I have been aware of the dangers that await since I decided to embed; statistically the risks are less than the potential injury while driving a car. No matter the logic, there are moments when reality confronts you in a way that forces you to check yourself and the level of commitment you are willing to extend.

I have been attending a course here at Camp Shelby titled "Combat Lifesaver," or, CLS. I have been taking this block of instruction at night; tomorrow night is our last class. CLS is intended to teach you a higher level of emergency first aid... applications of tourniquets, ventilating a chest with a collapsed lung, even administering an I.V. The techniques are the most current methods that have been developed from the casualties that are ongoing in Iraq and Afghanistan.

During this course of instruction, photos of actual injuries have been shown to further the realism of the types of injuries that we may confront. They were graphic and revealing. They are the visual documents of the realities of war and the lasting memories that many soldiers are left with long after their tour of duty.

I have left each class with a greater awareness of my coming realities. I have also left each class with a greater commitment to this story and the unknowns that will evolve. We live in a sanitized culture. We live sheltered lives. Perhaps this is one of those unspoken benefits of citizenship in our country. For me, the "benefit" is one our greatest burdens. It disconnects us from the realities of existence, of the human condition, while building a wall between those that stay and those that deploy.

I won't change the world, but if you continue to read along over the coming months, you will be changed. The walls of safety will tumble down, and in amongst the rubble there will be a new landscape to consider. I can only hope those pieces that lay at your feet will be used to build a bridge to a place of greater understanding. The human condition is not all safe.

Scott Kesterson
8 April 2006

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