God bless America and God save our troops.

My nephew, Sgt. Dustin Ladd, has been serving in Iraq. Nothing glamorous, mind you, as he is in a reserve unit in the Quarter Master Corps. That means they get to do all the dirty work that Active Army doesn’t want to do. Cleaning, loading and unloading trucks, heaving boxes from here to there and back again. It’s not much to write home about. But, if it weren’t for Sgt. Ladd and tens of thousands like him, what would Iraq look like right now? Who would be out there restoring electricity and water to thousands? Who would bring ammunition and arms to the brave men and women keeping peace on the streets?

I’ve been corresponding with my Uncle Robert who served two tours in Viet Nam. He possess that wealth of wisdom that no civilian can understand; that strange and mysterious wisdom that comes from watching death swoop down on the guy standing next you and leave you standing unscathed. I read a great quote that very well explains the awkward relationship between veterans and civilians.

We are all fascinated with war and war heroes. Whenever we talk to one, we want to hear all about their experience. But the irony is that war heroes want to talk about ANYTHING BUT war. We all wish we could have been there, and they all are thankful that we were not.

Robert opened up to me a little after I sent him that quote. He didn’t tell me about his experience, but instead sent me a letter he’d written years ago. I read it with the same fascination mentioned above, but when I was done reading, I almost wished I hadn’t. The mental images I got where pretty disturbing. I can’t imagine having to live with the actual, visual memories.

You hear phrases in the media, like “putting a human face” on some tragedy. That doesn’t really capture it though. We’re so desensitized to violence on movies and TV. My mom took me to see RoboCop when I was 14 because the R rating was “only for violence”. It was cool to see all the special effects were bad guys are shot to pieces. But when someone’s son, someone’s dad, someone’s husband, someone with aspirations, dreams, big plans for life after the war; when someone like that gets shot to pieces, it’s not cool. It’s not even bearable.

I was watching Band of Brothers on the History Channel. It’s a great movie. Very well done. But it occurred to me, during one of the battle scenes that to me this is a great movie, but to someone this is the nightmare that’s been waking them up in cold sweats for 50 years.

Once that sinks in, try reading today’s news again. Then, say a prayer for Sgt. Dustin Ladd and all his comrades. And show your support for our troops.