The Non-Hollywood Stars
With Presidents’ Day having just passed, I somehow am heavily drawn to think about our military special forces.
Special forces, the unknown, unnamed, unheard of ones sent to do the quiet acts, have always fascinated me. While I have happily and quietly sat next to my husband intrigued and highly entertained by one James Bond 007 movie after another, I knowingly understand myself to rather be immersed but yet another inspired true story of the real James Bond heroes out there.
Militarily, minus the tuxedo and Aston Martins (although I imagine one could simply fall into such role if need be), such individuals are a given to the strength of any country at a humbly quiet and yet, confidentially idling level of defense.
My Papa hardly spoke of World War II with me. Perhaps a combination of being on the confines of war and the memories of what he witnessed for three years on the run and in hiding with his family did not leave much, if anything at all, of maritime recollections. The one thing that I will hold in my heart deeply is his statement after sharing some things his eyes saw was this, “If it had not been for those American soldiers to hide us underground, my family would not be here today.” Stealth and strength have captured my heart perhaps since.
Regardless of how one feels about war, an unfortunate ultimatum when those in power and position cannot come to an agreement (When Arguments Rise?), our soldiers are without doubt the selfless heroes, not only having trained, but who have each taken an oath to protect their country and its people. And those units of special operations or forces? To understand that one goes through difficult tests and training of character, physical abilities and endurance along with technical abilities of intellect, intuition, and psychological attributes just to pass and thus, be graduated into such areas of selected groups- special they have earned to be noted. A good verse insert to note here, “Many are called, but few are chosen” (a biblical notation, for the curious).
Anyone who has taken time to ponder within the foresight of any battle knows the aftermath leads to unfortunate casualties, financial corruption and disruption as well as the unavoidable loss of time and much need for a clean-up. (SARS-COV2 is, in my eyes, the underlying catalyst if not already the platform of WWIII, opposition unseen that indiscriminately seeks to take any life away at whatever cost. Special forces in the present of time, manner of speaking, would be the nurses, doctors, and virologists.)
To me, special forces have a special outlook of their duty. While the movie Suicide Squad fictitiously comprised of felons with hardly any intellectual capacity, special forces are outstandingly a collective group of individuals who incomparably undergo endurance training of the heart, mind, body, and spirit to protect and serve at the utmost level of sacrifice- their self.
“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” To lay down his life for his/her country and its people? To excel to a yet more greater depth or height of peril to do such? For the right cause of duty, these, I take it, are following that narrow path many opt out of.
I was fortunate to have come across a close encounter of such heroes, a military bomb squad retiree. (He was quite actually young returning back to school to become a medical doctor.) As soon as he exposed of his previous career, his character made even more the best sense. This man, medium to thin built, average height, not necessarily quiet, but balanced in conversation, held no red flags about him revealing such importance of background intellect.
During a class presentation, he spoke of the recon fundamentals-checking the premises of a potentially hot location, explaining how to approach and examine a vehicle as if it was just procedural, nothing more.
If I didn’t learn anything else but one thing from this hero’s sharing is this: your emotions have nothing to do with what must be done. This man exhibited no arrogance, just matter of fact talk. Even when he later introduced me to the word “eye candy”, leading me to seek for clearer meaning briefly following my own humble denial of not knowing such word, he was respectful and to the point of suggesting I fall into such if I were to visit a particular country my husband and I were thinking of visiting. His delivery was nothing more than simply a briefing to a comrade-professionally to the point.
I believe emotions are what separates civilians from those trained to act on their five senses. I have taught my children and some of my former students touching your ear with your thumb, eyes with your index finger, nose with your middle, mouth with your ring finger, and chin with your pinky finger reveals all of our five (scientific) senses: hearing (auditory), seeing (visual), smelling (olfactory), tasting (gustatory), and feeling (sensation) (my mnemonic approach for remembering). Although we may consider such as a feeling, emotion is not one of those senses.
As civilians, we are given the liberty to live, laugh, and love as an act of choice and desire. I’d like to think, in addition to all other soldiers ready to protect and serve our country, special ops and forces are that invisible shield that fortifies our walls, those of which protect us all, from civilians to our executive leaders.
I am a civilian- a mother, a wife, a teacher to state mainly of the roles I face daily. However, I would have not even arrived to yesterday, today, or face tomorrow had it not been for those soldiers, special forces created amidst WWII, who helped both my Papa and Mama’s family make it through.
In remembrance and respect to all presidents, past and present, I would hope they have each taken the time to thank their “invisible shields” for their countless and endless selfless acts of duty. Although they train to have no emotion when in the act of servitude, it is under such price we get to feel… free.
