Freedom: A Citizen Soldier's Perspective

I had the rare pleasure of sitting next to a soldier in uniform on a plane trip from DFW to San Antonio on Friday night. 

My usual modus operandi for a plane trip is to read until the plane reaches altitude, then break out the laptop for a brief foray into editing or to watch part of a movie. I also typically sit on the aisle (due to control issues that I am well aware of). On this flight, we were on a plane that had two seats on one side and three on the other. I had the aisle seat on the side of the plane with two seats. I noted that I was sitting beside a young man in uniform, but I don’t generally press conversation on someone on a plane. If someone initiates a conversation, I’ll evaluate how interesting I think they’re likely to be, and then give the appropriate non-verbal signals that either stops or continues the conversation.

So the guy next to me, dressed in his BDUs, opens up the conversation by commenting on my book (Steven Brust’s Jhereg anthology). We talked about science fiction before we moved on to deeper topics. I encouraged my companion to speak freely, asking questions that left room for him to take a different conversational track if he chose. I do know his name, but I’m going to have him remain anonymous since I didn’t ask his permission to talk about the encounter here. For purposes of this article, we’ll call him John.

John is a Specialist (E-4) serving in the National Guard. His day job is as a chef at a moderately high end (non chain) restaurant. He attended culinary school for two years (earning his associate’s degree); he has a wife and two children (one of his own, one step-child). His wife works as an LPN in a local hospital. She’s attending night school as she is able to earn her RN. Due to John being deployed twice over his tenure in the Guard, her own career has been put on hold since she becomes the primary care-giver in his absence.

John’s role in the Guard is as a medic. He’s been through several courses (and was attending another one at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio) that give him the skills equivalent to a highly skilled paramedic. He’s taking every opportunity to get training from the Guard that makes him both more marketable in the civilian world (for a potential change in career) and that makes him more valuable to the USA’s mission abroad.

As far as John was concerned, there was no question that the lives of the Iraqis are better. He has seen the changes over two deployments. He mentioned schools that teach science, engineering, and medicine, as well as the history, religion, and culture. He mentioned public service projects that provided irrigation systems and clean water as well as agronomy services to maximize yields from crops. Normal, everyday people are being given the knowledge to feed themselves. They are discovering empowerment and personal responsibility. I pointed out the irony of this, given that his homeland was experiencing a reversal in both while he and his brothers were abroad. He disagreed with me, saying that most Americans will work to better themselves and feed their families when pressed. His comments, and his disagreement, brought my own cynicism into sharp focus.

He admitted to being scared on some days and bored out of his mind on others. He watched a friend die due to an IED, and he was on combat missions where his unit fired on enemy combatants. The most terrifying moment for John was in a “danger close” artillery mission. To this day, he says he cannot abide the deep bass from overdriven speakers because it reminds him too much of being almost underneath an artillery barrage.

I asked John if he was getting out of the Guard. His reply was an emphatic negative. He knows he might be deployed for a third time, but he counts it as a small cost. He told several stories about his experiences in “the sandbox.” He repeatedly emphasized that our military works with “good people” but their mission is complicated by poverty. Those who are desperate to feed their families will “work” for the insurgency, muddying the waters on the classification of good and bad guys. One of the most valuable works that John’s unit performed, in his opinion, was distributing aid packets to Iraqi civilians that contained food staples and basic hygiene products.

Despite all of this, John firmly believes in our mission abroad in both Iraq and Afghanistan–spreading freedom. To hear this from one who has been there twice, who has been taken away from his family and his day job, makes me wonder how the major news networks and the politicians could get this so wrong. What war, exactly, is CNN reporting? Why in the world is Barack Hussein Obama demanding unrealistic timelines for pulling our troops out of a country that is advancing by leaps and bounds? Why are we not listening to the men and women on the front lines of this conflict, who see the Iraqi people on a day-to-day basis? 

I was impressed with John. He’s a father, a husband, and a chef…and he’s a soldier who does his part by putting his life on the line to defend the ideals that make this country great. My own gripes about career position and my comfortable suburban life pale in comparison to this young man. I can’t guess what the future holds for him, but I know the whatever he does, he will succeed because of his work ethic and his selflessness.