It's funny to think that I'm already thinking about the things I want to do when I get discharged from the army, whether it's in five or twenty years, but there are a bunch of things that have appeared on my "bucket list" lately. Now I just have to figure out how I'm going to fund all this stuff, maybe I should just bank winning the lottery! And it all should happen before I move to Montana and establish my self-sufficient compound/community there (sort of like what they do in the movie The Village; btw, I'm now accepting applications for people to join, a useful skill is preferred. So far we've got a farmer, a hunter/fisher, a preacher, and a soap maker. The outfits are negotiable).
-go bungee jumping
-hike the Grand Canyon rim to rim
-hike the entire Appalachian trail
-sail around the world
-do at least a year of international service/aid work
-attend a culinary school
-serve an enlisted term in the Coast Guard
-start my own business or non-profit organization
-ride bike across the country (like a pedal kind, not a motor kind)
-jump out of an airplane
I know that I'll at least do one of these, in November at the latest, when Uncle Sam sends me through Airborne school!
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
“Morality and Killing-the Junior Officer’s Perspective”
Monday one of my instructors took the liberty of throwing out the course-mandated lesson and teaching what he thought of as more relevant and important to our professional development. I tend to agree with his assessment, especially after hearing his thoughts on the subject of killing. I'll attempt to do his class justice here. It really is something that I hope none of us ever have to deal with, but should nonetheless be prepared for.
First off, war inherently involves killing, and officers are, by the nature of their position of leadership, in charge of dealing death on the battlefield. Winning the nation's wars, when the politicians call for it, means making people dead. As my instructor said, "great political ambitions of leaders are solved by warriors killing each other." A good read on the subject is "On Killing" by Dave Grossman. While I haven't read the book [yet], from my understanding Grossman talks about how the proximity to killing has everything to do with the psychological effects, as well as the circumstances. You might be the one pulling the trigger, you might be in charge of the one pulling the trigger, you might be directing a pilot to fire on a target or calling for artillery fire, you might be the one firing the artillery from miles away, you might be on a ship in the ocean or a plane in the air firing a cruise missile from tens or hundreds of miles away. As you can probably guess, these situations all have varying impacts on the "trigger puller," but it may be that a person's post-traumatic stress actually gets more complicated as you get farther away. After all, someone charging a trench/building/whatever and shooting someone that was shooting back can feel somewhat at ease with their actions because their own life was in danger. But the bomber pilot probably can't say the same thing.
But I think I'm commenting outside of my expertise at this point, so I'll change gears to telling a story. My instructor, Major Stroh (a captain at the time), was a MTT (military transition team) team leader in a southern area of Baghdad, working alongside the IA (Iraqi Army) and IP (Iraqi Police) forces in charge. It is 2005 and Baghdad is a bad place to be. There are an average of 5 VBIEDs (vehicle-born IEDs) per day right now. Current ROE (rules of engagement) allow for the engaging of any vehicles that come within 50 meters of an American convoy; this fact is well known to the Iraqi populace at this point and is also on big signs on American vehicles. Major Stroh is out checking in with some IA leaders and his 3 vehicle convoy is outside providing security. The rearmost HMMWV's gunner is a supply clerk, not a bad soldier but not exactly the "A team." During the course of his meeting, Major Stroh hears commotion outside, one shot from an M4 (the basic rifle carried by our troops), and he walks outside in time to see the rear gunner release about 80 rounds from his M240B (heavy machine gun, absolutely lethal). The single shot was a warning shot, the 80 rounds designed to stop the car. It did stop the car and the gunner did everything correctly according to the ROE- the car came within the 50 meter limit and showed no sign of slowing down; his actions potentially saved the lives of other soldiers on the convoy. The occupants of the van were as follows: a pregnant woman in the passenger seat, her brother in the driver's seat, and the woman's husband in the back. They were on their way to the hospital because the woman was in labor. The hospital was on the other side of the convoy's position; they had almost made it. The woman and her brother were killed, the child of course lost. The bodies were MEDEVAC'ed (taken out by helicopter). But what do you tell that soldier who just killed three civilians and seriously wounded another? When is the next time you send him out on patrol (you have 9 more months in Iraq left)? How do you help him process all this? There are a lot of ways and a lot of resources available to that soldier, fortunately much more than there have been in the past. But as the first officer in his chain of command, it was Major Stroh's responsibility to make sure that soldier got the appropriate help.
The soldiers in your command will kill someone in the course of a combat deployment. You can be a infantry officer clearing buildings of enemy combatants or a quartermaster platoon leader running convoys and your gunners are going to kill people (I will most likely be in that latter boat). This is okay, even good. You want your soldiers to be absolutely lethal in combat. Accomplishing your mission hangs in the balance. But due to the ever present and auspicious "fog of war" (our way of saying that battle is confusing and ambiguous), the dead people aren't always combatants; they too often end up being innocent civilians either caught in unfortunate circumstances (like the occupants of that van, or arguably the victims of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings) or looking down the barrel of a weapon held by a misguided or disturbed soldier (such as at Mi Lai). War is the most absurd occurrence in our human existence and it inevitably involves killing. You can ignore the consequences and complications of ending human life and take it to your grave. You probably shouldn't.
I guess the bottom line is that it's tough and part of the curse of the profession. Pray for the people who are put in these circumstances. And if you are ever in such a situation where you are ending human life in the course of combat, get help for yourself if you need it; there is no stigma or weakness in admitting you need help.
First off, war inherently involves killing, and officers are, by the nature of their position of leadership, in charge of dealing death on the battlefield. Winning the nation's wars, when the politicians call for it, means making people dead. As my instructor said, "great political ambitions of leaders are solved by warriors killing each other." A good read on the subject is "On Killing" by Dave Grossman. While I haven't read the book [yet], from my understanding Grossman talks about how the proximity to killing has everything to do with the psychological effects, as well as the circumstances. You might be the one pulling the trigger, you might be in charge of the one pulling the trigger, you might be directing a pilot to fire on a target or calling for artillery fire, you might be the one firing the artillery from miles away, you might be on a ship in the ocean or a plane in the air firing a cruise missile from tens or hundreds of miles away. As you can probably guess, these situations all have varying impacts on the "trigger puller," but it may be that a person's post-traumatic stress actually gets more complicated as you get farther away. After all, someone charging a trench/building/whatever and shooting someone that was shooting back can feel somewhat at ease with their actions because their own life was in danger. But the bomber pilot probably can't say the same thing.
