Father’s Day summons a flood of mixed emotions for me. I am both a son and a father, though I am neither by choice. I became a son through no decision of my own making, though at the cellular level I must have been present. I became a father in a moment of uncharacteristic abandon within months of my deployment to Iraq.
Being a combat soldier, becoming a father had no real effect on me. Nor did it outwardly affect any of the soldiers I fought with. People often speculate on why soldiers fight and why they sacrifices, but the answer that keeps turning up is that they fight for each other. Full stop. I never once heard a soldier say, “Sir, I can’t drive the Humvee tonight, because I have kids.” I never heard that, because soldiers don’t think that way. They can’t think that way. Although, for their kids’ sake, I wish they could.
