Random Thought #1: Soldiering

Any attempt to describe a Soldier’s bond with a fellow Soldier falls short of a true and authentic depiction. A brotherly bond indeed, devoid of social construct and full of authentic affinity toward one another. A camaraderie that supersedes logic, and an in-saturation of pure zeal that warms the passions for achievement. I sometimes wonder why men grow closer in moments of peril; or why some men feel so at home in situations of complete destitute. A confrontation with death brings this perspective closer; a confrontation with the Real illuminates that space; I’ve learned to cope with such a meeting. What wonderful young people who volunteer to service our country not aware of the atrocity that lie ahead, and there is sure to be demise alongside victory; beauty in the midst of the hell that is war. The simple notion of loyalty and duty remain unattainable for those who seek profit for themselves; but the warrior, and he does exist, seeks victory in heart, mind, spirit, and on the ground, he seeks it with his brothers despite the fact that he and his brother might not realize it together. They marvel at his tenacity, yet do not envy his charge...they salute his triumphs, but are careful not to take eyes off of him in domestic spaces. And so the warrior becomes content in his own skin, in his own mind, in his own world--people will not understand him, but his brothers will. They will know what the words I Love You mean; they will understand the hard and rough times, and appreciate the jewels that form as a result; they will witness the beauty. Brothers understand one another, are grateful for one another, and love one another. This is not what the great philosophers intended: a citizen-soldier who battles himself while he prepares for the worse, hoping for the best, but wanting the challenge nonetheless. I thank God for that Love--a bond that will never be unbroken and one that nurtures survival. The American Soldier is quite a species, a citizen-solider who protects and lives among sheep. A warrior that voluntarily defends American rights despite the multitude of things that arbitrarily get abused and neglected. Unity lies within us, on a battlefield we’ve yet to stomp; we wait: “Cry havoc!, and let slip the dogs of war.”