We Were Soldiers Once...and Young

Andi here!

I'm so excited to see all the great points Lara shared with us...isn't she a great writer?! LLC is very blessed to have her.

I've been very busy this summer getting ready for an upcoming deployment. Our CO recommended reading the book 'We Were Solders Once...and Young'...so I did.

Let me tell you, my friends: that book changed my way of thinking completely.

I'm a very emotional reader. I become engulfed in the emotion of a story to the point that I find it hard to extract my mind from it long after I put the book itself away. The words on these pages impacted me in a way that I can't fully explain.

The book itself is the account of General Hal Moore's unit during the Battle of Ia Drang. Effectively, this was the first major battle of the Vietnam War. The men in his company faced carnage and slaughter like few of our trrops today even dream of. Their story is not for the weak stomached or fainthearted, but if you push through to the end, you are rewarded with a feeling of affection and understanding for these great soldiers. Their ordeals at LZ X-Ray and LZ Albany pull you in; you hope for their survival and pray for their families. Several times I had to wipe tears off the pages as I read.

I am not a military member. I work in Family Readiness, but I am not in the military myself, nor have I ever been. Therefore, I have only a wife's understanding of the feeling of camraderie and brotherhood that carries brave men and women through extended periods away from home. I am not one of them, only a close observer.

This book gave me a feeling of what it is like to be an insider- to know the hurt and pain of losing someone you were fighting to save. To translate that so powerfully and effectively is a great gift to us as military families. We often sit and wonder what the attraction to this lifestyle is for our warriors. From our standpoint, they are rarely home, work long hours, are consistently in danger, have high levels of risk, miss their kids growing up and always have that chance of not returning to us.

I see now, after experiencing such a life-altering battle through their eyes, that it really isn't about any of those things. It's about honor. Integrity. Knowing that you are the best qualified to do your work and doing it well regardless of the cost. Patriotism. Love.

All these things keep swimming through my head as I revisit ther time in the Ia Drang. When faced with their experiences, I find no confusion in the idea that some of them will never want to relive those times.

This brings me, jolted by inspiration, into the present day.

How many of us live with returned warriors? How many, if any, of us get their whole story upon their return?

This often bothered me when my husband came home from his several past deployments. I would only get part of the story, only hear the funny parts, never the real meat of the mission. I was always angry that he didn't 'trust' me enough to share those experiences with me.

Now I get it.

Some things you just can't fathom unless you were there, in the moment, in the field. In the air. In the tent. In the bunker.

Our place is to hold up the home front. It's called a 'front' for a reason, as it must be defended and cared for in a way much similar to those that our warriors defend. The difference? Just as we tell them 'You have no idea how hard it was while you were gone', they will tell us 'You have no idea the hell that we walked through to get home to you'. And if we care enough, we will accept them at their word because both sides are correct- we will never know the pain of the other. But perhaps...

...that is why it all works.