The worst part of my job
One of the things I hate most about my job here is attending and doing stories on memorial services for Soldiers who have died here. I absolutely cannot stand through a memorial service and not bawl my eyes out, even if I never knew the Soldier. What’s worse is that I have to take photos of everyone else bawling their eyes out and I feel like the biggest asshole sometimes because nobody wants a photographer up in their face at a time like that.
Every story is depressing. Each Soldier who dies here has a story. They were about ready to go home, they had just came back from leave, they had a child they hadn’t seen yet, they left behind children, their wife was pregnant, their families had just spoken to them… every Soldier’s story is unique, and sad.
And how to you do justice to a story written about someone who has died? How do you describe what it’s like for the Soldiers who mourned him here, while his family is grieving back home? How do you make them understand that they are not alone in their pain?
When a Soldier dies, the family’s natural instinct is to blame somebody. They are naturally upset with the Army, with the people who brought him into the situation in the first place. And you can’t blame them for that.
1 Comments:
Each Soldier who dies here has a story Yes they do, and you tell about that soldier through the photo's taken before and after. Mission photo's of a job well done and photo's that show the cost of the mission. Yes we always want to blame some one for our losses. don't blame the parents for their outrage and misdirected accuations. I think that is natural even if it is not desired. I think that their rage can cheapen the sacrifice made by the soldier if held unto for undue length of time.
But always tell them back home what it is like to loose a comrade-in-arms. Show them by what you do here. Write it down and tell them. Show with real pictures that show the real war. Don't leave it to the News Networks to tell us. They are too interested in ratings and politics. I look forward to hearing more from you and others on the front line securing the future of freedom. - Moonwind@yahoo.com
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