The day he walked into the office he was excited. After all he was going to wear the uniform proudly. The recruiter spoke to him about all the advantages he would have, seeing the world, an education, representing his country; the soldier would even earn stripes and be able to go up in rank. At first he was leery of joining, after all, his mother was afraid of war and often talked to him against it, but now he was ready to take it on and he knew his father would be proud of him.
What was missing from all of this wonderful information the recruiter gave him? Did he tell him everything? He forgot to tell him what he might lose.
He may be away for a very long time, he may have to do more than one tour, he may have to see his friends gasping for life, he may see blood and guts, he may have to shoot someone, he may have to see women and children laying in the street dead, he may be captured and held by the opposite side, he may get hit by friendly fire, he may go nights without sleep and hungry, he may be tortured or find himself torturing someone, he may see his friends rape women, he may come home without a limb, he may have to go through endless therapy, he may suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, he may be forgotten by his friends and the very ones that encouraged him to go, or he may come back in a coffin.
War is not a pretty thing and for those that have gone and fought in different ones they know the devastation it causes. We know too many who are left widows and their children orphans; women go to combat and leave their small children behind. Entire families and communities are torn apart because of war.
The reality is the more young people join the armed forces and sign those promising papers; they may in fact be signing a death sentence. It’s true, if it weren’t for those brave men and women who go to war and risk their life where would people’s freedom be? But there’s also a very cold truth, freedom comes with a price, and all of us have seen millions die, trying to free others.
When it comes to soldiers who go out to see the world, what are they really envisioning? Belonging to an elite team, the pride of a uniform, the feel of an AK47 or the reality that what they thought would be bliss and adventure turned out to be gruesome scenes when many were injured and died, the uniform didn’t mean anything when lives were lost, and an AK47 was a lethal weapon used for destruction.
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