But I think I'm commenting outside of my expertise at this point, so I'll change gears to telling a story. My instructor, Major Stroh (a captain at the time), was a MTT (military transition team) team leader in a southern area of Baghdad, working alongside the IA (Iraqi Army) and IP (Iraqi Police) forces in charge. It is 2005 and Baghdad is a bad place to be. There are an average of 5 VBIEDs (vehicle-born IEDs) per day right now. Current ROE (rules of engagement) allow for the engaging of any vehicles that come within 50 meters of an American convoy; this fact is well known to the Iraqi populace at this point and is also on big signs on American vehicles. Major Stroh is out checking in with some IA leaders and his 3 vehicle convoy is outside providing security. The rearmost HMMWV's gunner is a supply clerk, not a bad soldier but not exactly the "A team." During the course of his meeting, Major Stroh hears commotion outside, one shot from an M4 (the basic rifle carried by our troops), and he walks outside in time to see the rear gunner release about 80 rounds from his M240B (heavy machine gun, absolutely lethal). The single shot was a warning shot, the 80 rounds designed to stop the car. It did stop the car and the gunner did everything correctly according to the ROE- the car came within the 50 meter limit and showed no sign of slowing down; his actions potentially saved the lives of other soldiers on the convoy. The occupants of the van were as follows: a pregnant woman in the passenger seat, her brother in the driver's seat, and the woman's husband in the back. They were on their way to the hospital because the woman was in labor. The hospital was on the other side of the convoy's position; they had almost made it. The woman and her brother were killed, the child of course lost. The bodies were MEDEVAC'ed (taken out by helicopter). But what do you tell that soldier who just killed three civilians and seriously wounded another? When is the next time you send him out on patrol (you have 9 more months in Iraq left)? How do you help him process all this? There are a lot of ways and a lot of resources available to that soldier, fortunately much more than there have been in the past. But as the first officer in his chain of command, it was Major Stroh's responsibility to make sure that soldier got the appropriate help.
The soldiers in your command will kill someone in the course of a combat deployment. You can be a infantry officer clearing buildings of enemy combatants or a quartermaster platoon leader running convoys and your gunners are going to kill people (I will most likely be in that latter boat). This is okay, even good. You want your soldiers to be absolutely lethal in combat. Accomplishing your mission hangs in the balance. But due to the ever present and auspicious "fog of war" (our way of saying that battle is confusing and ambiguous), the dead people aren't always combatants; they too often end up being innocent civilians either caught in unfortunate circumstances (like the occupants of that van, or arguably the victims of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings) or looking down the barrel of a weapon held by a misguided or disturbed soldier (such as at Mi Lai). War is the most absurd occurrence in our human existence and it inevitably involves killing. You can ignore the consequences and complications of ending human life and take it to your grave. You probably shouldn't.
I guess the bottom line is that it's tough and part of the curse of the profession. Pray for the people who are put in these circumstances. And if you are ever in such a situation where you are ending human life in the course of combat, get help for yourself if you need it; there is no stigma or weakness in admitting you need help.
Monday, March 29, 2010
oh the things I look forward to
There will be much reason to celebrate when we graduate from this here school, and here are a few of the things that I think I'll either miss or not miss (I'll let you guess which I'll miss and which I won't):
-having to walk 15 minutes straight up a hill just to get to my truck
-then having to drive at least 15 minutes to get anywhere
-having to evenly space the wooden hangers in my closet
-making my bed 'tight' every morning (not that I actually do this anymore)
-washing dishes in the same sink I shave and brush my teeth in (and my roommate too)
-wearing flip-flops in the shower because you have no idea what the other guys using it have growing on their feet
-having three complete meals available to me for free every day
-bookshelves for all my books instead of trunks
-having an actual kitchen and not having to do things like boil pasta in a hot water maker
-having a roommate (I guess that can still be arranged though)
-history tests, history papers, history class
-my church community and all the great people there
-plebes/freshmen outside my door announcing the next formation
-lots of people willing to mentor/counsel me at a moments notice
-having to hide my chef's knife because it is beyond regulation length (hopefully my TAC isn't reading haha)
-more room in my freezer than for just two ice trays
-studying strategic management
-hanging out with my friends here and those from the outside community
-having to walk 15 minutes straight up a hill just to get to my truck
-then having to drive at least 15 minutes to get anywhere
-having to evenly space the wooden hangers in my closet
-making my bed 'tight' every morning (not that I actually do this anymore)
-washing dishes in the same sink I shave and brush my teeth in (and my roommate too)
-wearing flip-flops in the shower because you have no idea what the other guys using it have growing on their feet
-having three complete meals available to me for free every day
-bookshelves for all my books instead of trunks
-having an actual kitchen and not having to do things like boil pasta in a hot water maker
-having a roommate (I guess that can still be arranged though)
-history tests, history papers, history class
-my church community and all the great people there
-plebes/freshmen outside my door announcing the next formation
-lots of people willing to mentor/counsel me at a moments notice
-having to hide my chef's knife because it is beyond regulation length (hopefully my TAC isn't reading haha)
-more room in my freezer than for just two ice trays
-studying strategic management
-hanging out with my friends here and those from the outside community
Sunday, March 28, 2010
warning: touchy-feely God stuff
This weekend I spent in the distant village of Garrison, NY, taking part in the annual spring UCF (United Catholic Fellowship) Retreat. Our time was spent listening to talks, singing worship&praise music, small group discussion, and just general quality community time. The head of the retreat asked me to give a talk titled "God as a community of love" and I will paste it below. As a disclaimer of sorts, the talk is Christian-flavored with distinct Catholic overtones. I tend not to toot my own horn, but I'm pretty happy with how it turned out and have gotten very positive feedback from others. It's a 25 minute talk, so it's obviously a lot of words and might take awhile to read if you so choose....enjoy!
There is a renowned ethicist that works part-time in the Simon Center for the Professional Military Ethic at West Point by the name of Gus Lee. I was first privileged to hear Mr. Lee’s thoughts this past summer as I was preparing to be a platoon leader for our Cadet Basic Training. To my non-military brothers and sisters, rest assured that that will be last time I talk about anything army-ish! But Mr. Lee gave one of the ethics talks to the Basic Training leadership and I was awestruck by the conviction and authority that he spoke with, and by how much he excited me about a topic that society tends to beat to death. Now as with most lectures, I can’t remember a thing he said, what his message was, or what the topic of discussion even was, but I do remember walking out of that auditorium and thinking to myself that I needed to buy one of this guy’s books and educate myself some more. He obviously knew a lot about his field of professional ethics, a field that not only interests me but is also required in my current career and possible future career in business.
Well Mr. Lee’s words apparently weren’t that inspiring to me, because it took me 8 months to finally search for his books on Amazon, and I got one in the mail the other week. The title is Courage: the Backbone of Leadership. As I lay in bed one night and cracked open this book, I was reminded of the mysterious ways in which God works. When I laid in bed that night, I was not only reading Mr. Lee’s book on courage, I was also pretty preoccupied on the topic of Christian love of which I had been asked to reflect on here for you today. I thought for sure that I would get great takeaways from Mr. Lee and be inspired by his thoughts, and I have been in a certain sense, but I only made it to page 2 before I found myself disagreeing with him. Yeah, the second page. God’s love is something so amazing and the tenet of Christianity that speaks to me the most, so I’m going to read you a section from his book but substitute the word “love” where Mr. Lee uses “courage.” You see, Mr. Lee got the framework perfect, he just got that one word mixed up in my opinion. Here goes:
“Thus love – or its absence – determines all outcomes. Modestly put, love decides quality of life and personal as well as institutional success. Love is so crucial that it sits in the heart of us. That’s why we can’t help but admire and follow love until we demonstrate it. Love – not brashness, greed, or recklessness – was, early in our evolution, the one quality needed for human survival…no generation, regardless of war, peace, depression, or prosperity, is spared the need to demonstrate love.”
