What is freedom to a US soldier? Is it a god-given right? Is it the ability to do whatever one wants? Is it life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness? It could be any combination of these or none of the above depending on what soldier you might ask. They might not all agree on everything regarding freedom, but they all agree on one thing. That freedom is something worth dying for. Since the soldiers fighting to create freedom in the seventeen and eighteen-hundreds, to the present day soldiers defending and preserving that freedom, nearly one-and-a-half-million US soldiers have lost their lives protecting that idea. The United States has changed a lot since it’s creation. Freedom and how it is defined by the people who fight for it, however,
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An engraving by famous English engraver H.B. Hall in 1778 titled “Valley Forge” depicts American revolutionaries in the dead of winter. Marquis de Lafayette and George Washington stand stoically above their soldiers, who are huddled next to a small fire in the dead of winter. It is the Revolutionary War, which started three years prior, in 1775, and won’t end for another five, in 1783. All the soldiers depicted in the engraving may have their own unique definition of freedom. Shown by their willingness not only to participate in the war, and their unwavering zeal through the bitter northeastern cold, these soldiers and ready to suffer, and ultimately, to die for freedom. In a sermon to a Boston based artillery company in 1773, a pastor reviews the reasons the men of this company are serving. In the very first line of the sermon, a fitting bible verse, Galatians 5:1; “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free”. Essentially, this is calling for the soldiers to defend their for liberty, their freedom, to hold it close and firm, because God has given it to them. Less than thirty years after the Great Awakening, in which a revitalization of christianity and faith occurred in the Americas, it is apparent how important faith is to these soldiers. In the sermon, it is said that going to war is not against God, because they are not going to war with the …show more content…
In 2008, Army Corporal Jason Bogar wrote a letter to his family while on duty in Afghanistan. He wrote the letter following a rough few weeks in which many members of his squad had lost their lives, and he felt his “days are numbered”. In the letter he talks about his feelings on “the madness we call life”. He says he thoughts on life have been recently and radically changing. He says that only recently he was starting to “live”. He feels the work he is doing in Afghanistan is more than him, that the freedom he is defending is worth more than his life. He finds that being amongst his soldiers is more appealing, because unlike most of the civilians he encountered while back home, they understand exactly what freedom is. He continues to reflect on how hard it was for him to be able to take another human's life, and that the reason he is fighting is for his family. Just like it was a huge motivator for the colonials to fight for freedom, faith is also important to the soldiers of today. As Corporal Bogar puts it, knowing that god understands and accepts what he is doing, it makes it easier for him to fight for his beliefs, his nation’s freedom. A photo taken by Corporal Alejandro Peña in 2013, shows United States marines marching steadfast into a cloud of dust in Afghanistan. Similar to the Hall engraving, this image shows American soldiers resolution and dedication to
An engraving by famous English engraver H.B. Hall in 1778 titled “Valley Forge” depicts American revolutionaries in the dead of winter. Marquis de Lafayette and George Washington stand stoically above their soldiers, who are huddled next to a small fire in the dead of winter. It is the Revolutionary War, which started three years prior, in 1775, and won’t end for another five, in 1783. All the soldiers depicted in the engraving may have their own unique definition of freedom. Shown by their willingness not only to participate in the war, and their unwavering zeal through the bitter northeastern cold, these soldiers and ready to suffer, and ultimately, to die for freedom. In a sermon to a Boston based artillery company in 1773, a pastor reviews the reasons the men of this company are serving. In the very first line of the sermon, a fitting bible verse, Galatians 5:1; “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free”. Essentially, this is calling for the soldiers to defend their for liberty, their freedom, to hold it close and firm, because God has given it to them. Less than thirty years after the Great Awakening, in which a revitalization of christianity and faith occurred in the Americas, it is apparent how important faith is to these soldiers. In the sermon, it is said that going to war is not against God, because they are not going to war with the …show more content…
In 2008, Army Corporal Jason Bogar wrote a letter to his family while on duty in Afghanistan. He wrote the letter following a rough few weeks in which many members of his squad had lost their lives, and he felt his “days are numbered”. In the letter he talks about his feelings on “the madness we call life”. He says he thoughts on life have been recently and radically changing. He says that only recently he was starting to “live”. He feels the work he is doing in Afghanistan is more than him, that the freedom he is defending is worth more than his life. He finds that being amongst his soldiers is more appealing, because unlike most of the civilians he encountered while back home, they understand exactly what freedom is. He continues to reflect on how hard it was for him to be able to take another human's life, and that the reason he is fighting is for his family. Just like it was a huge motivator for the colonials to fight for freedom, faith is also important to the soldiers of today. As Corporal Bogar puts it, knowing that god understands and accepts what he is doing, it makes it easier for him to fight for his beliefs, his nation’s freedom. A photo taken by Corporal Alejandro Peña in 2013, shows United States marines marching steadfast into a cloud of dust in Afghanistan. Similar to the Hall engraving, this image shows American soldiers resolution and dedication to