Followup to Dispatch from the Front II
I want to post a followup to this morning's post, Dispatch from the Front II. In that post, I shared with you some of my correspondent's perspective on combat.
Here, I'd like to look at perspectives on combat on the home front. How do friends, family members, loved ones, etc... process the realities of combat?
Somewhere in the final mix is an odd blend of hope, reality, denial, anger, prayer, intense interest, support, pride. Military families with loved ones in harm's way form a bond that few others can fully understand.
With me, I find myself almost surprised at the primitive emotions engendered within me. Someone is trying to hurt this person I care about! My instinct is to pick up a club and stand beside him and say to the howling barbarians across the field, if you're gonna mess with him, you're gonna mess with me. It's a return to tribal conflicts. Our clan against your clan. And isn't it surreal that here in the 21st century, with all our technological magic, we are literally fighting tribes in Iraq and Afghanistan!
But, I cannot be there, and so families, friends, loved ones here need to let them go, we need to let them go do their work.
We do so with all the realities of war in the backs, or fronts, of our minds. We know the nature of the work, we know the risks, what's at stake.
And so, we try to be a cheering section, a wellspring of support, so that our soldiers know they aren't forgotten, they haven't been sent in vain. We praise the noble values that drive soldiers to put themselves in harm's way.
We in no way ignore the dangers, that would dishonor their work. It's always there, the thought that the next time we see them might be on the other side of the River. (Yes, that is what the quote at the top of the blog page is about.)
But those things have to be left in God's hands. He knows where our soldiers are, and whatever happens to them is His will, and therefore it is not random chance.
As I said here, we are so proud because they came from us. And the Lord and Uncle Sam willing, they will soon return to us as the heroes they are.
Here, I'd like to look at perspectives on combat on the home front. How do friends, family members, loved ones, etc... process the realities of combat?
Somewhere in the final mix is an odd blend of hope, reality, denial, anger, prayer, intense interest, support, pride. Military families with loved ones in harm's way form a bond that few others can fully understand.
With me, I find myself almost surprised at the primitive emotions engendered within me. Someone is trying to hurt this person I care about! My instinct is to pick up a club and stand beside him and say to the howling barbarians across the field, if you're gonna mess with him, you're gonna mess with me. It's a return to tribal conflicts. Our clan against your clan. And isn't it surreal that here in the 21st century, with all our technological magic, we are literally fighting tribes in Iraq and Afghanistan!
But, I cannot be there, and so families, friends, loved ones here need to let them go, we need to let them go do their work.
We do so with all the realities of war in the backs, or fronts, of our minds. We know the nature of the work, we know the risks, what's at stake.
And so, we try to be a cheering section, a wellspring of support, so that our soldiers know they aren't forgotten, they haven't been sent in vain. We praise the noble values that drive soldiers to put themselves in harm's way.
We in no way ignore the dangers, that would dishonor their work. It's always there, the thought that the next time we see them might be on the other side of the River. (Yes, that is what the quote at the top of the blog page is about.)
But those things have to be left in God's hands. He knows where our soldiers are, and whatever happens to them is His will, and therefore it is not random chance.
As I said here, we are so proud because they came from us. And the Lord and Uncle Sam willing, they will soon return to us as the heroes they are.
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