there won’t be many
There may not be any
But there won’t be many coming home
If they all came back but one
He was still some mother’s son
And there won’t be many coming home
Oh, there won’t be many coming home
Oh, there won’t be many coming home
Oh, there won’t be many coming home
Indeed. The three I posted are from my own collection. I don’t know that I’ve ever heard Roy Orbison sing that one.
Black Sabbath, War Pigs
Gen’rals gathered in their masses,
Just like witches at black masses
Evil minds that plot destruction,
Sorcerer of death’s construction
In the fields the bodies burning,
As the war machine keeps turning
Death and hatred to mankind,
Poisoning their brainwashed minds
Oh Lord yeah
Politicians hide themselves away
They only started the war
Why should they go out to fight?
They leave that role for the poor, yeah
Time will tell on their power minds,
Making war just for fun
Treating people just like pawns in chess,
Wait 'till their judgement day comes, yeah
Now in darkness world stops turning,
Ashes where the bodies burning
No more War Pigs have the power,
Hand of God has struck the hour
Day of judgement, God is calling
On their knees the war pigs crawling,
Begging mercies for their sins
Satan, laughing, spreads his wings
Oh Lord yeah
Definitely a protest song, and one with staying power, it still gets airplay.
48 years later!!
That would be like someone in the 70’s listening to ragtime music from the 1920s.
Ha, interesting comparison!
lol
feel old yet?
I saw them play it in concert in 1976, so…
Hell yes I feel old!
For you my friend.
Chuck is VERY cool. 
I can’t figure out how to post YouTube videos from this iPad, but it’s an easy find with Google.
Orbison has one of the best voices ever.
Ragtime made a bit of a revival in the late 60s early 70s.
Apparently I used the wrong word anyway. Ragtime was pre 1920s. But the point remains when we think back to 70s music and movies (Rocky), that’s a little like someone in the 70s reminiscing about 30s music and movies.