Now if I was in your seat, I probably would have just been pontificating on what is sure to be a fantastic lunch from Heather and the kitchen crew, so I’m going to reread that section once more so you can really take it in!
“Thus love – or its absence – determines all outcomes. Modestly put, love decides quality of life and personal as well as institutional success. Love is so crucial that it sits in the heart of us. That’s why we can’t help but admire and follow love until we demonstrate it. Love – not brashness, greed, or recklessness – was, early in our evolution, the one quality needed for human survival…no generation, regardless of war, peace, depression, or prosperity, is spared the need to demonstrate love.”
I have trouble formulating my own thoughts, but I have no trouble warping someone else’s as you can see. But doesn’t that all make perfect sense? Love decides the quality of our life. How true is that? I know it certainly is for me. The level to which I feel loved is directly related the level of my contentedness in life. When I feel the love of my parents (whose love often is more embarrassing that it needs to be), when I feel the love of my four brothers (who display their love in unique and sometimes painful ways), when I feel the love of my old volunteer community (one of which has joined us this weekend), when I feel the love that fills this room and that is spilling out into the hallway and through the cracks in the windows, and most importantly when I feel the love of the Lord, I experience that contentedness that I seek always. It’s that quality of life Mr. Lee speaks of. Neither quality of life nor contentedness means that life is all ponies and cotton candy, two things that make me pretty happy by the way, but we will never go astray when we’re aware of God’s all-encompassing love.
I’m not a Greek scholar, I’m not Saint John, I’m not CS Lewis, and I’m not Pope John Paul 2 or Pope Benedict – all who have written well known works on love – but I’ll happily steal their thoughts and make some conclusions of my own. First, I think I’ve got something here and we’ll see if those heavy hitters can back me up. The Greeks have three words for love: agape, eros, philia. CS Lewis describes four different types of love in his very cleverly named book The Four Loves, they are: affection, eros, friendship, and charity. But, here’s what I think…let’s keep it simple: there are really two types of love that we run into in life, and I’ve already alluded to the distinction between them. One is the love we receive from God and the other is the love we receive from other people. To me it’s sad that we use the word “love” to describe that we which we receive from God and from others, because they are so vastly different. The things that we experience from God, especially His love, are so beyond human capacity and comprehension that human words do not begin to do God’s love justice. It would be criminal to claim that you could fully understand or express God’s infinite love for humanity. But I’ll give it a try anyway…
The closest word that we have to describe God’s love is “perfect.” What does the word “perfect” connote for you, what are its ins and outs? We can describe perfection with its negative: the absence of fault, God’s love has no fault. Ever. And beyond that, I find it really hard to define perfection. It’s one of those words that you can’t but help using the word itself in the definition. We’re pretty sure we know perfection when we see it, maybe even we think we know perfect love in some way. Think about it this way, especially you math-brained folks: God’s love for us is perfection raised to the nth degree. It is infinitely more perfect and beautiful than anything we’ll ever experience on earth. That’s not to say we can’t or won’t experience some pretty awesome love among mankind, but it doesn’t come close to touching God’s love. I’m going to come back to that line of thought in a little bit.
How do we experience God’s love? Not to diminish its gravity, but the fallback answer is always grace. Christopher West, a Catholic author that you should all read when you get the chance, describes grace as “God’s love poured into the human heart through the Holy Spirit. Grace enables men and women to ‘become who they are,’ to live and love as God intends. Grace penetrates the whole human person, body and soul, and enables us to ‘give up our bodies’ through the sincere of self.” And what is the primary vehicle of God’s saving grace to humanity? Well the sacraments of course! We all had the chance last night to experience one of those grace-bestowing sacraments- that of confession. I don’t know about y’all, but after I’ve admitted my wrongdoings and made a sincere act of contrition, when the priest says the words of absolution I feel an incredible electricity flow through me. Think about those words and see if you don’t get goosebumps: “God the Father of mercies, through the death and resurrection of his Son, has reconciled the world to Himself and sent the Holy Spirit among us for the forgiveness of sins; through the ministry of the Church may God give you pardon and peace and I absolve you from your sins in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.” I mean…wow! Isn’t that a sweet thing? God’s love, through his grace and unrelenting forgiveness, comes to us when we reciprocate that love by admitting our failures.
So to recap so far: love comes from grace, grace comes through the sacraments, so where did all these sacraments come to us from? Through Jesus Christ and his work on our earth two thousand years ago. So how appropriate that we talk of love today as we prepare to journey with Christ on Palm Sunday into the streets of Jerusalem where he will be lauded with cries of “Hosanna, Hosanna in the highest!” only to be jeered a short time later to shouts of “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!” Hello? I’m pretty sure crucifixion is at least a mild indicator of God’s love for us. Before he even gets to that point, he sweats blood in the Garden of Gethsemane which is an actual medical condition brought on by extreme stress, it’s not just some dramatization by the Gospel writers. He is betrayed by one of his disciples. He is scourged, the whip used contained shards of metal that dug deep into the flesh of his back only to be ripped out. He carries a 100 pound log across his shoulders to Golgotha, and he is most definitely in shock because of all the blood loss he’s experienced. After getting there, no small feat in itself, he is thrown on the ground (and remember his back is a bloody and painful mess) and spikes are driven through his wrists, he is hoisted up and his feet are also spiked down. Each breath is pure agony, as he must push up each time to catch one. Ever heard of the word “excruciating”? It is derived from the word crucifixion. As the hours passed, Jesus experienced collapsing lungs, a failing heart, severe blood loss, while hoisted naked upon a cross out in public. And what are some of his last words, words that require precious, painful breath? “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” Think about all that when we hear the Passion read either tonight or tomorrow during Mass. God showed us incredible love by sending his only son to our lowly earth, and Jesus shows us the highest form of human love by dying for us. It started in the Blessed Mother’s womb, came into the world in Bethlehem, and dies on this cross in order to secure our eternal salvation. If that’s not love, I’m really not sure that we’ll ever know what is! Saint John the apostle wrote in his first letter [chapter 3]: “the way we came to know love was that he laid down his life for us.” Incidentally if you’ve never read a whole book of the Bible, start out with 1st John because it’s super short but full of great thoughts to include the topic of love.
Okay, so if you remember I made the claim that there are two types of love we experience: God love and human love. I just talked a little bit about God love, so what do we think about human love? We have the love for and from your family, love for and from your friends, and you may experience love for and from a significant other. If these loves are true, we see that the line between God love and human love can be quite blurry with no clear distinction. If we allow it, and we definitely should, God permeates our relationships and guides us in our efforts to love. But I think the way in which we best experience human love with the added bonus of God’s love is in community. Where there is true community, there is God. God is love. So using my logic skills learned in philosophy, the whole if A then B, if B then C, therefore if A then C thing or some variation of that, where there is true community, there is love…with God right in the thick of it all!
