To Those Who...

To those who care, 

 What is it to be brave? Truly, truly brave? Is it always telling the truth, knowing that you’ll get in trouble for your actions?  Is it running into a building on fire to rescue the kid inside? Is it enlisting in the army to go and fight someone for the freedom of your country, to go in and face an almost inevitable death? Is it playing hide and go seek in this bland desert? Is it shooting the Afghan kid at the end of the street to save your own boys? Or is it standing in front of an enemy gun, one that’s pointed at one of your boys? Is it standing in front of that gun, yourself facing the possible bullet, instead of the boy? That’s what Congress calls honor and bravery. I just call it my death wish to get out of this hell hole. 

  I guess there are different interpretations of bravery by those who have faced war, and those who haven’t. Over here, bravery isn’t standing in front of a gun: we do that daily anyways. In our eyes, you gotta do something special to be deemed “brave” enough to get that medal and go home. Yeah, you’re looking for a way to get back home, but the flights outta this place are usually only for you when your tour is over, or when your body is in a coffin, if there’s enough of you left. 

  Bravery is keepin’ your head down, and obeying orders, unless the situation really calls for it. Bravery is following the rules because a lot of people don’t do that anymore cause they’re trying to be “brave” and save someone or do something “cool”. Bravery might just have been enlisting in this damn war in the first place. 

  Everyone’s always telling you what something is, and if it’s motives are wrong or right, but I say to hell with that. You form your own opinions about bravery and courage and valor- and a million other people will form theirs too. Your definition of bravery will probably be doing whatever you or your hero does. Not for me. I sit out here in this desert, in these camps, training these kids, shooting down people and smoking. I don’t have a hero, either. 

Signed, 

Hero-less and “Brave” in Afghanistan

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To those who watch, 

  Have you ever just stood and watched people walk past you? Past the kids with the friends and the business men on their phones? Past the noises and signs and cars? Have you ever just watched a person’s soul? I can’t explain how to “watch a soul”, you just do it- you watch them.

  I told this to Mick and he told me that I was f*****g crazy and that I needed to go see a mind doctor. 

Signed, 

The Only Thoughtful Soldier in Afghanistan

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To those who do, 

  Mick did one of those stupid, fling-of-the-moment, “brave” things I did the other day- except he ended up dead. It mad us start a gun fight because I shot the man that shot Mick. It was stupid, but I owed it to Mick. He thought I was crazy, but he was still my friend, my brother almost, and he was dead and he wasn’t coming back.

  A lot of people died that day, and it got me thinking about life and death and that God that said he was watching and protecting us. Everyone said that he was our Savior. Maybe I believed in him, but maybe I didn’t- I didn’t know what I believed. If he was real, where was he? Was he just watching us die in this place? Watching us shoot each other, when he could really just get in one of the head guys’ head, and say “Why are you fighting?”, and just that one question could rethink this whole war, and we could all be friends. No more death, no more remembering, no more gripping the gun in my hand when it wasn’t there.

Signed, 

Talking Endlessly in Afghanistan

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To those who think, 

 That’s the thing about death- it’s irreversible, kind of. You can still think about them, dream about them, remember them, and talk about them like they were still alive. Pain is always there though, cause thoughts always get in the way. Pain and remembering and death were almost synonymous in my mind, ‘cause you’d get to remembering about your buddy that was hit by that one mortar, or the one that was shot right in front of you, or the one that just went bat-s**t crazy, and then you start seeing them while you eat your sandwich at lunch, and while you’re brushing your teeth at night. You see them how they died, or when you last saw them, and you can’t eat, you can’t do anything anymore, ‘cause they’re there making you feel guilty for making it out of there alive. And that makes you want to die, just to get rid of it all.

Signed, 

Alive and “Well” 

Author's Note

This is meant to be taken as a parody of the "Dear Abby" letters in the newspapers, but from an Afghanistan soldier's point of view. I'm pretty proud of this, I think. What do y'all think? Sorry if the language offends you, I felt the tone of the piece required it.

P.S. It's my birthday tomorrow :))))))) The big 1-7! Hope y'all had a great weekend/Easter/etc!

Reviews

[Coyote Poetry]

You did very well. I was a Soldier for 15 years. Hasn't been a declared war in a long time. Soldiers support to protect borders, not be policeman for people who dislike us. I like the two way conversation. After you spend time in the military. You do your best to leave it behind. No weakness in this work. Thank you for sharing your thoughts on a important topic.
Coyote

[K.]

Thank you, Coyote, for reading, and for your service. I hope I portrayed it in an appropriate fashion. I am thinking of enlisting, possibly, at some point, so thank you for those words too.

[Craig2591]

Very good. The person speaking has a lot of cynicism, which I understand comes from being in combat. I've never been there, but this seems very authentic to me.

You should read 'Up Front' by Bill Mauldin. Bill Mauldin was a correspondent in WWII that spent time right in the fox holes with the soldiers. A lot of his writing sounded just like this.

[K.]

Thank you Craig! I, being 17, have never been in combat either, but I'm glad it could come across as if I had been- that is what I strive to do in all of these war stories I write. And I will definitely check that out, thank you so much!

[Cody Williams]

Not offended here. Sometimes the story just needs that. Thanks for sharing. And happy birthday!

-CW

[K.]

Thanks, Cody! Glad I could share, and thanks for the thought! It's already starting off to be a great one :)

[Cody Williams]

No problem at all. That's good to hear.