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This blog exists only as an archive. It is a journal that serves as a window into my life as a Marine combat veteran serving in Iraq and Afghanistan; it was written with no filter, no politics and no agenda. Please feel free to follow my journey from beginning to end. Welcome to my life.

Monday, May 25, 2009

Memorial Day

Normally, come Memorial Day and July 4th and all those other 24 hour windows of opportunity provided to Americans to show their appreciation for their country and their country's heroes, I try to write something long and thoughtful, either dwelling on what the day means to me, or what it should mean to you.

Maybe I'm being lazy, but I don't feel like that today. I'll just give you a homework assignment. Go find a veteran's mother and thank her. The strength and bedrock of this country is found in the women that raise men who appreciate what they have and are willing to fight for it. Go find a mother who raised her son with love and compassion and selflessness, and then selflessly watched him march off to war, with nothing more than a whispered "I love you", only to never see him return.

Thanks Audrey.

That's that. Now, moving on. My good friend Dave Folwell sent me this article recently.

http://www.esquire.com/features/essay/ESQ0307ESSAY-3

He said he was a little worried about sending it, didn't want to give me any ideas or rekindle my strange love affair with Iraq and Afghanistan. The writer is an Army vet of Iraq. It discusses just how addicting war can be. He's right. It really is like a drug, an itch that you need to scratch. No matter the horrors you see or the innocence you lose, regardless of the risk you take, you never feel more alive, you'll never feel closer to God, you'll never feel more LIKE god.

Read it. I couldn't have put it better myself.
at 7:59 AM

9 comments:

  1. ....raised her son....(or daughter)....

    I have a neighbor with two daughters in the service. thanks Colleen

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  2. THANK You!! for all the time you have served fighting for our country...

    ..My husband get home from Iraq today.
    its pretty sweet, I get to tell him thank you, in person.

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  3. Jake,

    Please send my thanks to your mother.

    Salute!

    Patrick

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  4. With all due respect,... and YOU KNOW I respect and am very proud of you! Please don't disreguard the Father's that also have been involved in raising their son's,...sometimes having to fight the mothers in fact,..to raise their son's.

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  5. Thanks for the link to that article. It's very powerful and offers a perspective that most never get to hear.

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  6. As veteran, the daugher of a veteran, and the mother of two children serving in the Armed Forces; one in Afghanistan and the other leaving for Iraq in a month.....thank you Jake for thinking of us! Thank you for your service, and thank your parents for raising you to care.

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  7. Did you ever meet a Marine who had parents who were hippies?

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  8. Hey Marine:

    I finally managed to browbeat some Aussies into staring up a support the troops/send em stuff type website.

    http://oceanskykhaki.blogspot.com/

    They're covering the basics, and contacting various American sites that do the same for hints on process and such. But, what they could use more of is info on what sort of things diggers in the AOs you're familiar with could use in the way of support items.

    Mind dropping by over there and sharing some inside insight?

    ReplyDelete

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