last year i focused my tribute on the servicemen we refer to as the greatest generation--in my case, my grandparents. since then no one close to me has served in the military besides my younger brother who, i am thankful to say, was never called to active duty.
that is changing. i recently met a man with a daughter Little's age who served 2 tours in iraq, one just before and one just after his daughter was born. and i've discovered other veterans walking around in plain clothes masquerading as ordinary people. it turns out most people know someone--someone young--who has been to war, though they might not realize it (as i didn't until it finally came up in conversation). have you also found this to be true?
i am sorry to admit how little i know about people fighting the current war, from the US, Iraq, Afghanistan and around the world. but i don't want to let the day go by without an observance.
and so, i turn to reflections from actual soldiers:
THE NUANCES OF CELEBRATING VETERANS DAY -by david botti:
"Talking to the soldiers last summer about my own experiences in the [Iraq] war, I felt like an old man boring a younger generation with stories of "way back when." Some of these soldiers were still in high school when the war started. A 24-year-old lieutenant, whose platoon had recently lost two vehicles to roadside bombs, told me of watching the war start in his grandparent's living room as a college sophomore. In the end, I left Iraq in August not feeling as though I'd revisited a war I'd been there for the beginning of, but one that was in essence an entirely different conflict.
"Those soldiers of JSS Babil I met this summer not only face a different war than I did five years ago but they will come home to a different country. And this is important to remember as we observe Veterans Day today...read more
reader comments to this story are interesting too:
"The author doesn't realize it, but he's done a good job of describing what it feels like to be a veteran of the war in Vietnam.... Even though there were a lot of us veterans around back in the day, most of us tried our best to blend in with the rest of our generation and know well that strange look that non-veterans give when they learn that you're a veteran of an unpopular war. It's like they are trying to remember everything they've said about the war and those that have fought it since the day they first met you, or worse."
earlier this month i read steven crane's the red badge of courage. i was startled as i often am by the relevance of the young soldier's thoughts and feelings to those i imagine myself having in a like situation. good books are always teaching me to recongnize a kinship of emotion across the boundaries of time and experience, and with that learning comes a realization that, in the joys and despairs of life, nothing is far away or long ago.
may all the soldiers around the world be returned to family and peace.
:: iraq and afghanistan war veterans join the homeless
:: veterans pass legislation to be reimbursed for buying their own combat equipment
:: iraq coalition casualties
:: other people's families
2 comments:
Thank you for this, Krista.
There is a woman I work with who has to leave her 1 year old baby to serve 18 months in Iraq. I think about her every day and wish there was a way that she didn't have to go and yet so thankful that she is going instead of me or my husband. I am a selfish person and her sacrifice is why I can be. Anyway, just wanted to share my thoughts.
Post a Comment