All of this is at work in the first Christian community, from the Acts of the Apostles [chapter 4] we read “The community of believers was of one heart and mind, and no one claimed that any his possessions was his own but they had everything in common. With great power the apostles bore witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great favor was accorded them all. There was no needy person among them, for those who owned property or houses would sell them, bring the proceeds of the sale, and put them at the feet of the apostles, and they were distributed to each according to need.” Now let’s not get up in calling the early church a bunch of communists because of this “redistribution of wealth,” but what we should see in Saint Luke’s writing is the love that pervades their community.
Does anyone here feel like they are a part of a community? I should hope that by the time we part tomorrow that each and everyone one of us feels like we belong to that true community that experiences true love through God’s presence. We sometimes give our communities names: UCF and CCM and Capuchin and (Sister’s community?). And in this room we see that true community doesn’t really need a label and it can be from all sorts of different places and walks of life. Community doesn’t need to be a church group either, although it tends to help. The most influential community in my life was the volunteer community I was a member of in Phoenix at a place called Andre House. We served 400-700 meals six nights a week, and provided clothing, showers, laundry, phones, blankets, and lockers to the homeless population, a drop-in resource center of sorts. There were different levels of community involved at Andre House- there was what we called the Core Community consisting of 9 full time volunteers. There were people who showed up on a regular basis usually once a week to help work the different ministries. And then there was the supporting community such as the benefactors, donors, and other organizations like the foodbank that supported us. It was all very beautiful the way that the community sustained and supported itself, and the ways in which I saw God’s love at work. I asked my friend and co-volunteer from Andre House, Kurt, to describe why the community was an important thing to him and he said “André House was an experience that allowed me to live and witness true Christian community by living in formation with my peers. It taught me how to live as Christ to others – how to be His hands, His feet, His ears, His mouth. I was transformed by faith to live the Beatitudes each and every day with deep conviction and humble heart.” I didn’t give him any hint as to why I asked him that question, but notice he used the word “true” to describe the community that helped him live as Christ to others. Remember: true community brings love, God is love, so true community is love. And as I looked through my journal from Andre House I found this bit that I wrote after one of our group psychologist meetings. The facilitator asked us to reflect on our expectations of Andre House and I said “I was thinking that I didn’t have many expectations of my experience but that so many things have happened that I didn’t expect. I never expected community to mean so much to me.”
The other night I was talking to my friend Sarah about such things. Sarah is a master of divinity student at Emory and about to be ordained as a United Church of Christ minister, so I figured I would see what I could get out of her. When I asked her what she thought about the relationship between God, love, and community, Sarah said this: “the community part is what drives the other parts. You see God’s presence as a community works together, supports each other. Think about the response to Haiti- the community response ([from] all over the world) I think showed God’s presence and love.” It was pretty powerful, wasn’t it? And it continues to be. So I invite you to think about what both Kurt and Sarah said as you reflect upon your weekend so far and as you finish it out: let the community teach you how to live as Christ and to show you God’s presence and love. If you need a challenge, let it be that. Let the community teach you how to live as Christ and to show you God’s presence and love.
I’m gonna steal one last thought, this time from Pope Benedict, that further supports this idea of experiencing God and love through community: “In the Church's Liturgy, in her prayer, in the living community of believers, we experience the love of God, we perceive his presence and we thus learn to recognize that presence in our daily lives. He has loved us first and he continues to do so; we too, then, can respond with love. God does not demand of us a feeling which we ourselves are incapable of producing. He loves us, he makes us see and experience his love, and since he has “loved us first”, love can also blossom as a response within us.” Well said Your Eminence, well said!
There is a renowned ethicist that works part-time in the Simon Center for the Professional Military Ethic at West Point by the name of Gus Lee. I was first privileged to hear Mr. Lee’s thoughts this past summer as I was preparing to be a platoon leader for our Cadet Basic Training. To my non-military brothers and sisters, rest assured that that will be last time I talk about anything army-ish! But Mr. Lee gave one of the ethics talks to the Basic Training leadership and I was awestruck by the conviction and authority that he spoke with, and by how much he excited me about a topic that society tends to beat to death. Now as with most lectures, I can’t remember a thing he said, what his message was, or what the topic of discussion even was, but I do remember walking out of that auditorium and thinking to myself that I needed to buy one of this guy’s books and educate myself some more. He obviously knew a lot about his field of professional ethics, a field that not only interests me but is also required in my current career and possible future career in business.
Well Mr. Lee’s words apparently weren’t that inspiring to me, because it took me 8 months to finally search for his books on Amazon, and I got one in the mail the other week. The title is Courage: the Backbone of Leadership. As I lay in bed one night and cracked open this book, I was reminded of the mysterious ways in which God works. When I laid in bed that night, I was not only reading Mr. Lee’s book on courage, I was also pretty preoccupied on the topic of Christian love of which I had been asked to reflect on here for you today. I thought for sure that I would get great takeaways from Mr. Lee and be inspired by his thoughts, and I have been in a certain sense, but I only made it to page 2 before I found myself disagreeing with him. Yeah, the second page. God’s love is something so amazing and the tenet of Christianity that speaks to me the most, so I’m going to read you a section from his book but substitute the word “love” where Mr. Lee uses “courage.” You see, Mr. Lee got the framework perfect, he just got that one word mixed up in my opinion. Here goes:
“Thus love – or its absence – determines all outcomes. Modestly put, love decides quality of life and personal as well as institutional success. Love is so crucial that it sits in the heart of us. That’s why we can’t help but admire and follow love until we demonstrate it. Love – not brashness, greed, or recklessness – was, early in our evolution, the one quality needed for human survival…no generation, regardless of war, peace, depression, or prosperity, is spared the need to demonstrate love.”
Now if I was in your seat, I probably would have just been pontificating on what is sure to be a fantastic lunch from Heather and the kitchen crew, so I’m going to reread that section once more so you can really take it in!
“Thus love – or its absence – determines all outcomes. Modestly put, love decides quality of life and personal as well as institutional success. Love is so crucial that it sits in the heart of us. That’s why we can’t help but admire and follow love until we demonstrate it. Love – not brashness, greed, or recklessness – was, early in our evolution, the one quality needed for human survival…no generation, regardless of war, peace, depression, or prosperity, is spared the need to demonstrate love.”
I have trouble formulating my own thoughts, but I have no trouble warping someone else’s as you can see. But doesn’t that all make perfect sense? Love decides the quality of our life. How true is that? I know it certainly is for me. The level to which I feel loved is directly related the level of my contentedness in life. When I feel the love of my parents (whose love often is more embarrassing that it needs to be), when I feel the love of my four brothers (who display their love in unique and sometimes painful ways), when I feel the love of my old volunteer community (one of which has joined us this weekend), when I feel the love that fills this room and that is spilling out into the hallway and through the cracks in the windows, and most importantly when I feel the love of the Lord, I experience that contentedness that I seek always. It’s that quality of life Mr. Lee speaks of. Neither quality of life nor contentedness means that life is all ponies and cotton candy, two things that make me pretty happy by the way, but we will never go astray when we’re aware of God’s all-encompassing love.
