Human Soldier

"Stand straight like a soldier" I say to my boys. "Be strong like a soldier" I tell them when I want them to be tough about something. But what does it really mean?

A soldier is a person. A human with skin, blood pumping through his veins, he has thoughts and a thriving spirit. To me, soldiers are humans who transform into super-humans! The decision that a person makes when stepping into the life of a soldier will forever change them. These people will forever amaze me!

My father, my children's grandfather, was a true super-human in every form. I will be delicate when speaking of this angel of mine because I want to protect his memory while telling the truth. The truth is very important to me. He was a man who was very protective. His voice was so loud you felt the vibration in your chest when he spoke. His laugh was contagious! He was a friend to anyone who crossed his path. This was a man who would on occasion invite a stranger for dinner if they needed a meal. My father was more than a man, he was a walking angel. He was sensitive and played the flute. I remember him opening his beautiful case, adjusting the pieces before pulling it towards his lips and there it was......that sound! My father and that sound....

Many nights I would hear my mom and dad laugh and listen to music on the record player for hours until I fell into slumber. This was the happy man I knew, the fun man.

My father was a soldier. A soldier that hated war. I find it important to make sure my dad's story is told. The story we never really heard from beginning to end, the story we heard in bits and pieces enough to satisfy our hearts but for only a moment before the wondering would start up again.

Everything we know through the movies and documentaries about Vietnam is so close to the truth. Another reason I have had a fascination with any type of Vietnam or military movie is my wish to better understand what my soldier father went through. I can't jump inside the mind of man especially now that he is gone but I can for sure learn more to grow closer to him inside my heart.

My father fought a war he did not believe in. My father was sent to another area of our earth. He was commanded to fight humans he did not know and did not hate whatsoever! I know one thing for sure, this soldier fought with his own human instincts the whole time. My father voiced the fact that he was the sole survivor in his entire platoon. I can't even imagine what this soldier was going through. I can't even fathom. I tremble to put down the truth. There was so much death. My soldier father was traumatized in truth. Not one person survived, except for my father, in the group of soldiers he was fighting with. Not one. Soldiers watch their friends die. We then watch a human part of the soldier die. They are never ever the same no matter how hard they try after going through so much.

Agent Orange was a whole other story and my father was affected by it.

My soldier father was injured real bad and that is probably what may have saved his life. At the end of his tour he was sent to Okinawa Japan to a hospital where he would then stay until he was repaired enough to come back home to California.

The war was over for him.... Or was it?

Of course growing up around a soldier father there were some interesting behaviors brought home with him. He never answered me with a yes or no. My dad had always answered "negative" or "affirmative". He always griped about how much time was to be spent in the shower, how things should be folded and many other habits I found funny at a young age.

He was such an amazingly kind and light soul. I dearly love my father and wish with all of my heart that I could just tell him this. But alas, I am. If only he could read these words from the heavens above.

Every time I think of a soldier I think of super human mental strength and physical endurance that puts them on a pedestal high above the ground. If I think of them as just human people with skin and blood, my heart will break without repair.

A soldier is so much more than just a person. I wish with all of my heart that one day our country will take better care of these super-humans! Until then, out of respect for my father and other soldiers who are here or passed, please take EXTRA special care of them. No soldier should ever have to feel fear or worry when they are home.

Next time you see a soldier of war, make sure you give that man or woman the ultimate respect they deserve. They go through so much mental and physical conditioning. It's time to condition their hearts and care for our own because they go through things humans were not programed for.

PEACE & LOVE!