Breaking Silence

I’ve spent the last month or so abiding by a silence of sorts. Ares told me to be sparing with my words, so very few of you have heard them. I have been working dutifully on my art and improving myself for the duty I believe my god is preparing me for. Honestly, that means walking more with Ares’ consort than the war-god. However, I’m taking some time to write because it is Veteran’s Day.

I both enjoy and despise Veteran’s Day. One the one hand, I get to celebrate the hundreds of people I was fortunate to meet in the course of my service. I was lucky to be assigned first to a joint-service base for training and later to ISAF/NATO and travel to many places. I’ve traveled to 25 states in the US and did missions in over 25 separate countries doing combat overwatch, drug interdiction, counter-terrorism, anti-piracy, border enforcement, and even humanitarian relief work. I worked with operators and soldiers from all the services as well as the English, French, Dutch, Afghan, and Danish militaries. I’ve developed a closer relationship with the Marines as opposed to my other sister services because of my assignments, but I have dear friends in the Navy and Army, too.

On the other hand, it makes me uncomfortable when people thank me for my service, because at the end of the day, most people don’t know what they’re thanking me for. I was in a unit tasked mostly to watch Marines and call targets for them. While we never pulled triggers on the enemy, we nonetheless arranged the fighting according to the machinations of the war strategy and needs of the commanders on the ground. We were as the watchful eyes of gods, but we were not gods, and we lost plenty of good Marines and Brits. So no one can thank me for that. And you can’t really thank me for “doing what needed done,” because by the time I hit my combat unit, few back home believed in the war. The only people who really deserved thanks are the dead, and my family and friends who gave me up to the Machine.

That all being said, please wear your red poppies and give a supportive pat on the back to your military friends. Teach those who ask you about its meaning. If you’re feeling particularly generous, maybe you can send a few bucks to my favorite charity, Soldier’s Best Friend. They rescue dogs and train them to care as service dogs and companions for wounded warriors who are having trouble adjusting due to TBI or PTSD. I know my own little dog, while not a SBF dog, has helped me tremendously. And for the love of Ares, don;t you dare thank me for anything, or a pox on your house 😉 Hail Ares!

Contest!

For those that don’t know, May is Military appreciation month in the US; it contains more military holidays than you can shake a stick at (for a full list, see here). In honor of the festivities, I am going to hold a writing contest running through Memorial day.

Up for grabs are two clay cameos, one for each category in the contest: poetry and short essay (see photo below). The “Ares in Naos” design is for the poetry category and the “Thrakian Rider” design is for the short essay category. The former is based on a coin obverse from Anatolia and the latter on a coin obverse from Thrakia.

Rules are simple–all entries must pertain to Ares or the military. One entry per person per category. Winners are selected by the readers, and everyone is allowed to vote only once in each category. You may vote for your own entries. This is an internationally open contest.

Poetry: No style restrictions. 25 word minimum preferred except for haiku.

Short Essay: 500 word minimum. If citations are necessary, you may use whatever style is most comfortable for you. No style restrictions, but non-fiction is preferred (I want to save that for another contest).

Entries are due no later than 2359 Eastern Time Monday, May 27, 2013 (Memorial Day in the US). Please email entries to aspisofares@gmail.com . Good Luck!

Veterans/Armistice Day

So Veterans Day was Sunday, which is also known as Armistice Day. Back in WWI the Allied powers and Germany signed a ceasefire on this day and closed the Western Front, even though Russia, the Austrian-Hungarians, and the Ottomans were still going strong in the East.  The US uses it as a day to remember vets from all wars, as do many European nations, especially those involved in WWI and WWII. All over the Western world you will often see both real and faux red poppy flowers, which are acknowledged in the famous poem In Flanders Field as growing on many of the old battlefields of Belgium and are symbolic of the blood spilled there.

Even while I was in the military, I’ve never felt very comfortable with Veterans Day. In the US, we have Memorial Day for honoring the dead, and thus Veterans Day is more about honoring all vets, especially the living. However, being a vet never struck me as being particularly honorable. I mean, in my view, serving in the military is like paying taxes– it’s just something you’re supposed to do. No one thanks you or gives you free stuff for paying your taxes (or they shouldn’t beyond basic government services, anyway). The day just never struck me as important that way. That being said though, there are some vets that read this blog, so thanks to them for keeping the tradition going and picking up the slack for all the peaceniks.