PART I--THE SOLDIER'S MARCH

GENERAL:
(Wry, weary, humane)
A victory march?
Almost. Not quite.
The enemy capital
Is nearly in sight.
The decisive battles
Have all been fought and won.
In a very short time, now.
This war will be done.
So I order my men.
Children, actually, and far from home.
To fight and die for nothing.
(SOLDIER enters left, goofy, dazed.)
What the hell are you supposed to be?
No rifle, no helmet, no pack.
What a sad, sad sack!

SOLDIER:
A sack of shit. I quit. I quit.

GENERAL:
Snap to attention! Salute! Salute!

SOLDIER:
That's all over for me.
You can have my fucking soldier suit.
(Shell-shocked, singing dreamily)
We don't want no more of your bullshit.
We don't want no more of your bullshit.
We don't want no more of your bullshit.
We just want to go home.

GENERAL:
Where are you supposed to be today?

SOLDIER:
Where all the people are getting killed.
So I ran away.

GENERAL:
That's all you've got to say?
If you knew me, you'd know
That all my life I've run away.
Never asked to be born in the firs…