Paying Tribute to Those Who Serve!
By Elizabeth Conant
30 Nov 2008
This weekend we spent a day at a family 'event' at which a nephew who we've known and loved for almost 40 years was mobilized for Iraq. This nephew is a member of the National Guard who recently transferred from recruiting to a regular Guard artillary unit. A few months ago, he was notified that he would be activated and deployed to Iraq at the end of this summer.
He has spent the past month at Fort Dix, but this weekend he and his unit came home to participate in a Mobilization Ceremony. Families were invited to a local High School where the 150-some National Guard members gathered; mustered outside; marched in and stood at attention for about 45 minutes for speeches by the Mayor, the Adjutant General of the MA National Guard, and various other speakers of importance. The audience carried small American flags; dressed up as though it was a graduation event...it FELT like a graduation event!
Soldiers gathered outside in uniform in clusters, standing in line at attention, then at parade rest. They were dismissed to spend some time with families, but not everyone had family there! One soldier braced himself against a building column and read a paperback which kept his eyes from families and other soldiers nearby. He crouched in the sunshine, book in hand, alone!
I was impressed that it appeared that most of the audience were family members. I didn't see people that looked to me like random citizens. I saw t-shirts and hats on old men denoting their retired military status, but they were with soldiers in uniform. I saw young men (teenagers) dressed in NASCAR shirts standing with soldiers in uniform. I saw women with small digital cameras taking photos (of brothers? husbands? sons?). I saw children of various ages hanging from the arms and around the necks of soldiers in uniform. I saw little boys carrying themselves like their Dads with a swagger that implied bravery and bravado, but covered other emotions; some dressed in camoflage clothing and others following and standing with Dads as though they darn't let them out of their sight. I didn't see many smiles though there was much affection!
I saw a little boy (8-9 years old) standing at parade rest beside his Dad with his big, brawny, brightly colored, plastic action figure folded inside his clasped hands. Did he feel braver or better able to face his Dad's departure with that toy at his side?
I saw men too old to be going to the dessert weighed down by 40lb. protective vests and 100+ degree heat, marching into the auditorium like Sargent Bilco...full of puff and circumstance, beside young men who looked uncertain and unsmiling! These men with their multiple years in the Guard collecting salaries for maneuvers that could NEVER prepare them for what they face in Iraq will go as Military Police and Security Forces after years of training for artillery work!
I saw young, new fathers holding babies that will be walking and talking when they come home. They didn't smile! They looked at those babies with eyes one isn't accustomed to seeing on 20-something Dads!!
This group of men came yesterday with their families with one more day of leave before they ship back out to Dix for another 6 weeks to 2 months of training before they go to Iraq.
After the ceremonies, soldiers took photos of their kids sitting in hummers and jeeps that were on display on the grounds; they shot photos of wives behind the wheel. One can only image where they will LOOK at those photos!
Families streamed into their cars; out of the parking lot toward a busy intersection. Lines of cars full of families with loved ones headed for a war zone waited in 80 degree heat for the red light to change and let them escape into the shopping mall environment beyond the lot. There was no police officer at the intersection to direct traffic. No one had thought that just maybe these young (and not so young) men deserved every possible moment they could capture with their families and loved ones. Instead they sat in lines of cars waiting their turns to get away. Who should we thank for this lack of forethought?
They are stepping into a nightmare and WE....we don't have the time or inclination to CARE! Oh sure! We say that we care. But how can we when we don't SEE them? They are not from our world...the one where we go to work tomorrow and fixate on the weather or our coming vacation.
How would you FEEL if you or someone you love was going somewhere where he/she was going to be a target for someone who hates us? Someone is going to shoot at them...or try to blow them up! Who should we thank for this distinction?
Last night they (my husband, his brother and our nephew) sat and talked about guns and their firepower. They reminisced about the guns they trained with...this older generation. They talked about stopping power. They talked about 'elegant weapons.' They talked as though they were talking about a Sunday picnic...or a hunting trip! Hey guys! We are talking about human beings here being KILLED by elegant weapons. We are talking about someone we watched grow up who may well be SHOT AT! Who knows how he will come home even if he manages to avoid physical injury!!?? Can we stop glorifying this behavior that our men seem to take such pleasure in?
And three women sat there listening...aunts and a fiance. They smiled and nodded and then, gazed off into the growing darkness in their separate corners of the room. Lord only knows what they were thinking! The fiance asked, "Can we talk about wedding gowns now? We've talked about guns long enough!" The gun talk went on!
How much longer will we put up with this insanity? Someone should take a stand and refuse to go along with it! We will never wean men from their fascination with killing and death, but surely WOMEN who are the medium through which LIFE is born must be the ones to say, NO! It's time to stop! No more killing! No more war!"
If we can't do this, we are destined for extinction! It will come as surely as this mobilization to Iraq!
If you would like to see photographs of this event, go to http://www.pbase.com/... . Visit this event for a few minutes to see if it doesn't help you to empathize with those young (and not so young) men (I did not see any female soldier in this unit) and their families! If you have the inclination and can stomach it, find a mobilization event in YOUR area and go. Hug the families there if only with your eyes and then do what you can to stop the insanity!
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