(Military Times) Op-Ed: Thank a Soldier

[unhappycamper]

Thank a Soldier
Geoff Tate | March 17, 2009

Over the last few tumultuous years, things have become very political. War brings that out. People agree and disagree, and we Americans find it comfortable to debate politics with clever bumper stickers. One sticker slogan that pushed my buttons was one that declared, "I support our troops!" For months I asked myself what it meant. Was I missing something? Wasn't this statement obvious? Isn't this one thing that most of us can agree on?

The more I thought about it the more I thought of my own meanings for this ambiguous statement. Of course I support our troops … or do I? What is it that I do support? What do I even know about our troops? Even though I was raised in a military family I had never been a Soldier and I've certainly never been in combat.

I felt compelled to understand what a Soldier is. Just what is the soldier's perspective? What does the Soldier experience before, during and after war. The only way to do this was to ask them and to listen to what they had to say.

I started by asking my dad who is a veteran of Korea and Vietnam about his experiences. This was new territory for us as we had never talked about such things and as he spoke about the challenges that he had faced as a young man I began to understand him differently and see how he became the person he had become. As we were talking, I grabbed my video camera and filmed our time together so I could share his thoughts with my wife and children.

After seeing the taped conversation with my dad, my wife said, "You need to write a song about this. You need to share this with other people." As we spoke further about it we both realized that with more interviews with more Soldiers from different conflicts, we might then begin to understand the meaning of supporting the troops.


Rest of article at: http://www.military.com/opinion/0,15202,187049,00.html?wh=news