Thanksgiving reflection

a friend of mine has a son in the Army stationed in Korea.

he called home last night to tell his mom that if he didnt call home on Thanksgiving day not to worry, just that he would be in the field

his dad (a retired officer) got on the phone to chew his ass for talking about operational information over an unsecured phone line

just a father and son, sharing the love 😛

a lot of guys in my department are in that position

a number of the guys i was teaching this morning, upon graduation in 10 days will be assigned to duty in Korea next, in the normal course of events

i never have problems with my students being motivated to learn

It’s a real privilege to share classroom time and space with them

some folks don’t understand why i dont just trade full time; it’s hard to explain perhaps. but not really

it’s my dharma to teach here

dharma = soul/life duty;  one’s “righteous duty” in the Hindu tradition

in 1985 on Thanksgiving Day, I was a 1st Lieutenant of Infantry, serving inside the DMZ in Korea, as the commander of Guard Post Ouellette, the most forward deployed unit in the Army, an arm’s length from N Korea; at 3AM, as was my habit, I was walking through the trenches (15 feet deep, carved thru rock) going around the perimeter to inspect all of my fighting positions, each one in the dark, filled with 1-2 guys on duty, on the lookout for infiltrators or whatever madness the N Koreans might be up to

in one of the bunkers i met my newest soldier, who had reported the night before, fresh from basic training; he was 17, and from Missouri, and this was the first time he had ever been out of the state except for attending basic training at Ft Benning

we watched thru heat-sensing night vision devices as a squad of N Koreans began infiltrating thru our sector; and per SOP, we reported it to higher and they began vectoring ambush squads and reaction forces to intercept

the rest of the night we spent in a pretty tense manner as the scene unfolded until just before dawn the squad returned to N Korea

the kid’s eyes were as big as saucers, and I thought about what it meant to me to be 28 yrs old, and in charge of 50 guys in that position, on Thanksgiving Day

that was the day i knew for sure that i was destined to be a soldier for as long as i could serve

never forgot that moment and what it meant to have that kid under my command and what my duty was

made all the hardships or sacrifices or whatever pretty easy to take

in fact made all sense of hardship disappear, because it was absorbed into the value of “duty” and service to others

so, I never ever saw service as a hardship or particularly difficult; it all seemed very natural as a part of my dharma

I will be praying in my own way for soldiers this weekend, as they live their own duty to self and others