Phillip Isaac Neel

West Point, 2005

Be Thou At Peace

Posted by Adam Nordin on May 27, 2024:

Phil, This last year flew by, though not in the way that we knew years ago when we measured time in 'days and a wakeup' until we re-deployed. To add to all the noteworthy world events, Israel was attacked by Hamas from Gaza. It was a brutal, vicious attack on civilian Israelis that indiscriminately killed over a thousand people. Israel, in response, has nearly leveled all of Gaza, a home to stateless Palestinians that few Americans knew existed until now. Tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians have been killed in bombing raids and ground assaults. Protests across the US and much of the world have erupted, spurring political divisions. The military action is challenging the security of Israel and the stability in the Middle East, and is drawing the US into a political knot while it tries to maintain legitimacy in the region by cautiously supporting Israel and providing humanitarian aid to the Palestinians. That's not the half of it. Sometimes you think, or even hope, that when your war ends that the rest of the world would also stabilize, but it's quite the opposite. Fortunately, I don't think there's hardly a US politician who outwardly strives to lure the US into another war. But, it makes you wish that the war we fought would have sent a signal to the modern world that war is hard, it is dirty, it is long, and that it's not really worth the expenditure of life and resources. Watching the wars in Ukraine and in Gaza, it's hard not to think of the life experiences each troop on all sides are trading to fight for their country and their friends. We know what that's like, Phil. It's a net negative, despite the war's outcome. An entire generation of people are changed by horror, fear, and loss. I also think of those like you who traded their life's potential for the survival of their friends. We who knew you now live our lives through the lens of your memory, wishing you were here to cherish life's most beautiful moments with us, but thankful that you gave us the opportunity to experience them for ourselves. I think of you often, Phil. As long as I have a pulse, I will remember you. Until we meet again. -Adam

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