One can do military math
On a cardboard box
Using slide rules
Whiz wheels and pins
On a plotting board
Solving ballistic geometry
Manually
Safely calculating
All the elements
Of accurate predicted fire
I used to fill out safety tables
In my head and then
On a scrap of green memo paper
That would get passed to the guns
Now computers do the hard work
In zeros and ones
The precision of navigation systems
Blue Force Tracker and
Command Post of the Future
Are supposed to prevent
The errors that used to creep in
To manual gunnery
But
All of my nightmares
From 25 years of service
Have to do with bombs
Artillery rounds and rockets
Falling where they weren’t intended
Miscommunication
Load elevation
Miss-orientation
False identification
Wrong Laser codes
Wrong attack angle
Danger Close
Human error
Gets men and women
Killed
Garbage In
Garbage Out
Flash and Boom
Reverberation
And Then
Radio Silence