Hope in Times of War

These days everybody talks about the war in Iraq. Unfortunately, some of us believe that we should stay there, and others believe we should bring our soldiers back. It was not long ago when I heard somebody was talking about the war in Iraq. He was a hard core republican and had no idea what is war look like. I waited about 5 minutes and then I had to jump into their conversation because I could not take it any more. I asked him do you have any idea what is war look like? He said “war is war and people get kill and that’s the nature of it.” I said actually “war is all about the man next to you. When the bullet comes toward you, you just think about saving your life and the man next to you. In that moment all politics and other stuff doesn’t mean anything anymore. I call that “experience” and sometimes a difficult experience can change our personalities, beliefs, values, concepts and perspective. I have learned that difficult times can bring about positive or negative changes in life. But let me tell you about one of my unforgettable experience that has changed me into a new person with a new outlook when I lost one of my soldiers during the war between Iran and Iraq in 1986. My war experience made me more conscious than ever. I was assigned as a sergeant in the Iranian army Special Forces unit during the Iran-Iraq war. Living on the army base located in the war zone was extremely difficult—we had to overcome an extensive amount of obstacles, including limited resources, emotional instability, and absence of friends and family. The things that now our soldiers are dealing with it in Iraq. According to U.N. officials and historians worldwide, hostilities began on September 22, 1980, when Iraq invaded Iran at eight separate points. At the war’s end on August 20, 1988, the long battle had claimed approximately 1.1 million casualties, including 600,000

Iranian deaths and estimated 160,000-240,000 Iraqi lives. Its monetary cost was enormous, estimated between 168 to 203 billion dollars.

In the winter of 1986, I remember seeing snow everywhere. I was sitting in my office when one of my soldiers entered the room. He was 18 years old, 6 feet tall with black hair, brown eyes, and an innocent face. “Sergeant, I finished my military service today. I just need you to sign my paperwork so I can go home tomorrow morning”, he said. After I signed his release papers, I asked him where he was going to stay that evening. I told him that he could stay on our base because it was nearing five in the afternoon. He declined, saying that he wanted to stay at his base to spend one last night with his friends, not knowing if he would ever see them again. I was worried because it would take him at least one hour to return to his base by foot in the snow, and he would also have to cross a river in order to reach his destination. “Sergeant, trust me, I will be fine,” he said. He left the room elated in anticipation of his last night with friends.

The next day, some of my soldiers and I made a painful discovery. We found his frozen body in the river, his paperwork with my signature floating around his body. We concluded that he had fallen into the icy water; his death was an unfortunate accident. At that moment, I realized that I signed his death permit. If I was not in war, I wouldn’t have to sign his release paper therefore this tragic event would never ever happen. On that cooled day, I learned that war it is not just a war. It is more in to it that you would not understand. Although this incident happened many years ago, I still think about it what happened to him. He fought for his country in several battles, but instead of dying for his country, he died in a tragic accident. This experience thought me that war is real. It is not about winning or losing. It is about the man your lose. It is about hundreds of thousands of human beings dying years before their time. It is about millions of people separated forever from the ones they loved. So let’s bring our soldiers back and let them be with their families and friends because the problem between Shia and Sunni will never go away.”