A background story of Robin Jones' popular poem "Silent Ranks," originally titled "A Special Breed." This poem is available on allmylovegifts.net as well. Mrs. Jones story explains her reasons for writing her poem, her husband's feelings about some of the stanzas, as well as her discovery of how popular her piece of literature has become and truly shows us how small our military community is.

I was recently contacted by Ms. Robin Jones (who might I add is a fascinating and lovely woman) who is the author of the Silent Ranks Poem (A Special Breed). Below is an e-mail she sent me, telling me the story behind her poem. I hope you enjoy!

Sin,
My husband is in the Army and we were stationed in Schofield Barracks Hawaii, his first assignment out of Flight school. There was a big effort to hold a Woman’s conference addressing issues important to military wives. I knew a few people who were involved in the planning of the conference, one friend knew that I wrote poetry and asked if I would be interested in writing something for the conference. I was a young military wife, as you are now, just learning the “ropes”-things that the poem addresses-like the fact that if my husband is ordered to do something at work, that it must take priority, even if it meant that he would be late for dinner (or miss it all together!). But I also wanted to address the fact that although it was he that could be put in harm’s way, our kids and I also made sacrifices. After a few weeks, the poem had the tone that I was hoping to achieve and it was placed inside the programs distributed during the 2 day event. Originally it only stated Army wife as it was an Army conference, but was changed to encompass all military wives. Also, the original had contractions such as “this I can’t forget” and over the years it apparently was changed to cannot. The working title of the poem was A Special Breed and was eventually changed to Silent Ranks.

An interesting side note:

My husband was not very comfortable in my description of him in the poem, “a patriot, a brave and prideful man” as he, like most military soldiers I have met over the years, does not see his service as a noble cause, but more just what he was meant to do-his calling.

A few years ago, a friend and I went to the craft fair during the Oktoberfest here on Fort Belvoir (Virginia). We stopped at a booth that had many novelty type items (mugs, plaques, etc) dedicated to military wives. I began to read a poem on one of the displays and realized that it was the one I had written over a decade before (Silent Ranks). It was signed Author Unknown and I started to talk to woman running the booth. It was an exciting day! I hadn’t known that my poem had touched so many and that it had grown a life of its own. I told the woman that I didn’t mind that she use the poem but would appreciate my name being added back on it. I also told her that I wrote another poem for the next woman’s conference the following year using their theme “A woman for all seasons” and agreed to send it to her. (although personally I like Silent Ranks better)

What makes this whole thing even more special is my daughter, who lives in Germany and works at Ramstein Air Base, being asked to engrave a poem that she recognized as one I had written. Makes us remember just how small the military world really is!

Good luck in your business and as a military spouse. As an Army wife of over 24 years now, I can say that you will not find a more supportive group of people than those who live the military life. We definitely are a special breed. Also remember that although your husband may “bleed” Navy blood, it is his heart that makes that blood pump and it belongs to you.

Sincerely,
Robin Jones

Last update : 08/08/2008 07:34 AM

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