War isn't all its cracked up to be...

Today is my father's birthday.  He is 71 years old today.  My father is my hero.  He served 2 tours in Vietnam as an attack helicopter pilot.  He retired in 1987 from the U. S. Army with 24 years of service.  I grew up idolizing my father's military experience.  I grew up thinking war was something that every man should experience as a measure of his defense for this nation.  My father never led me to believe that war was "cool."  In fact, he seldom spoke of his combat experience.  I just assumed based on books and movies that combat was something that proved how strong we were as a nation and how strong an individual was that could experience a combat situation.

I remembering being so excited with Bush 41 struck Iraq.  I was in junior high school and wondered if my chance to experience combat had been missed.   

Today we are on the brink of another conflict.  Will we launch a strike against Syria?  Is is justified?  Will a strike stem a killer's appetite to kill his people with chemical weapons?  All of these answers are for politicians, military strategists, and policy wonks to answer.

I know this - war isn't all its cracked up to be!  I deployed to Iraq in 2003 as a chaplain with the U. S. Army.  My experience is different that many.  I was in a combat zone, but a non-combatant.  I deployed with a field artillery battalion.  Combat of any kind isn't pretty.  Living conditions are difficult, family separation is unkind, and as I have often heard "the bad guy gets a vote."  I will confess my time in Iraq was short compared to many.  The conditions were harsh.  I found myself sleeping on the hood of my HUMVEE most nights.  I traveled as much I could in to Baghdad with my soldiers.  I led worship, baptized soldiers in the desert and counseled many lost souls.  I returned home to see marriages fall apart, soldiers experience PTSD, and even later hear of suicides from those I served with.  There is not a single day that passes in which I don't consider my experience. 

Upon my return I performed chilling death notifications and performed a funeral for a soldier that was killed as part of mass causality situation in Iraq. 

War isn't glamorous.  Objectives are hard to achieve.  Mission accomplishments may only be short-term.  Others beside myself will determine if we strike Syria.  I pray for their wisdom.  I pray they consider the hardship of war.  Today, VA has hundreds of thousands of claims behind in providing benefits to our nation's veterans.  Thousands have lost their lives, children have lost mothers and fathers, parents have lost sons and daughters - the cost of freedom is normally very expensive. 

War can be justified.  I am not a pacifist.  There are times that America must strike our enemies.  Even the Bush doctrine of preemptive war can be justified.  But, we must be cautious.  We must remember there are people behind those bombs.  To have "boots on the ground" you must have bodies in those boots.  Proceed with caution.  We have lost too many in Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Iraq without securing a measurable victory.  I fear conflict, although it appears it would be limited, will not render a measurable change in Syria.  I am saddened to see the bodies of those that appear to have been killed by chemical weapons.  The pictures of precious children that have died due to chemical weapons are heartbreaking.  I pray for their families, I pray for peace, and for a Syrian administration that will honor life and civil rights.  But, we simply can't serve as the world's policeman.

I share these thoughts with you for you to consider this...war isn't all it is cracked up to be.  The movies don't do it justice.

Pray for our President, Pray for Congress, Pray for our military and Pray for peace in Syria.