The name of my blog is taken from a quote that gives the chemists’ definition of a “solution” – something that’s still all mixed up. Looking at most of my posts, I don’t sound very mixed up. I tend to speak with a high degree of self-assurance, but I would like to make clear that while I do tend to speak in rather definitive tones, I don’t ever mean to imply that I have all the answers. I am fully convinced that equally intelligent people of equally good will may hold very different viewpoints. Today’s post is one that goes back to my “mixed up-ness”, for it speaks to an issue about which I have very mixed feelings – but on which many hold very, VERY decided opinions. So, take these musings in their proper context, please!
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I live in an area that has within about an hour-and-a-half’s drive an army base, air force base, and naval base, with tens of thousands of troops stationed at each. There are multiple National Guard units. There are several seaports, so we are a jumping off place for thousands of tons of military equipment being deployed to/returned from overseas. On any highway, or in any apartment unit or store parking lot you are likely to see license plates from any corner of the country – Maine to California, Florida to Alaska, and, yes, even Hawaii. In any school classroom, there are likely to be a few kids whose dads are either just leaving, in the middle of, or soon to return from a multi-month deployment. The military complex drives a huge part of the Puget Sound economy. Uniforms and buzz cuts are as familiar as Birkenstocks and umbrellas.

It’s not surprising, then, that bumper stickers and Facebook posts here carry lots of pro-military slogans. The two most common are these: “If you won’t stand behind our troops, feel free to stand in front of them” and the milder “Support our troops”. The first one really bothers me. Whether you read it as “if you don’t agree with my definition of supporting our troops, you are the enemy” or as “if you don’t agree, you should be shot”, the sentiment runs counter to the very idea of freedom our troops are supposedly fighting to protect. If we aren’t free to disagree, we’re not free at all! The second phrase carries no condemnation with it, but while I understand the intent, I still find myself wondering just what exactly does it MEAN to “support” our troops?

This isn’t just a matter of theoretical interest to me. I have four “othersons”, boys I’ve known since their childhood or infancy, who are or have been in the military, two of whom have done one or more deployments in this “war on terror.” (I’ve met with their mothers every Tuesday morning for prayer and Bible study for 23 years.) I know several other friends of my kids who are also in the military. I’ve known any number of military families in the churches I’ve been in for the last 28 years. This question of supporting our troops matters very personally. This question has faces. Yet surely, supporting our troops must include a certain degree of … friendly skepticism, if you will.

Not everyone wearing a uniform deserves to be put on a pedestal. No matter how much patriotic sentiment likes to paint a portrait of all soldiers as noble, self-sacrificing heroes, the truth is that soldiers are people, and as such, they run the same gamut as the rest of the population. Read the news around any military-thick area and there will be stories of drunken fights, underage girls smuggled on base with fake IDs for sex and drug parties, domestic violence, drug rings, theft rings, gangs. Some soldiers are using their service to serve themselves, not their country. What does “support our troops” mean in this context?

I am awaiting a chance to read a new book that’s just come out called One Step Ahead of the Devil by L.M. Hausen. (Available at Amazon.)It’s not going to be a fun read. I already know the basic story because I was privileged to be in one of the groups praying for the family as they lived through the events described, the story of a military doctor who refused to falsify some records. The retribution meted out is a harrowing tale that you’d expect from communist Russia, not America. (In case you’re wondering, the story was verified and reported by Sam Donaldson on ABC News. It is fact, not conspiracy fiction.) We’ve all read of other abuses of power by military officers, of sex scandals, of deaths by hazing. The statistics on the rape and sexual harassment of female troops deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan are shocking. What does “support our troops” mean in these situations?

What does “support our troops” mean when faced with events such as the Abu Ghraib prison debacle, or the more recent civilian massacre? What does it mean when one sees photos of American troops posing in apparent glee over the bodies of the dead enemy – bad enough in itself, but all the worse for the extra rage it will engender in the survivors, rallying more to their cause, and in the end, resulting in the death of even more American soldiers?

What does “support our troops” mean if one fervently believes that what they are doing is politically, militarily, and sometimes even morally, wrong, that our troops have been sent to a place they should never have been sent to, to do a job that they should never have been given, for a reason that could never be justified?

I believe the majority of military personnel, like the majority of the civilian population, are basically decent, hard-working people, doing a job that is incredibly hard and that the rest of us wouldn’t do unless compelled by a draft to do so. They are forced to make decisions the like of which I can scarcely even begin to imagine, in conditions that make me shudder to think of – but I recognize that not all deserve the “hero” label. I do not hold the individual soldier responsible for where he finds himself stationed or the war she is assigned to fight – but I do hold them responsible for recognizing the moral limits of the authority of those over them, and for conducting themselves in a manner befitting the uniform they wear. I believe that even if one is utterly convinced that a particular military campaign is wrong, it is never right to take that anger out on the soldier passing by on the street – but I do not believe it is wrong to make one’s voice heard to the leadership of the country in an attempt to get our troops out of it. I believe it is a shame that our country pays many of its soldiers so little that their families qualify for food stamps and other assistance even as the soldier is putting his/her life on the line, and it is an outrage that our country, having exacted so much of our soldiers, provides such poor care after they have served, especially when they have sacrificed bodies, sanity, and family in that service – and there are no “buts” about this one!

I do pray for our troops. I pray that they would conduct themselves with honor and integrity, with wisdom and discretion, with compassion and mercy. I pray that they would not dehumanize either themselves or the “enemy”, but would value all life and not take it from another lightly. Even recognizing that not all civilians would necessarily understand the reasons for their actions, I do pray our troops would take no actions which they would be ashamed to confess before God or man, or which will haunt them after they are home. I pray for their safety. I pray for wisdom for our leaders, that they would not use our soldiers as mere political pawns. Although I personally have a hard time reconciling Christian faith with military service and the taking of life, I pray for the success and advancement of those who can do so, so that they may influence those around them by a Godly witness.

This – prayer – I believe is the responsibility of every Christian, no matter what they may feel about the military or its actions. I believe we are just as responsible to pray for the innocents caught in the crossfire, and even for those who seek to destroy us, if we would follow Jesus’ command. All are ones for whom our Lord gave His life and desires to see come to repentance and salvation.

Just what DOES it mean to “support our troops”? Equally sincere people may reach very different conclusions about it – and though I’m sincere, I haven’t reached a conclusion yet, other than this: it is safer for a society to have a healthy “loyal opposition”, than to have unanimity by silencing all dissenting voices.

If that doesn’t suit your definition of “standing behind our troops”, then prepare the blindfold. I’m ready for the firing squad!