Avalon Chronicles #40: "Battlefield Earth"

Avalon Chronicles #40: "Battlefield Earth"

by Allen B. Clark               allenbclark@aol.com
www.combatfaith.com       www.combatfaith.blogspot.com

     Immediately after my speech Saturday Dec. 6, 2014 to a political group, Billy, the seventh grader son of the host and hostess, came up to me and hugged me and said, "Thank you for your service and sacrifice for all of us." Of course, I was touched immeasurably and he repeated that sentiment again when he assisted me in taking my books to my car. It was a great lift to my spirit after baring my soul again about my wounding in Vietnam and my healing process. It was an extraordinary evening. I speak at political functions and quote some of the remarks by President Ronald Reagan in his second inaugrural speech Jan. 21, 1985. He said, "History is a ribbon, always unfurling; history is a journey....a settler pushes west and sings a song, and the song echoes out forever and fills the unknowing air. It is the American sound. It is hopeful, big-hearted, idealistic, caring, decent, and fair. That's our heritage; that is our song." Admittedly I was touched emotionally and the entire passage as I spoke brought tears to my own eyes. I finished my quote and closed my remarks. Spontaneously the audience rose up and sang, "God Bless America." This has never happened in the hundreds of presentations I have made over the decades. This old soldier was touched by that outpouring and by what Billy said. Would that all my fellow combatants could be a recipient of these gifts of the heart!
     The struggles of our men and women returning from battlefields in ages past to present are not recognized by many non-combatants. Since the first cave people clubbed each other, humanity has been forced, encouraged, cajoled or paid to wage war on others. Various causes or incitements have been evident or manufactured to incur conflict between tribes, nations, and groups. High-sounding and grandiose schemes, propaganda, and many well-founded grounds and purposes have been utilized to inspire young men and women to take up arms to kill each other. Many were in the name of "religion."
     Old members of societies come up with reasons to fight and it is the young ones full of strength, bravado, and grit who march to the sound of the drums and charge with the bugles blaring amid battle flags unfurled. Some return in flag-draped coffins buried in the hallowed grounds of our national cemeteries and small country places of final rest. Others return with visible wounds caused by projectiles, shrapnel, and miscellaneous bits of metal, causing losses, scars, broken bones, and amputations. Yet others return with unseen wounds carried in their souls and spirits from the traumas of their fields of battle. These experiences on battlefields coupled with the wounds of life before and after military service compound to significantly impact the lives of our warriors.
     Many of our combatants speak only to each other and not to those who were safely tucked in to warm beds at night while they sacrificed, sweated, bled, and suffered the traumas of war on faraway fields, sands, and mountains in places where the people did not always like us. Then they returned to homes where their own did not, nor could not, always understand what they experienced, nor the pain they endured.
     The only hope for ultimate healing of our warriors is to recognize that they were strong enough to qualify for military service, were disciplined enough to serve, and were courageous and balanced enough to be a part of something way larger than those protected here and there could ever fathom. It was not voiced, but, in truth, we represented as American military what Presiden Reagan described as the American heritage. Their identity as a loyal patriot must be coupled with a strong identity of faith in understanding that from beginning of time to end of time there will be a continuous battlefield on earth, a struggle between good and evil. Some of us are called into that fight. Only in a belief in a Creator who loves us all can we even attempt to be resilient enough to achieve healing. Jesus, the Son of our Creator, is the reason for my healing. The least we all can do at this season of celebration is to reach out to the warriors we know and offer them our gratitude and respect and not wait until the next Veterans Day.