A Talk With A Soldier 

Each Sunday we pray for soldiers at war not knowing what they are going thru on the battlefield far away from home. We see Flag-draped-coffins come home, but what about those who return. These past few weeks, via email, I have been in contact with an old friend who served in Iraq with the Royal British Grenadier Guards. Now retired, we shared many a conversation by phone and email. 107 of his Brothers-in-arms did not return home; it still grieves him.

In the desert he got a shower once-weekly on the battlefield, on patrol he slept in holes they dug for the night, his food prepared in plastic-bags, hygiene was not a premium.  They endure much as they patrol to a destination unknown fearing that any day while in Iraq he could die, or kill someone they do not know.

A phone call home was a rarity. He kept pictures of his family wondering will he will see them again. He was not a soldier to the unknown enemy, but a target to kill. When a soldier is killed, they put them in body-bags; there’s no time to grieve.

At night he lamented how he wanted to be held in his wife’s arms, to hear her voice and the word daddy from his daughter, but sitting in a foxhole he can only wait out the night. 

Upon return home, as he lay in bed with his wife asleep one night she leaned over to hug him, he jumped up looking for his gun, he was dreaming of a foxhole; for a brief moment she was the enemy. 

As we talked, I heard his story of war, my heart ached. I cannot relive his pain, but hoping that what he has endured will go away, now he is home with family and friends. 

Wherever you are reach out to a veteran, keep them in your daily prayers, those at home and those still at war.