The following post is actually written by a colleague of mine who wishes to remain "anonymous", but what he wrote was so profound and moving to me, that I asked his permission to post it.
"The recent excitement over the rocket attack and the flooding in the admin building are reminders that what we are doing here is very serious. We are in perilous and austere conditions. We feel for the injured and wish him well. Some (including myself) complain about difficulties and inconveniences while others simply did their best to get a job done in bad conditions. I’ll admit that I only picked up pushing water by following the example of a certain someone of a much higher pay grade pushing water out of the building. But as bad as we may see things, we need to remember what the military puts up with.
I was returning to KAF on a plane full of passengers. Our luggage was on a pallet towards the rear, blocking our view to the cargo hatch. We were experiencing an unusually long delay. Many had fallen asleep already. Others were trying. Some were reading books. No one was really paying attention. As I was growing impatient, I had to wonder what was keeping us so long. I got my answer.
A truck backed up to our cargo entrance. Four marines gathered in a square formation behind it. They began performing a ceremony as they opened the back of the truck to reveal a casket with a flag draped over it. I believe I was the only one who saw this due to the sleeping, and the pallet blocking our view. Partially stunned and unfamiliar with military protocol as I was, I didn’t know whether it would be appropriate to stand up. Furthermore, this engineer was restrained by an odd seatbelt mechanism to which he hadn’t taken time to figure out the release. (bad idea). So I remained seated as the body was brought aboard the aircraft and placed behind the pallet.
I then had a flashback to earlier that day. A marine NCO was chewing out a private for misbehavior. I’ll have to edit his military speech for content (just insert the appropriate epithets at will). YELLING two inches away from the private’s face: “This is the real thing! My buddy just got killed yesterday! You’ve got to get it through your head how serious this is! This is your call to duty! No more time for screwing around!”
As far as I knew, there was only one recently reported death in the vicinity of this base. I couldn’t help but entertain the notion that this casket contained the body of this NCO’s friend. I say “friend” because I could tell from his words that it was not just a faceless “fallen comrade”. This was someone he knew. A buddy.
When we landed at Kandahar we experienced a similar delay. This time I knew what it was about, so I had a lot more patience despite my overflowing bladder. Finally the cargo door opened and a truck appeared a few minutes later. This time, we all rose as the troops came marching up the ramp. We awaited their departure with some reverence. I can’t describe the mix of emotions I had since I was so tired (it was almost midnight after I only had four hours of sleep the night before) and because I’m not sure if I have the words to describe it (uncharacteristic considering my traditional loquaciousness, loquacity, loquaciosityesness… I talk a lot). What I can say is: I will probably never forget it.
We often tend to think about the fallen soldier as just another number. This is what they signed up for. We forget they are real people who have just died. They matter to people who knew them. Maybe they should matter more to us. Maybe it took one of our own getting injured to remind us that the troops put themselves in harm’s way all the time. This is a real war regardless of what the politicians think. Just remember the saying attributed to Osterkamp.
"All gave some. Some gave all."
My thanks to my colleague for sharing his experience. I think he captures precisely what gets lost every day here and at home. I would submit that not only these brave young men - the pick and flower of America, NATO and other nations of the world who are here risk all - but also those who support them in their efforts.
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