2002-10-31 - 11:48 p.m.

We were soldiers

Maybe it's just that I'm a sappy, sorry bastard.

I just watched "We were soldiers".

That movie made me cry. Several times.

Then I watched the deleted scenes, and the one in the church made me cry again.

Then I watched the deleted scenes with director's commentary, and realized that extras in the church scene were actual people that the story was about, including the poor baby girl, whose father died carrying another man off the battlefield. And I wept.

The virtue of a soldier is not that he kills the enemy.

The virtue of a soldier is that he risks his life for the men beside him.

There is a beauty and glory to that kind of courage that I have never come close to.

Maybe it means I'm a coward, but I pray that I never will have to.

Here's to every person who ever hazarded their life for a cause, a country, or the brave soul beside them. In that, at least, they are far better than I ever hope to be.