Memorial Day

[piplover]

The life of a soldier isn't easy.  You work long hours, for very little pay.  You endure physical hardships and deprivations.  Are trained to ignore pain and carry on.  The food isn't that great, and sometimes it's so damn cold outside you don't want to move, let alone go out and do your job. But in the end you do get up, and shove your feet in your boots and curse how about cold it is while you pick up your rifle and get on with the business you were trained for.

Sometimes it's so hot you don't think you can breath properly.  Your head swims with it, and the pack on your back chafes and you know you'll have bruises there.  The sweat gets in your eyes, but you can't remove your helmet to wipe it away, even though the sweatband inside your helmet is drenched.  Your cuffs of your shirt become stiff with sweat from wiping your forehead, and you know you stink to high heaven, but frankly, you don't care.  You just want to get your job done so you can go lay down for a few minutes and maybe learn how to breath again.

The life of a soldier isn't easy.  It means giving up certain freedoms so that others may enjoy them.  It means doing what you're told, even if you don't necessarily agree with that order.  It's sacrifice, sometimes of the highest kind.  And when you see your buddy die, or have to pick up his body parts so a family can have a burial, you have to shove the parts inside yourself that want to cry and whimper into a dark corner of your mind and just get on with it.  Because your friend is dead, but you have others who are depending on you to watch their back and help them through this as well. 

I'm thankful I never had to do the last, but I have friends who did.  Friends who looked at me with pleading eyes when they were told they were going back over there and told me they just couldn't do it again. Not again. 

Being a soldier isn't easy. 

But I'm so thankful that I was one, and that I have friends who still are.  That I have friends who passed away, believing they were making a difference.  It doesn't matter what you think politically. It doesn't matter if you are for or against the war, because I can assure you there are many, many soldiers who think the exact same things.  But what matters is that we remember those who have come before, who have placed their lives and their bodies in danger so that others won't have to. 

So I am going to enjoy this day. I am going to have a BBQ with my family, and watch Warhorse with them, and drink wine, and be thankful for all those who have passed which allow me to do so.  I'm going to live my life to the best of my ability, because it's the greatest gift I can give. 

Comments

[dreamflower]

Thank you for saying all of this so eloquently dear!

And thank you for your own service. It may be over for you now, but it was and is important and appreciated.

[piplover.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[songspinner9.livejournal.com]

Doesn't matter what you did or didn't do where you were and when you were a soldier. You took tremendous risks so others could live. I think of you, and remember my grandfather and friends and relatives who went to war, and am grateful. And to those who didn't make it back as well - I hope to help make a world they'd be proud of saving. As always, thank you. Simple as that.

[piplover.livejournal.com]

Thanks. That really does mean a lot. *Hugs*

[shirebound]

I always appreciate your memorial and veterans posts.

*hugs you a lot*

[piplover.livejournal.com]

*Hugs you tight*

[nolan-ash.livejournal.com]

Beautiful write-up! I'm grateful to all our women & men in uniform.

[piplover.livejournal.com]

Thanks!