National Guards, what they did for love

National Guards, what they did for love
by
Chaplain Kathie

The rest of us wonder why other people want to join the military as Soldiers, Sailors, Marines or Airmen. Why do some want to go a step beyond that and combine their civilian lives with serving in the National Guards or Reserves? Why do some enter into law enforcement? The answer is not as complicated as you think.

Corinthians 13:7

Love
It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

John 15:13
Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.

The rest of us get on with our lives, thinking of ourselves and what we need, want and our own problems. They have them too but they take on the problems of their communities and their nation as well. Then we end up expecting them to just go back to their homes when their commitment is up never once thinking of what they are going back home with.

Police officers have to confront the worst people do. Murder, robbery, rape, domestic violence, drunk driving and drug related crimes. They see drunk drivers and speeders knowing they had no thoughts about anyone else but themselves causing accidents that will change everyday after that for the innocent people involved. They see the hopelessness in the addicted. They see the worst what people do to each other and they see the suffering of the victims. It always protects.

Firefighters respond after a fire or accident, all too often when a person is trapped and they have to rescue them as well as fight the fire. Sadly they arrive too late to save a life and then they have to return home knowing no matter how hard they tried, someone died that day.

Yesterday six firefighters went to work and six were hurt doing their jobs.

Six Detroit firefighters hurt when roof collapsed
Firefighters hurt in Detroit
By the CNN Wire StaffAugust 13, 2010(CNN) -- Six firefighters were hospitalized in Detroit, Michigan on Friday, a hospital spokesman said.They were hurt when a roof collapsed as they were battling a blaze CNN affiliate WDIV-TV reported.

They never know if they will be just hanging around the firehouse or rushing into a burning building when they start their day or if they will end their day going home or recovering in a hospital or having their body recovered.

Yet with all these courageous professions, some take it one step further. They go into the National Guards. It is not enough for them to risk their lives in their full time positions. They are willing to do it on their time off as well.

National Guards
History:
For over 360 years the citizen soldiers of the Army National Guard have come to the aid of their neighbors during times of need. The Guard plays a key role during floods, fires and other natural disasters. The Army National Guard's mission involves helping communities during natural disasters, civil emergencies, and national conflict, having answered the call to defend America in every war. Today, the Army National Guard plays a key role in conjunction with the nation's active military forces. Whether guarding our country's interests at home or abroad, the Army National Guard is always ready, always there. Guard members are ordinary people doing extraordinary things.

Some Guardsmen/women have tame desk jobs in their civilian lives but still manage somehow to train to be able to save lives as well as trained to go into combat. Gone are the times when they were not faced with being deployed with the regular military. With 50,000 remaining in Iraq until next year and more troops being sent into Afghanistan, anyone joining the Guard must face the risk of being sent away from their families, their civilian jobs and friends.

So why do they do it?

Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.

It is the fact they are willing to lay down their lives that makes them so remarkable. They do it with love for their families, their friends and for total strangers.

Yet with all of this, we are surprised when so many need help recovering from what they have to go through. After they faced the "one too many times" of horror, they need help to overcome it. They need someone to talk to they trust. If they know the person listening to them will not be overwhelmed by hearing what they lived through, they will open up. If they know the person listening will not judge them for feeling the way they do or dismiss their emotions, they will tell everything going on inside of them. Yet if they hear the "fix" response of a person trying to come up with answer of how they get over it, then the conversation ends, an opportunity to serve them is gone and precious time is lost.

When they are deployed, there isn't someone to talk to most of the time. They see their buddies going through the same thing they did and think they will be seen as weak if they complain to their "stronger" friend. How can you complain or "whine" to someone else who went through the same exact thing but acts as if it was no big deal? It's not easy especially if they think their friend is never bothered by any of it.

When they carry these feelings onward they begin to eat away at the emotions. Depression, self-judgment and sadness sets in. It begins to eat away at their character. Good emotions become trapped behind a wall of pain and anger is the only emotion to surface. They seek alcohol and drugs to become numb to it.

On 9-11 it was one day many have still not recovered from.

September 11 numbers
Death, destruction, charity, salvation, war, money, real estate, spouses, babies, and other September 11 statistics.

The initial numbers are indelible: 8:46 a.m. and 9:02 a.m. Time the burning towers stood: 56 minutes and 102 minutes. Time they took to fall: 12 seconds. From there, they ripple out.

Total number killed in attacks (official figure as of 9/5/02): 2,819
Number of firefighters and paramedics killed: 343
Number of NYPD officers: 23
Number of Port Authority police officers: 37
Number of WTC companies that lost people: 60
Number of employees who died in Tower One: 1,402
Number of employees who died in Tower Two: 614
Number of employees lost at Cantor Fitzgerald: 658
Number of nations whose citizens were killed in attacks: 115
Bodies found "intact": 289
Body parts found: 19,858
Number of families who got no remains: 1,717

We can understand the lives changed forever from this one day because we understand how we were changed as well. Everyone in this country stopped thinking about their life here as safe from being attacked after that day. We can understand because every news station in this country and around the world covered this story for weeks. Everyone alive that day remembers where they were when they heard the news the first tower was hit.

One morning of terror turned into memories that will not go away. To this day as the anniversary comes, we remember that day with great sadness. Most of us forget all the houses with flags flying, cars with flags and magnets on every city street and highway. We forget about how wonderfully we joined together to help the families of the fallen and how we honored the men and women daring to rush into ground zero territory as everyone else was running away. The bad sticks in our minds more than the good. It is the same for them.

The good inside of them compelling them to serve is replaced by bad memories of the worst man can do to man. They forget what their own intent was, what they tried to do, what they wanted to do and what they thought they were doing. They forget about what they were willing to sacrifice to do it, to be there and to be ready to respond.

While one day weighs heavily on the rest of us just as our own traumatic events do, we need to remember for them it is not just one time but many of them. When they return from deployment it is often too late for them to just get over it. Their times of danger have been numerous and they knew they would have to face more of those times while they were deployed.

By the time they return home, there have been too many times to count piled onto other days. The thirty day window of recovery closed on them after the first time because others followed. Time to seek help when they come home is when you notice something different. Don't wait for another 30 days to pass. In a perfect world they would be emotionally debriefed after every mission with use of weapons, after every loss, wounding or attack. This is not a perfect world and there are not enough mental health workers or Chaplains to go around.

The military has been trying to train buddies to watch out for signs of suicide but they need to train these "buddies" to listen so that it never gets that far. This is why it is so important for families and communities to step up for the Guardsmen and women. The military has a community support system, even as failing as it is, but when the citizen soldiers come home, they often have no one to talk to willing to listen instead of "fix" the problem.

It is because they care so much they end up feeling it more, facing higher numbers of PTSD and related symptoms. It cut them deeper. They need the help of the clergy and all service organizations to do more than give them parties to go to, bars to drink in and parades a couple of times a year. They need more than a sermon on morals and ethics when they did what they did out of love and unselfishness. They need more than coming home to a job that no longer exists for them with a desk full of bills to pay. Regret sets in and that feeds PTSD. When they look around for someone to help them after all they did for everyone else, it makes it harder to find the reason they were willing to do it in the first place.

Help them see the good so they will know they are really appreciated so they do not regret what they did for love.