Dear Country, Dear US

Dear U.S.A.,

“A story. A man fires a rifle for many years. And he goes to war. And afterwards he comes home, and he sees that whatever else he may do with his life - build a house, love a woman, change his son's diaper - he will always remain a jarhead. And all the jarheads killing and dying, they will always be me. We are still in the desert.” (Jake Gyllenhaal, Jarhead) The America public, for all we see on the news and read in books, knows little about war. We do not know how it feels to be in enemy territory with he only things keeping you alive are the rifle in your hands and the men at your side. To better understand war, we as a nation need to better understand the men who fight in it. To understand the soldier is to understand the heart of the military. To better understand the soldier we as a country should embrace them. Too often do we fear the men and women returning from war. We shun them and wonder why anyone would possibly want to fight. As a nation we place all the horrors of war onto the servicemen and women returning home. They are killers, they are monsters. This is a very naïve opinion to have. It is true not all Americans believe this. But some do. Yes there are soldiers who commit acts far above the necessary to complete a mission and survive; there are soldiers who are killers. But there are civilian monsters as well. There are bad people everywhere. It is important to judge the soldiers as a whole, by their courage and their sacrifices. To understand the war, we must understand the soldier.  

Joey Durbin