Over the past couple of weeks I have taken time to interview soldiers, listen to their perspectives and then balance all that I have taken in with my own views and positions. For the first time since college, my degree in History has become a active part of every day, as I reflect back on the many lessons of humanity that have been recorded over the centuries. As told to me by a friend before I left on this deployment... "Scott, you'll be recording history." True words, but as any lesson in Historiography will attest, what is recorded is ultimately a version of truth, not an absolute. Perhaps Hayden Whyte of the University of Santa Cruz, stated it best, "History is fiction." Yet that does not diminish it's importance, nor the need to take care in what is recorded. Journalism is the written and visual record that becomes a current history, supposedly left to be interpreted by future historians. However, the future doesn't help us today...

I awoke from a dream the other morning with eyes towards a core issue that separates soldiers from society. It began with a memory of Antonio Gramsci, and his writings on hegemony. The spheres of influence that control our lives. As I watched the latest feeds from CNN, the folly in our daily "history lessons" became clear. Gramsci wrote of our understandings of the world as a view limited to what we could grasp within the bounds of the radius of our interactions; a radius that ultimately limited our understanding at the boundaries of the circle it created. From the different levels of power in our society, each person's understanding was distinct; essentially, as one climbed higher on the ladder a larger picture would come into view. The actions of a shop keeper, for example, are understood differently from those that interact with him daily, versus the politician that knows him only as part of a statistic that is embedded in a spending package or new law. To understand that shop keeper, and ultimately, to understand ourselves, we have to spend time with him, not with the politician. And there in lies that folly I mentioned above... we view our news as a mix of hegemonies. We hear the politician speak his words polished by word smiths and spin doctors, while we watch images of common people, the shop keeper, or in this case, soldiers. What is woven is a complex web of misrepresentation, as political agendas are visually tied and contracted to the actions of daily lives, the actions of the soldiers. The soldier has a code to which he is bound, by laws that are created and upheld by the politician; the politician has only his word which is too often the subject of special interest groups, corporate financiers and his desire to be re-elected.

We have lost the element of confrontation within our society. Instead of dealing with issues directly, we hide behind a police complaint, big brother, gangs or our 21st century version of a hired gun... an attorney. We pass our issues off for another to handle. We demand our daily bread, cheap gas, the latest gadgets, and the need to manage rather than get our hands dirty in manual labor. We vocalize our place in the world with words like "our right", "our responsibility" and, "individual security," yet fail to hear the one word that typifies our current path... decadent. A self-driven culture that wants, that demands, but as a whole fails to take responsibility for the actions necessary to uphold it's needs. We have forgotten history. The television continues it's spin, showing images of protesters standing against the war, and against our soldiers.

"Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country." The words of John F. Kennedy, and words that are the daily breath of every soldier here on this deployment. Politics are not part of their daily mission. While it may be politics that have brought them here, or politics that modify the mission's scope, each soldier has come to this deployment with a purpose and intent that speaks to values that much of our culture has left to a distant past. They share a belief in core tenants that were the building blocks of our country... hope, faith, and right to be free.

These soldiers are all from the National Guard. They are citizen-soldiers, having ties and responsibilities to their communities throughout the United States. Their voice and commitment is not a bi-product of blind faith, or military doctrine, but a sense of duty that extends beyond themselves, beyond their communities, to a higher purpose and belief. For some it's the threat of terrorism, the desire to help Afghanistan, the belief that they are making a difference, or the thought of offering hope to the mass of children. The issues of politics, motives, back-room deals and congressional pay-offs are a world away. The soldier's belief is true, to some simplistic, but to them a necessary component to citizenship in the United States. What a country we would be if we all took such responsibility. Instead, too many of our citizens pass that responsibility off to these noble few, then cast judgement when events require that we remove the rose colored glasses.

Following the events of September 11, 2001, we rose together as a country. We took time to consider our homeless, our needy, our values, our community. Within a month we returned to our normal ways, focused again on the new car, the need for more money, and our impatience that the war in Afghanistan wasn't yet over. After all, weren't we the greatest power in the world? And so the arguments raged, as law suits were drafted, liability waivers signed, and we began fighting another war that we have never acknowledged... a war against ourselves, our values, and our belief in the common man.

The politics of war are a forum to be challenged. That is every citizens right and responsibility. Though it is this world of politics that may be our undoing, for it is the ultimate sphere of power that concerns itself less with constituents than a politicians personal gain. It is not the arena of the soldier, less we forget. For the soldier there is a war that they must face, a reality defined by violent confrontations, dead comrades and the threat of personal injury. Simple and pure faith guides the soldier each and every day with the intended goal of coming home safe. News of another soldier's death are the grim reminders. Regardless of popularity poles, this is the reality that they must face. No one wants to be brought home in a coffin.

I have compiled several interviews which will soon follow. One-on-one conversations with various members of this Task Force that offer a glimpse into their views, their commitment and hopefully, a greater understanding of the depth of citizens that are the make-up of this task force. It is a recurring theme, one that I have discussed many times. Yet, it is a theme that never lessens in importance. Today is 1 May 2006, a day that our country is challenged with the very meanings of citizenship and responsibility, as illegal immigrants demonstrate to show their value and force the hand of our body politic. The path that we choose will affect the generations to come. We must stop talking about our problems and stand to action. Perhaps it is time to listen to our soldiers. We may all have something to learn.

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Copyright, Scott Kesterson- 2006

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