From Armistice Day to Veteran's Day—and back again
Seattle Presbytery
By Saybrook
Saybrook Forum, Blog
A hundred years after the Armistice of 1918, we reflect on peace and war on what is now Veteran’s Day.
By Rev. Kelly Wadsworth
As I stepped off the C-130 into the sweltering desert heat, the sergeant next to me leaned over and said, “We carry this burden and fight this fight so our children won’t have to.”
It was 2008 and after months of preparation, my National Guard unit had finally landed in Balad, Iraq, for a 12-month tour as part of the Global War on Terrorism. Like the sergeant, a keen sense of idealism had taken root in me, bolstering my survival instincts and providing fuel for the long days ahead. I participated in the Iraq War with the hope that my role would shelter the next generation from having to do something similar. What I could not have known then, but understand now, is that even my loftiest dreams had a darker side.