Dedication

Dedication

Keith Nightingale                       

One thing in common with all Infantry through the ages is dedication.  This is a learned quality and uncommonly common among those that do the heavy lifting for our society.  Look at these images of several generations of Grunts as they go about doing our business.  Notice that dedication has no ethnicity, religious or social aspect.  For those dedicated to Infantry, there is only one social order and that is the small unit family in which they momentarily live.  Their lives are 100% mutually shared as is whatever pain, privation or injury they may individually or collectively suffer.  Whatever occurs to them in the course of their service will be known only to the intimate few who were with Them when They did That.  Regardless of the nature of the background of each member, any differences were erased when they joined their brothers doing something special in some place-they did Grunt and the core cement that held them through the most trying privation was Dedication.  Dedication to each other in performing common cause for and with their brotherhood.

One marches at Arlington at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.  To do this work, each member must swear to undertake a number of deprivations for life that would be viewed as ludicrous by their peers.  But their peers do not understand dedication to a cause or purpose of a higher calling.  These soldiers will march in a prescribed rhythm and form unmatched in any other place.  The normal natural events of hurricanes, ice storms, pelting rain and searing summer heat will be ignored in service of the task at hand. They will be perfect all the time.  Their dedication is palpable to the casual visitor who now sees something clearly beyond societal norms.  Visitors will be moved as much by the people tending the place as the place itself.

An Airborne soldier rests momentarily against a bullet scarred tree atop Dak To, Vietnam.  He has expended what he thinks is his last ounce of energy for the task at hand.  He is as mentally and physically exhausted as a human can endure.  But he will endure.  Moreover, he will rejoin his unit and they will collectively persevere until the dirt they came to claim is theirs. That’s what they do. His emotional tank may run low, but it is never empty so long as he can breathe.  To do so would be a sin against his brothers-whatever is required of all will be expended by each.  A number of their unit will not participate in the future-they have paid the price of the present.  Yet, this will only cement the bond and the dedication of those remaining.  This is a trait few understand outside the unit but is common knowledge and habit within the unit. They are dedicated for life to those that were dedicated for them.

A soldier looks impassively to the camera but he is clearly not passive himself.  His eyes reflect the flinty glint of combat experience.  His skin color is irrelevant for this environment and his eyes are a common stock within all the races that may occupy his small space.  His dedication is patently obvious.  His M16 magazine on the helmet indicates he is very much a basic Grunt and has been very recently exercised in his unique skill set.  He would not have the magazine there unless he wanted it very close at hand. Necessity breeds invention.  His belt of machine gun ammo further indicates his organizational work ethic.  It is as clean as the moment it was pulled out of its sealed container though he clearly is not.  He knows what he carries is extremely important for his element and he is exercising due regard for the family values. His look somewhat challenges the camera to explain its presence as if the photographer is clueless as to the internal qualities extant in all his brothers.  For this brief period in his life, he will be dedicated to them and has and will do whatever it takes to underwrite the security of all.  Only later, when this is over, will he return to his traditional culture and reacquire what he left if he so chooses.

The last image is a moment in time that displays the ultimate expression of dedication.  These Grunts are clearing buildings in a contested village.  They have been through several days of grinding brutal combat.  The unit has been significantly attrited from when it started this course.  All enjoy and have access to state of the art technology and firepower.  But at these ranges and in this environment, those are far less important than their collective will, courage,  mutual instincts and bonding.  Here, combat has not changed since Caesar led his legions. It is close, primordial and lethal.  The pair are of different races but they are as if birthed from the same womb.  They will retain this appreciation of and for each other for life-long after the infirmities of age grind their youth to aged dust.  In less than a second, one will push in the door to whatever fate has in store. Behind him, his partner will enter to cover whatever danger is encountered the first cannot manage.  Their mutual trust is an essential tool for their survival.  But that tool is only created when individual dedication is practiced and recognized by all.  For each other, they willingly place individual lives on the balance scale of combat. This is dedication of the highest order.

The irony is that dedication is a common trait for people doing uncommon things. It is not a learned skill to be taught as a collective issue.  Rather it is a highly individual quality that emerges with exposure to the necessity for its presence.  It is forged and polished by the daily rhythm of the members working on the leading edge of life, Very quickly, the quality emerges as the lodestone for survival-of the unit and its individual members.  We might wish or hope that everyone has this, but we know many if not most do not.  We should be grateful that we have always had a sufficiently dedicated quantity to protect those that do not understand it.