The proffession of arms is a rough and tumble adventure for the Soldier and those that love and support them. The last 7 years have been especially trying, and as a dual-military couple it only gets worse.
The past 7 years have been especially difficult as I voted for Bush in 2000 and realized the mistake I made in late 2003. I worked on the Kerry campaign until I received my commission in 2004.
The story I want to tell is not about me, it is a story about the "apathetic youth" Sen(Pres-Elect!) Obama referenced in his speech. A story of the power of persuasion to action D. Plouffe and Obama created in the past 20 months.
My wife and I are both active duty Army Officers and have spent much time in the past 5 years away from our families. My wife heard through her mom that her brother, A., was interested in the campaign and excited to vote. Last night our time in Kuwait as the polls were only open for a few hours my wife called her brother to remind him to vote. She only got his voicemail. Which was curious because her brother usually answers.
"A" is one of those apathetic youth. He's had trouble with the law and police in his past, didnt really care much about school, and didnt go to college, but instead picked up a job doing construction for a small construction business in his hometown in Indiana. I keep my political affiliations no secret, and his usual response was that it doesn't matter who gets elected because they are all the same.
It turns out we couldn't get ahold of "A," that evening for us, morning for him, because he got up early to go vote so he and his fiancee could work the polls all day. My wife and I are both deployed together right now on our second 15 month tour in the Iraq Theater of Operations and we called our mother in law to check and see if she had voted and see how our 3 1/2 year old son was doing. I know if you do the math we haven't been around for much of his life so far. Apparently, "A" had gone to the Obama rally in Highland, IN, not far from his house, and had decided that he could make a difference by donating a little time to be a poll worker.
I didn't speak to "A" but I bet if you ask him why he got involved, it's for a few particular reasons. He's tired of seeing the sister he loves, admires, and respects so much sent off to war on repeated tours in Iraq and suffering the mental and physical consequences. He's tired of seeing his precious nephew essentially orphaned every 12 months as mommy and daddy both leave to go fight a war that Obama was right about from the beginning. I think the second time we had to abandon his nephew, our son, to the care of my mother in law for 15 months was more than he could stand.
I don't know why "A" got off the couch and volunteered. I wasn't there and I didnt talk to him. But I would like to think that he did it for me and my wife in a far away Arab desert who couldn't participate the way we would have liked. We couldn't be part of the camapaign that was bringing us the hope of a future with and for our son, so "A" stood in our place.
We went to the chow hall this morning to eat breakfast as Obama was giving his speech. I could barely swallow my oatmeal because of the enormous lump in my throat. Since 2003 I had been fighting to dethrone the Republican machine and where I had to step aside to serve my country in another way Obama convinced an "apathetic youth" pick up the banner and run in my place. Indiana, still undecided, might go to Obama. Indiana, a state run by the KKK in the early 20th century, less than a hundred years later, might, in majority vote for a black man. It's not because of people like me who have always been involved, but because of the people like my brother in law inspired to action for a cause, whatever the reason may be.
As I finished my oatmeal with my wife sitting across from me in a chow hall in the desert, forcing back tears, and swallowing hard to clear the lump in my throat. Obama finished his speech. And the chow hall, full of digital camouflage uniforms, civilian contractors, Caucasians, Hispanics, African Americans, Native Americans, Hawaiians, Arabs, and many more after hanging onto every word of that speech, erupted into applause. Because alot of us war wary soldiers have been given something by Obama that hasn't been around for awhile. HOPE for a future with and for our families, and CHANGE in policies that are destroying the country we love and destroying the military that protects it. I would like to thank "A" for getting involved and standing in my place to better ensure the future of our country, one vote at a time.