I’m not a Greek scholar, I’m not Saint John, I’m not CS Lewis, and I’m not Pope John Paul 2 or Pope Benedict – all who have written well known works on love – but I’ll happily steal their thoughts and make some conclusions of my own. First, I think I’ve got something here and we’ll see if those heavy hitters can back me up. The Greeks have three words for love: agape, eros, philia. CS Lewis describes four different types of love in his very cleverly named book The Four Loves, they are: affection, eros, friendship, and charity. But, here’s what I think…let’s keep it simple: there are really two types of love that we run into in life, and I’ve already alluded to the distinction between them. One is the love we receive from God and the other is the love we receive from other people. To me it’s sad that we use the word “love” to describe that we which we receive from God and from others, because they are so vastly different. The things that we experience from God, especially His love, are so beyond human capacity and comprehension that human words do not begin to do God’s love justice. It would be criminal to claim that you could fully understand or express God’s infinite love for humanity. But I’ll give it a try anyway…
The closest word that we have to describe God’s love is “perfect.” What does the word “perfect” connote for you, what are its ins and outs? We can describe perfection with its negative: the absence of fault, God’s love has no fault. Ever. And beyond that, I find it really hard to define perfection. It’s one of those words that you can’t but help using the word itself in the definition. We’re pretty sure we know perfection when we see it, maybe even we think we know perfect love in some way. Think about it this way, especially you math-brained folks: God’s love for us is perfection raised to the nth degree. It is infinitely more perfect and beautiful than anything we’ll ever experience on earth. That’s not to say we can’t or won’t experience some pretty awesome love among mankind, but it doesn’t come close to touching God’s love. I’m going to come back to that line of thought in a little bit.
How do we experience God’s love? Not to diminish its gravity, but the fallback answer is always grace. Christopher West, a Catholic author that you should all read when you get the chance, describes grace as “God’s love poured into the human heart through the Holy Spirit. Grace enables men and women to ‘become who they are,’ to live and love as God intends. Grace penetrates the whole human person, body and soul, and enables us to ‘give up our bodies’ through the sincere of self.” And what is the primary vehicle of God’s saving grace to humanity? Well the sacraments of course! We all had the chance last night to experience one of those grace-bestowing sacraments- that of confession. I don’t know about y’all, but after I’ve admitted my wrongdoings and made a sincere act of contrition, when the priest says the words of absolution I feel an incredible electricity flow through me. Think about those words and see if you don’t get goosebumps: “God the Father of mercies, through the death and resurrection of his Son, has reconciled the world to Himself and sent the Holy Spirit among us for the forgiveness of sins; through the ministry of the Church may God give you pardon and peace and I absolve you from your sins in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.” I mean…wow! Isn’t that a sweet thing? God’s love, through his grace and unrelenting forgiveness, comes to us when we reciprocate that love by admitting our failures.
So to recap so far: love comes from grace, grace comes through the sacraments, so where did all these sacraments come to us from? Through Jesus Christ and his work on our earth two thousand years ago. So how appropriate that we talk of love today as we prepare to journey with Christ on Palm Sunday into the streets of Jerusalem where he will be lauded with cries of “Hosanna, Hosanna in the highest!” only to be jeered a short time later to shouts of “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!” Hello? I’m pretty sure crucifixion is at least a mild indicator of God’s love for us. Before he even gets to that point, he sweats blood in the Garden of Gethsemane which is an actual medical condition brought on by extreme stress, it’s not just some dramatization by the Gospel writers. He is betrayed by one of his disciples. He is scourged, the whip used contained shards of metal that dug deep into the flesh of his back only to be ripped out. He carries a 100 pound log across his shoulders to Golgotha, and he is most definitely in shock because of all the blood loss he’s experienced. After getting there, no small feat in itself, he is thrown on the ground (and remember his back is a bloody and painful mess) and spikes are driven through his wrists, he is hoisted up and his feet are also spiked down. Each breath is pure agony, as he must push up each time to catch one. Ever heard of the word “excruciating”? It is derived from the word crucifixion. As the hours passed, Jesus experienced collapsing lungs, a failing heart, severe blood loss, while hoisted naked upon a cross out in public. And what are some of his last words, words that require precious, painful breath? “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” Think about all that when we hear the Passion read either tonight or tomorrow during Mass. God showed us incredible love by sending his only son to our lowly earth, and Jesus shows us the highest form of human love by dying for us. It started in the Blessed Mother’s womb, came into the world in Bethlehem, and dies on this cross in order to secure our eternal salvation. If that’s not love, I’m really not sure that we’ll ever know what is! Saint John the apostle wrote in his first letter [chapter 3]: “the way we came to know love was that he laid down his life for us.” Incidentally if you’ve never read a whole book of the Bible, start out with 1st John because it’s super short but full of great thoughts to include the topic of love.
Okay, so if you remember I made the claim that there are two types of love we experience: God love and human love. I just talked a little bit about God love, so what do we think about human love? We have the love for and from your family, love for and from your friends, and you may experience love for and from a significant other. If these loves are true, we see that the line between God love and human love can be quite blurry with no clear distinction. If we allow it, and we definitely should, God permeates our relationships and guides us in our efforts to love. But I think the way in which we best experience human love with the added bonus of God’s love is in community. Where there is true community, there is God. God is love. So using my logic skills learned in philosophy, the whole if A then B, if B then C, therefore if A then C thing or some variation of that, where there is true community, there is love…with God right in the thick of it all!
All of this is at work in the first Christian community, from the Acts of the Apostles [chapter 4] we read “The community of believers was of one heart and mind, and no one claimed that any his possessions was his own but they had everything in common. With great power the apostles bore witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great favor was accorded them all. There was no needy person among them, for those who owned property or houses would sell them, bring the proceeds of the sale, and put them at the feet of the apostles, and they were distributed to each according to need.” Now let’s not get up in calling the early church a bunch of communists because of this “redistribution of wealth,” but what we should see in Saint Luke’s writing is the love that pervades their community.
Does anyone here feel like they are a part of a community? I should hope that by the time we part tomorrow that each and everyone one of us feels like we belong to that true community that experiences true love through God’s presence. We sometimes give our communities names: UCF and CCM and Capuchin and (Sister’s community?). And in this room we see that true community doesn’t really need a label and it can be from all sorts of different places and walks of life. Community doesn’t need to be a church group either, although it tends to help. The most influential community in my life was the volunteer community I was a member of in Phoenix at a place called Andre House. We served 400-700 meals six nights a week, and provided clothing, showers, laundry, phones, blankets, and lockers to the homeless population, a drop-in resource center of sorts. There were different levels of community involved at Andre House- there was what we called the Core Community consisting of 9 full time volunteers. There were people who showed up on a regular basis usually once a week to help work the different ministries. And then there was the supporting community such as the benefactors, donors, and other organizations like the foodbank that supported us. It was all very beautiful the way that the community sustained and supported itself, and the ways in which I saw God’s love at work. I asked my friend and co-volunteer from Andre House, Kurt, to describe why the community was an important thing to him and he said “André House was an experience that allowed me to live and witness true Christian community by living in formation with my peers. It taught me how to live as Christ to others – how to be His hands, His feet, His ears, His mouth. I was transformed by faith to live the Beatitudes each and every day with deep conviction and humble heart.” I didn’t give him any hint as to why I asked him that question, but notice he used the word “true” to describe the community that helped him live as Christ to others. Remember: true community brings love, God is love, so true community is love. And as I looked through my journal from Andre House I found this bit that I wrote after one of our group psychologist meetings. The facilitator asked us to reflect on our expectations of Andre House and I said “I was thinking that I didn’t have many expectations of my experience but that so many things have happened that I didn’t expect. I never expected community to mean so much to me.”
