Take a breath. Now again, but deeper this time and let it out slowly. Yes, we all experience the same calming sensation, the same life-giving rush from breathing.
And yet we do not consciously contemplate our necessity to breathe. Certainly, we can take control of our breathing when we wish to hold our breath, but for the most part we never think about this basic requirement for life. That is, until it is threatened by rising levels of pollution in the air.
Freedom is one of democracy’s big words, arguably the biggest. The “right to have rights” most succinctly defines what freedom means to us all. Yet, like breathing, we do not consciously think about our freedom. We have become indifferent to our liberty. The word freedom is now used so often it has become a platitude. So what is freedom to us? What does it feel like? Like the fear we experience when we perceive our air is threatened, it is easier to understand our concept of freedom in terms of its loss. Every day in our global society, our notion of freedom is threatened, but no other event so dramatically strikes fear of liberty’s loss than war.
The interpretation of freedom contains several elements of which one is the “absence of subjection to foreign domination or despotic government.” When you look for Canada on any global map the first thought that comes to mind is how we are off to the edge of the world’s countries. More notable, because of great distances, we were and continue to be difficult to invade. Yes, our country arose as a result of tectonic struggles between England and France and we had to defend ourselves against the expansionistic ventures of our southern neighbour, but we have not been invaded in over 200 years. This fortunate geographical insularity has afforded us the self-deceiving opinion that freedom is ubiquitous, but look around the world or listen to the global news and quickly this illusion is dispelled. It is very difficult for people to grasp the significance of freedom when that is all they have ever experienced.
Freedom also includes “the state of not being imprisoned or enslaved” and is the intuitive understanding of the word. History has taught us that imprisonment and enslavement all too often follow invasion. The civilian population always suffers the brunt of the aggressor. The infamous phrase “crimes against humanity,” regrettably requires no explanation for the war-related violence against civilians is well documented. Nothing is more gratifying to a soldier than the genuine appreciation of liberated war refugees. Only soldiers can catalyze the concept of freedom to reality.
Freedom does not come easily. Nor is it a given constant once obtained. Someone has to maintain this ideal and that responsibility usually falls to our military. Within their duty we find the ultimate irony. In order to preserve their nation’s freedom, soldiers must sacrifice their own. The final explanation of freedom, “the power or right to act, speak or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint” is sacrificed by the soldier through the act of enlisting. Enlistment is a binding contract soldiers make with their country. It also gives the military carte blanche authority over the bootcamp training of its personnel. To better understand what that looks like, peruse Kenneth Radley’s Get Tough, Stay Tough: Shaping the Canadian Corps 1914 – 1918. Radley documents the interaction of discipline, morale and the officer/other-ranks relationship and how these knitted elements are necessary for military success. The upside to this training regimen: the Canadian Corps, a citizen army, was recognized by friend and foe as one of the finest fighting units of the Great War. The down side: those same civilian soldiers entered an unfamiliar world with unexpected rules, where everything that was not required was forbidden. To be sure, the same training methodology exists today, with the same outcomes and same consequences.
Soldiers do not choose their battlefields. Further, the conditions under which they fight are dictated by the rules of engagement as governed by both military authority as well as the Soldier’s Code. Moreover, the nature of warfare has changed over time. From the distant past until the First World War, combat was framed as heroic, often with an overriding patriotic theme. Soldiers fought mano-a-mano in accordance to the principles of unwritten rules. Honour, valour and self-sacrifice were hallmarks of their code, as exemplified by the British Victoria Cross “For Valour.” At the same time however, another cluster of moral concepts including cowardice, killing and death itself were thrust upon the conscience of these young warriors. Their coping response, as read in the narrative of these amateur soldiers, was to dehumanize the enemy. Killing the enemy is the primary purpose of war. The killing of a nameless, faceless, easily identifiable foe eased the moral burden of the Sixth Commandment, but never completely provided absolution. Killing another human extracts a moral cost.
The industrialization of war at the turn of the 20th century transformed the tenor of warfare to become mechanical, anonymous and without honour. Partisan warfare became the banner under which wars were fought.
