Almost my entire adult life I've hated the month of March. Upon reflecting on why I feel this way I realized that some of the worst things that have ever happened to me have happened in March. Granted, I've never been stabbed by a Roman senate, but if I could fast forward through the entire month and go from February to April I gladly would.
I'm reading a book about a Navy SEAL whose team was ambushed in the Hindu Kush mountains of Afghanistan and he was the lone survivor. I just finished the chapter detailing the killing of his best friends and fellow SEALS and that even with multiple bullet wounds, broken vertebrae and shrapnel embedded in his thigh, he's climbing up the side of a mountain to try to signal to American helicopters that he's alive. I can't even fathom the mental strength you would have to have to not give up and keep moving after seeing the side of your friend's head shot off. He talks about how difficult it is for soldiers with the Rules of Engagement set up by the Geneva Convention, because the goatherder that they let go might be the guy who tells the Taliban where they are. No wonder so many soldiers come back with so many mental issues. You can't have to deal with those kinds of life & death decisions without having some residual effects.
I've become addicted to chocolate covered marshmallow eggs. I can't help myself. They're just so good. Curse Easter and all its tasty non-denominational treats!
1 comment:
My father-in-law was a Battle Of The Bulge WWII veteran. He told me a few stories, one being about the time his division was battling a German division in Belgium when a farmer and his horse-drawn haywagon was moving through the middle of the small valley they were shooting across at each other. Both sides waved to other to stop to let the farmer through. My father-in-law said it happened a lot.
I think the Geneva Convention was written about the highest rule of law possible in wartimes. It certainly has saved tens of thousands of lives, maybe more, and protected prisoners of war in many situations. How do you lower that bar when some countries are of such a different culture that they may not respect the same high bar? I think we still hold true to our values and not let the scale slide depending on who we may be in a conflict with. Unfortunately, in Afghanistan, like Iraq, Americans are seen as invaders by the locals. Must be very difficult for a goatherd to choose sides.
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