The other night I was talking to my friend Sarah about such things. Sarah is a master of divinity student at Emory and about to be ordained as a United Church of Christ minister, so I figured I would see what I could get out of her. When I asked her what she thought about the relationship between God, love, and community, Sarah said this: “the community part is what drives the other parts. You see God’s presence as a community works together, supports each other. Think about the response to Haiti- the community response ([from] all over the world) I think showed God’s presence and love.” It was pretty powerful, wasn’t it? And it continues to be. So I invite you to think about what both Kurt and Sarah said as you reflect upon your weekend so far and as you finish it out: let the community teach you how to live as Christ and to show you God’s presence and love. If you need a challenge, let it be that. Let the community teach you how to live as Christ and to show you God’s presence and love.
I’m gonna steal one last thought, this time from Pope Benedict, that further supports this idea of experiencing God and love through community: “In the Church's Liturgy, in her prayer, in the living community of believers, we experience the love of God, we perceive his presence and we thus learn to recognize that presence in our daily lives. He has loved us first and he continues to do so; we too, then, can respond with love. God does not demand of us a feeling which we ourselves are incapable of producing. He loves us, he makes us see and experience his love, and since he has “loved us first”, love can also blossom as a response within us.” Well said Your Eminence, well said!
Friday, March 26, 2010
DADT
DADT- four of the most contentious words in the military right now and in society at large. What they stand for? Don't ask, don't tell. It is the policy enacted in the early 1990's to address homosexuals serving in the military. Basically, if you could keep your homosexual activities on the DL ("don't tell"), people can't ask you if you were ("don't ask"), and you were free to serve in the military. That is of course a very dumbed-down version of the policy. Repeal of this policy is something I believe presidential candidate Obama campaigned on, and it is definitely something that President Obama is tackling. It has been in the news quite a bit lately, as the President urged Congress to repeal DADT and the Pentagon to review it in his State of the Union address in January. The ball got rolling pretty quick.
On February 2nd, the Secretary of Defense, the Honorable Robert Gates, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, testified before the Senate Armed Forces committee on DADT and made it clear that they were committed to striking the policy off the books (opening remarks by SecDef). On March 3rd, Senator Joe Lieberman introduced a bill to repeal DADT (NY Times article). Yesterday, Secretary Gates announced that certain procedures contained within DADT would be relaxed (another news article). The times are a changin'... It is now almost certain that DADT will be completely reversed within the next year or less.
The implication of repeal? First and foremost, if this policy is taken off the books or new policy put into law, homosexuals will be able to serve openly in the military. There is of course a lot of worry about this. While the SecDef and CJCS are all for this change, the other service chiefs (Chief of Staff of the Army, the Marine Corps Commandant, etc) have voiced their opposition. It is an uncomfortable topic for many leaders at all levels of each service, especially the officer corps which typically espouses traditional Judeo-Christian values. Institutional change is always tricky, especially with such a sensitive topic. I was happy to hear Secretary Gates allude to a long-term study of the best way to repeal DADT and its implications, but I'm now shocked that they have already taken concrete steps toward repeal.
My opinion? There are of course arguments to be made on both sides of the spectrum. But like most things, it doesn't really matter what I think. The Commander in Chief has given orders and we will well and faithfully execute those orders. If DADT is repealed, there is no point in protesting. The personal 'me' would want to protest, but the professional 'me' demands that I stand true to the Oath of Office that I'll take on May 22nd. It will take the Army, Marine Corps, etc. time to adjust to whatever the new policy entails, but life will go on and the military will continue to be the most deadly and effective fighting force the world has witnessed.
For more information, here is a link to a ANS article on the most recent relaxation of DADT.
On February 2nd, the Secretary of Defense, the Honorable Robert Gates, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, testified before the Senate Armed Forces committee on DADT and made it clear that they were committed to striking the policy off the books (opening remarks by SecDef). On March 3rd, Senator Joe Lieberman introduced a bill to repeal DADT (NY Times article). Yesterday, Secretary Gates announced that certain procedures contained within DADT would be relaxed (another news article). The times are a changin'... It is now almost certain that DADT will be completely reversed within the next year or less.
The implication of repeal? First and foremost, if this policy is taken off the books or new policy put into law, homosexuals will be able to serve openly in the military. There is of course a lot of worry about this. While the SecDef and CJCS are all for this change, the other service chiefs (Chief of Staff of the Army, the Marine Corps Commandant, etc) have voiced their opposition. It is an uncomfortable topic for many leaders at all levels of each service, especially the officer corps which typically espouses traditional Judeo-Christian values. Institutional change is always tricky, especially with such a sensitive topic. I was happy to hear Secretary Gates allude to a long-term study of the best way to repeal DADT and its implications, but I'm now shocked that they have already taken concrete steps toward repeal.
My opinion? There are of course arguments to be made on both sides of the spectrum. But like most things, it doesn't really matter what I think. The Commander in Chief has given orders and we will well and faithfully execute those orders. If DADT is repealed, there is no point in protesting. The personal 'me' would want to protest, but the professional 'me' demands that I stand true to the Oath of Office that I'll take on May 22nd. It will take the Army, Marine Corps, etc. time to adjust to whatever the new policy entails, but life will go on and the military will continue to be the most deadly and effective fighting force the world has witnessed.
For more information, here is a link to a ANS article on the most recent relaxation of DADT.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
it starts to hit home
I guess a lot of my motivation for starting up this particular blog is that so much of my life right now is beginning to point toward graduation. The very happy reality is that soon enough my life will not be confined to these granite walls. Here's a few ways that us Firsties (seniors) are starting to feel the impending freedom:
-we are getting pictures taken for our 2nd Lieutenant ID cards this week
-today at lunch they announced that we have fewer months until graduation than the yuks (sophomores) have years at the academy
-filling out invitations and announcements
-RSVPing for friends' weddings that are the day after graduation
-getting uniforms ready, shaping my beret
-realizing that I only have 8 more weekends and that's not enough to do all the things I still want to do
-the last time I wear Dress Gray (our winter dress uniform) will be this weekend
-talking about where I'm gonna live when July 7th rolls around and I begin training
-we got RFOs (request for orders) which tell us what brigade we're assigned to and any follow-on schools we received (airborne and rigger schools for me)
-our last APFT (physical fitness test) is in two weeks (and if we fail, which is tough to do, we won't graduate on time)
-planning post-graduation vacation which so far consists of a road trip to Miami and a 7 day cruise
-getting ready to turn in all our issued stuff like field gear, linens, etc.
-oh yeah, and the reminder that we still have to pass all our classes!