The Second World War, referred to as the “Necessary War,” pitted the Allies fighting, as they perceived, on the side of good. Dehumanizing the enemy in order to justify their killing degenerated to a new nadir in contempt. The Necessary War began with a clear sense of moral certainty and never lost it. Soldiers were honestly convinced they were fighting for the survival of certain principles, including freedom, that were more valuable than life itself. It was as simple as that. The Soldier’s Code still existed, but it was easier and more acceptable to break the rules of combat. However, within the broad context of acceptable battlefield confrontation, all soldiers gave an honest fight.
The Second World War was also unique in that it was the first global conflict in which women were combatants, however children were not commonly used. One clear and unequivocal principle held in high regard was for all soldiers to wear distinctive, self-identifying uniforms. Both sides routinely executed without hesitation any enemy soldier caught out of uniform.
Any established notions on acceptable conduct of soldiers at war vanished with the onset of the Cold War. With its espionage, subterfuge and fear of nuclear Armageddon, the rules of engagement were blurred and finally obliterated. Insurgent warfare, first seen on the world stage in Vietnam and then in Iraq and Afghanistan, became the new standard of conflict. The set piece battle was gone. In its place irregular, guerrilla strikes became the new norm. Most importantly, the combatants were not just no longer distinguishable, they were indistinguishable from civilians. Civilian vehicles were used as attack military vehicles, civilian houses were used as strong points and civilians themselves were used as body shields. In the extreme, was the common guerrilla tactic of using women and children as roadblocks in order to expose regular soldiers to fields of fire. Yet bootcamp military training continued to be delivered according to the formal, now outdated, rules of organized combat. Soldiers were skilled on what to do once the enemy was identified; they were not trained on how to identify their foe until they were fired upon. The Soldier’s Code was now a relic in the evolution of warfare.
Combat extracts an enormous toll on soldiers’ mental health. The terminology referencing the stress of battle on soldiers, initially coined “shell shock” in the Great War, has evolved as more is understood about this medically recognized condition. Epitomized by what has been called the “thousand-yard-stare,” combat stress acknowledges clinical symptoms are broad-ranging. Even more disturbing, combat stress can sometimes precurse post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This psychiatric disorder can occur in anyone who experiences or witnesses a traumatic event, however exposure to combat is one of the most common causes. While innovative treatments and ongoing research show promise for complete recovery, the reality is that some soldiers may be affected for the remainder of their lives.
The new battlefields, including the insurgent practice of regularly using women and children as cannon fodder, has introduced its own insidious burden to the toll of battle on soldiers. Moral injury refers to the psychological, social and spiritual consequences from betrayal of one’s own deeply held moral beliefs. Again, while not exclusive to warfare, the nature of present-day combat regularly predisposes soldiers to this debilitating assault on their moral conscience. For soldiers, “the war-in-their-heads” has adopted a new, tragically black, significance. Truly, freedom is not free.
Canadians are the fortunate few. The world’s downtrodden envision to make our home their own. They come because of their clear and present loss of liberty. They have been subjected to foreign domination and despotic governments. They have been illegitimately imprisoned. They have been stripped of their freedom of speech, thought and action. To be sure, they know and value their newfound freedom under the Maple Leaf. They can breathe.
War is to be abhorred; we can never allow ourselves to become inured to its evil. And while non-violent resolution of disputes should always be the first approach, our species continues to consciously organize wars for distorted abstract purposes or blatant conquest.
The hard truth is that we will not see the end of violent personal conflict anytime soon. Global bureaucrats may make statements condemning aggressive, immoral invaders, but they are not deterred. War has been in our DNA since the beginning of human history and will be with us for as long as our species exists, barring some fundamental change in our social consciousness. Therefore, we will continually be faced with the choice of either the loss of our liberty and all that entails, or to take up arms and preserve our collective basic human right to be free. Only through the intervention of self-sacrificing soldiers can freedom endure.
Take a breath, thank a soldier.
Written by Bob Stubbings, Fergus Legion Branch 275