OUR COMBAT TROOPS, AND "COMING HOME"......printed again, because WE DO NOT FORGET!

My life has been frequently touched and very deeply moved, by the bravery and sacrifices of our troops. Through each war, I have had dear and precious friends who gave the most unfathomable gift of all ... their life.  

Others ... thankfully, they came home.  Many who returned are fractured by the horrors they have experienced, and struggle to blend back into this life. Many have become piercingly aware of many of this life's superficialities. They still hold their memories of war, and try to make them consistent with all of their other values.  It is profoundly moving to hear the inner paths they traverse to heal themselves. Yet.....many memories remain despite some transformation.  Yeoman work.

Many men believe they are brave. It is not until you hear a narrative, or a testimony,  of the service days of a combat soldier ... that you can even slightly proceed with your personal re-definition and imagination of the word "bravery".

In the end, we  decline trying.... in some way ... to create the most remote connection with the combat life of an honorable soldier.  We avoid that reality for it is simply too painful.  But, it is true that stretching our imagination to a maximum point of shock and horror is sometimes the only road "in".  In, to the heart and soul of that soldier.  One can almost get secondary PTSD, in merely hearing these stories. For me, each one is a life-altering experience, and a psychological journey to the deep is a requirement. It is then that the word  "hero" becomes self-defining.

Some men toy with life, centered on greed and destruction.  They assume they are brave, or masculine, because they have fired a gun.  It is not until you weep just hearing the story of a combat veteran / soldier, that one can flesh out the essential meaning of "sacrifice", "loyalty", "bravery". It is then that you can begin to discern the quintessential and archetypal sense of character, forged through the most personally demanding moments known to man.  

Yes, I still cry, for the living soldiers and certainly for those who have died. But now the tears are celebratory. They keep honor...keep guard...in the parts of my heart that will always bear reverence for the gifts of their lives and times.

Finally, it is then, that "bravery", as some others define bravado, macho, etc., is revealed to be an insipid reality.  The truth of that word is now self-defining. ~ Madelaine Watson, MSW, CHT