-we are getting pictures taken for our 2nd Lieutenant ID cards this week
-today at lunch they announced that we have fewer months until graduation than the yuks (sophomores) have years at the academy
-filling out invitations and announcements
-RSVPing for friends' weddings that are the day after graduation
-getting uniforms ready, shaping my beret
-realizing that I only have 8 more weekends and that's not enough to do all the things I still want to do
-the last time I wear Dress Gray (our winter dress uniform) will be this weekend
-talking about where I'm gonna live when July 7th rolls around and I begin training
-we got RFOs (request for orders) which tell us what brigade we're assigned to and any follow-on schools we received (airborne and rigger schools for me)
-our last APFT (physical fitness test) is in two weeks (and if we fail, which is tough to do, we won't graduate on time)
-planning post-graduation vacation which so far consists of a road trip to Miami and a 7 day cruise
-getting ready to turn in all our issued stuff like field gear, linens, etc.
-oh yeah, and the reminder that we still have to pass all our classes!
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
combat stress
This is an essay assigned to me from my MX400 class, aka Officership, the most recent method West Point has found to waste our time. MS classes are military science, but we're not really sure what the X in MX stands for...but this was a halfway valuable exercise and I'd love to hear comments and criticisms!
I’ve read books recently by guys like Captain Nate Self and Chaplain Roger Benimoff, both fairly recent veterans of the Iraq and/or Afghanistan wars, in which they tell the stories of their deployments and returns home. One of the biggest takeaways from their works is that combat stress is very much a reality and that post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a very real and dangerous possibility for anyone that serves under periods of extreme stress, especially in combat situations. What’s worse is that familial difficulties do not necessarily abate after one reunites with their loved ones after a deployment ends. The inability of the affected person to properly address their post-traumatic stress and the unintentional lack of understanding of that soldier’s friends and family can tear them all apart, and in a fatal way in extreme cases. I’m not claiming to be any expert on combat, combat stress, or post-traumatic stress as I have absolutely no experience in any of these areas, but I still think it appropriate to reflect on the experiences of others that I’ve read about or seen on programs such as Frontline.
The Frontline piece (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/badvoodoo/) is extremely raw and it is a unique producing idea: don’t give the soldiers a reporter to tell their story, give them a camera and let them tell their own story. The story showcases two people- SFC Nunn who is the platoon sergeant and acting platoon leader, and SPC Shaw who is a “regular joe” in what is known as the Bad Voodoo Platoon, a platoon of national guard soldiers (and I say that not in a disparaging way). From the start, we know there are bound to be difficulties for the Bad Voodoos despite their bravado on the convoy gunnery range. SFC Nunn is leaving a son and 4 months pregnant wife behind. The last time he returned from a deployment he promised his son that he would never go back to war. SPC Shaw is nursing a fragile relationship. The reality is that we can’t deploy and expect all our problems at home to go away. We will not be able to completely separate ourselves from the homefront while serving on the battlefront. Once in the country, they begin a shitty mission: convoy security. For as far as they can tell, for the next 12 months the Bad Voodoos will be taking their HMMWVs on supply convoys from Kuwait into Iraq to provide force protection and projection if necessary. They begin and life isn’t too bad, but as the days turn into weeks and the weeks turn into months, convoy security gets real old for the Bad Voodoos. In one instance, they have a vehicle break down and must wait for KBR to come and recover the vehicle. Eight hours later, KBR is nowhere to be seen and they must jimmy-rig a fix. Some of the soldiers have already deployed but now must operate under a new, different, and often frustrating ROE (rules of engagement). They are also performing a different type of mission and the unfamiliarity and change is uncomfortable and stressing for them. They say it’s “not combat” even. The soldiers don’t necessarily believe in the cause that they are fighting for; SPC Shaw calls it “totally pointless.” They are “running themselves into the ground,” staying awake for days at a time only through the constant consumption of energy drinks (which brings about kidney stones and other health complications). SPC Shaw loses his faith in God, something that was once important to him. The Bad Voodoos spend Christmas in Iraq, something I would never wish upon anyone. All of these things are significant stressors in themselves, but add them all together and you have what amounts to a disastrous conglomeration of human emotions. Does the Bad Voodoo Platoon experience combat stress? Absolutely. Are they all subject to PTSD? Unfortunately.
All this analysis and reflection is well and good, but what it really comes down to is this: what will I do when I get to experience similar situations? As a quartermaster/logistics officer, it is very likely that I will find myself in a situation very similar to that of the Bad Voodoo Platoon- running convoys and “waiting to get blown up.” I like the framework set forth by Jerry Moon in his article written for the Center for Company Commanders, entitled “Force Protection for the ‘Hidden Wounds’ of War.” He starts with the obvious: you must address combat stress before, during, and after the deployment. While I don’t think that a particular phase is most important, I do think that prevention is perhaps of elevated importance in comparison to the others. Captain (?) Moon gives two ideas for addressing combat stress in pre-deployment: talk about killing and know your soldiers. This is obviously not an all-encompassing list, and I would modify it to say “talk about death- your own, your friends, and that of your enemy.” I would think an effective technique here is to use cases and vignettes to force your soldiers to begin to think about their own mortality, what it might mean to lose a friend in combat, and what feelings might be aroused if faced with taking the life of another human being, enemy combatant or not. Showing something like the Frontline piece on the Bad Voodoo Platoon would be great, especially the part where their lead truck is blown up and they are certain that the soldiers at a nearby Iraqi Army (IA) checkpoint are responsible for emplacing the IED; ask your soldiers how they would deal with such a situation. They might not come up with the right answer (because there probably isn’t a right answer), but they begin to think about combat and you can also start to get a handle on who your soldiers really are- which happens to be Captain Moon’s second point: know your soldiers. It’s important to know how your soldiers might react if put in a situation similar to that experienced by the Bad Voodoos, so why not simply ask them? They’ll be honest about their feelings, or at least I hope they will be, especially those who have been on deployments already. Captain Moon also talks about “using the resources available” during a deployment to help address combat stress, but this is something important to remember at all three phases of the deployment experience. The bottom line is that it is the leader’s (not just the officers but also the NCOs, who have more experience anyway) to prepare those under their care for the combat stress that is inevitable in what are unfortunately inevitable deployments. Will I be perfect at this? Probably not, but I sure as hell hope that I will be of some use to any soldiers ever placed in my care in a combat situation.
I’ve read books recently by guys like Captain Nate Self and Chaplain Roger Benimoff, both fairly recent veterans of the Iraq and/or Afghanistan wars, in which they tell the stories of their deployments and returns home. One of the biggest takeaways from their works is that combat stress is very much a reality and that post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a very real and dangerous possibility for anyone that serves under periods of extreme stress, especially in combat situations. What’s worse is that familial difficulties do not necessarily abate after one reunites with their loved ones after a deployment ends. The inability of the affected person to properly address their post-traumatic stress and the unintentional lack of understanding of that soldier’s friends and family can tear them all apart, and in a fatal way in extreme cases. I’m not claiming to be any expert on combat, combat stress, or post-traumatic stress as I have absolutely no experience in any of these areas, but I still think it appropriate to reflect on the experiences of others that I’ve read about or seen on programs such as Frontline.
