...
My brother is in Afghanistan right now for 7 months, he's only 2 years older than me and a Captain (the internet just taught me that this is the highest rank for a junior officer). Initially he went as a 'controller' for lack of a better word, coordinating his troops from a well concealed underground safe house. Unfortunately, due to his competence, his responsibility was upgraded and he was 'promoted' to liaison between the Canadian and Afghan armies, which places him in a "forward operating base" - you guessed it, on the front lines. My parents are not happy, and frankly, neither am I. Who would have guessed that my straight edge, vegan, puck rocker, food bank operating brother would have graduated university and joined the army? Not any of my family.
We all wait with baited breath for him to call or update facebook, anything that signifies he's okay - ..... men and women he's been through incredible trials with - people he calls friends.
For me, my brother has really humanized the face of war. It used to be so easy to hate wars and those involved with the effort (except in extreme cases, ie. Hitler, Stalin, etc.), because those involved could be characterized as faceless automatons acting out the orders from their government. While the structures of war haven't changed dramatically, my interpretation of combatants certainly has and now I see people on both sides of the conflict (Afghani, Iraqi, Canadian, American, etc.) Why are we such a destructive species?
:sigh:
🖤👠🖤👠🖤𝙇𝙄𝙏𝙏𝙇𝙀 𝘽𝙇𝘼𝘾𝙆 𝘿𝙍𝙀𝙎𝙎 𝙏𝙊𝙍𝙊𝙉𝙏𝙊 - 𝙊𝙪𝙩𝙘𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙊𝙣𝙡𝙮 - 𝙏𝙪𝙚𝙨𝙙𝙖𝙮 𝙅𝙪𝙣𝙚 2𝙣𝙙 🖤👠🖤👠🖤
