SDS and Friends and Friends (FaFs – the Quaker student organization on campus) hosted a vigil to commemorate the roughly 10,000 people killed in 10 years of conflict in Afghanistan. While we had a small turnout, we reflected on the different dimensions of this war and the other conflicts in which the US is currently embroiled. After the break is a letter a US American soldier – who will be deployed to Afghanistan at the end of the semester – shared with us.
We also discussed the massive amount of money that has been spent in Afghanistan alone: it could finance the educations of all the students in the United States, among other things. We closed by reading a partial list of the fatalities in Afghanistan from 2011 and then spent a moment in silence. One member closed the event with a call to taking a stance – and to taking action.
Stephanie’s Letter
I am an American Soldier.
I am a warrior and a member of a team.
I serve the people of the United States, and live the Army Values.
I will always place the mission first.
I will never accept defeat.
I will never quit.
I will never leave a fallen comrade.
I am disciplined, physically and mentally tough, trained and proficient in my warrior tasks and drills.
I always maintain my arms, my equipment and myself.
I am an expert and I am a professional.
I stand ready to deploy, engage, and destroy, the enemies of the United States of America in close combat.
I am a guardian of freedom and the American way of life.
I am an American Soldier.
+ The Soldier’s Creed +
My name is SGT Stephanie Wynn. Currently, I am with the Oklahoma Army National Guard, preparing for deployment to Afghanistan. I have previously been deployed to Balad, Iraq, but with another unit. My husband is also military: he is with 279 Infantry, part of the 45th Infantry, who is currently deployed to Afghanistan and has lost 12 soldiers. My husband is not deployed right now, for which I am supremely grateful. He is currently being medically discharged for injuries he sustained during the Infantry’s deployment during 2008.
The Army’s training for deployment is intense, and it has only gotten tougher as these conflicts have continued. As my current unit’s training progresses, I can only compare it to the training I received in 2004. Some things have changed, as is to be expected. We have improved our tactics, our weapons, and the safety of our equipment. If we want to survive, we must adapt to change and overcome adversity.
Each person’s experience with deployment is unique. It is that soldier’s mindset and their experiences that determine how the war will affect him or her psychologically. The war’s physical effects are another story. While on a MEDEVAC flight from Iraq to Germany, I saw a soldier who had been severely wounded. Most of his body was covered in gauze; he was bleeding through in places. Maybe half of his face was showing. He was young, in his early twenties at the latest. I do not know whether he survived his injuries, but I have thought of him often over the years. Did he even know why he was fighting? Was he ever curious about the underlying causality of this war? Was he like so many others who enlisted only for college money or health care benefits? If he survived, what is his life like now?
I love my country. I am proud to serve her, and I know that doing so presents its risks, both physical and mental. While I disagree with the conflict itself, I will set my personal political views aside so that I may go and do my job to the best of my ability. I will see to it that the soldiers who serve under me are well trained, understand their mission, and most importantly, come home to their loved ones as whole and safe as possible. I cannot pretend to understand fully the political machinations that brought us to war. At this point, it is an exercise in futility. All I can do now is hope that our government ends this war and brings us home.