The Frontline piece (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/badvoodoo/) is extremely raw and it is a unique producing idea: don’t give the soldiers a reporter to tell their story, give them a camera and let them tell their own story. The story showcases two people- SFC Nunn who is the platoon sergeant and acting platoon leader, and SPC Shaw who is a “regular joe” in what is known as the Bad Voodoo Platoon, a platoon of national guard soldiers (and I say that not in a disparaging way). From the start, we know there are bound to be difficulties for the Bad Voodoos despite their bravado on the convoy gunnery range. SFC Nunn is leaving a son and 4 months pregnant wife behind. The last time he returned from a deployment he promised his son that he would never go back to war. SPC Shaw is nursing a fragile relationship. The reality is that we can’t deploy and expect all our problems at home to go away. We will not be able to completely separate ourselves from the homefront while serving on the battlefront. Once in the country, they begin a shitty mission: convoy security. For as far as they can tell, for the next 12 months the Bad Voodoos will be taking their HMMWVs on supply convoys from Kuwait into Iraq to provide force protection and projection if necessary. They begin and life isn’t too bad, but as the days turn into weeks and the weeks turn into months, convoy security gets real old for the Bad Voodoos. In one instance, they have a vehicle break down and must wait for KBR to come and recover the vehicle. Eight hours later, KBR is nowhere to be seen and they must jimmy-rig a fix. Some of the soldiers have already deployed but now must operate under a new, different, and often frustrating ROE (rules of engagement). They are also performing a different type of mission and the unfamiliarity and change is uncomfortable and stressing for them. They say it’s “not combat” even. The soldiers don’t necessarily believe in the cause that they are fighting for; SPC Shaw calls it “totally pointless.” They are “running themselves into the ground,” staying awake for days at a time only through the constant consumption of energy drinks (which brings about kidney stones and other health complications). SPC Shaw loses his faith in God, something that was once important to him. The Bad Voodoos spend Christmas in Iraq, something I would never wish upon anyone. All of these things are significant stressors in themselves, but add them all together and you have what amounts to a disastrous conglomeration of human emotions. Does the Bad Voodoo Platoon experience combat stress? Absolutely. Are they all subject to PTSD? Unfortunately.
All this analysis and reflection is well and good, but what it really comes down to is this: what will I do when I get to experience similar situations? As a quartermaster/logistics officer, it is very likely that I will find myself in a situation very similar to that of the Bad Voodoo Platoon- running convoys and “waiting to get blown up.” I like the framework set forth by Jerry Moon in his article written for the Center for Company Commanders, entitled “Force Protection for the ‘Hidden Wounds’ of War.” He starts with the obvious: you must address combat stress before, during, and after the deployment. While I don’t think that a particular phase is most important, I do think that prevention is perhaps of elevated importance in comparison to the others. Captain (?) Moon gives two ideas for addressing combat stress in pre-deployment: talk about killing and know your soldiers. This is obviously not an all-encompassing list, and I would modify it to say “talk about death- your own, your friends, and that of your enemy.” I would think an effective technique here is to use cases and vignettes to force your soldiers to begin to think about their own mortality, what it might mean to lose a friend in combat, and what feelings might be aroused if faced with taking the life of another human being, enemy combatant or not. Showing something like the Frontline piece on the Bad Voodoo Platoon would be great, especially the part where their lead truck is blown up and they are certain that the soldiers at a nearby Iraqi Army (IA) checkpoint are responsible for emplacing the IED; ask your soldiers how they would deal with such a situation. They might not come up with the right answer (because there probably isn’t a right answer), but they begin to think about combat and you can also start to get a handle on who your soldiers really are- which happens to be Captain Moon’s second point: know your soldiers. It’s important to know how your soldiers might react if put in a situation similar to that experienced by the Bad Voodoos, so why not simply ask them? They’ll be honest about their feelings, or at least I hope they will be, especially those who have been on deployments already. Captain Moon also talks about “using the resources available” during a deployment to help address combat stress, but this is something important to remember at all three phases of the deployment experience. The bottom line is that it is the leader’s (not just the officers but also the NCOs, who have more experience anyway) to prepare those under their care for the combat stress that is inevitable in what are unfortunately inevitable deployments. Will I be perfect at this? Probably not, but I sure as hell hope that I will be of some use to any soldiers ever placed in my care in a combat situation.
Getting Started
There's nothing like a countdown to get your heart racing. I can remember hanging in anticipation as Mr. Trump, our high school track official, raised his starting gun to release us for a race. The space shuttle has a countdown, that's a pretty dramatic event, right? Anyway, for the past few months I have had a set of bright green numbers flashing in the corner of my computer screen. Each day, the number gets smaller and I come closer to a certain realization.
Today it reads 59.
That is 59 days until May 22nd, a day that is sure to be the happiest in my short life thus far. It is the day in which I will (God willing) graduate college and depart from the South Hudson Institute of Technology (I'll let you construct the acronym), also known as Castle Grayskull. It's actually better known as West Point. For the past 4 years (well, 5 sorta) they have been trying to prepare me to be a responsible, knowledgeable, and competent officer in the army. Whether or not the Institute has succeeded in their aim remains to be seen.
What will follow for the next 59 days are reflections as I prepare to hang up (ah, who am I kidding, as I prepare to BURN) my cadet uniforms and don a different 500 dollar monkey suit. This one will be blue though, and it will signal my entrance into what is known around here as the "profession of arms." When we say arms, we mean guns and not bodily appendages. My views and thoughts are solely my own, not those of any government entity. My motivation is purely reflective, but why not share it? West Pointers will probably call me a tool or whatever the latest derogatory term is, but I kinda think that I should take this whole army thing halfway seriously since it'll be my place of employment for at least five years.
I hope to post on a regular basis, and my posts will varying widely- from West Point stuff to Army stuff to news articles to faith-based stuff to whatever matters to me and I think is slightly related to my education and growth. Tomorrow will be my first real post.
Today it reads 59.
That is 59 days until May 22nd, a day that is sure to be the happiest in my short life thus far. It is the day in which I will (God willing) graduate college and depart from the South Hudson Institute of Technology (I'll let you construct the acronym), also known as Castle Grayskull. It's actually better known as West Point. For the past 4 years (well, 5 sorta) they have been trying to prepare me to be a responsible, knowledgeable, and competent officer in the army. Whether or not the Institute has succeeded in their aim remains to be seen.
What will follow for the next 59 days are reflections as I prepare to hang up (ah, who am I kidding, as I prepare to BURN) my cadet uniforms and don a different 500 dollar monkey suit. This one will be blue though, and it will signal my entrance into what is known around here as the "profession of arms." When we say arms, we mean guns and not bodily appendages. My views and thoughts are solely my own, not those of any government entity. My motivation is purely reflective, but why not share it? West Pointers will probably call me a tool or whatever the latest derogatory term is, but I kinda think that I should take this whole army thing halfway seriously since it'll be my place of employment for at least five years.
I hope to post on a regular basis, and my posts will varying widely- from West Point stuff to Army stuff to news articles to faith-based stuff to whatever matters to me and I think is slightly related to my education and growth. Tomorrow will be my first real post.
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