The importance of fighting for freedom.
With a father that is a United States Department of Defense Official involved in the effort to stabilize Iraq and two brothers that are officers in the United States Marine Corps, to say that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the global war on terror have made an impact on my life is an understatement. Like so many American families, there has not been a year in the last five that I have not sent my loved ones to Iraq or Afghanistan. But to call the sacrifices my family has had to make in sending a father and two brothers into a war zone a horrible and oppressive burden could not be further from the truth of my experience as a member of a military family.
Military service is not something that runs in my family; it was not a vocation pushed on my brothers, but a choice they both made as college students at the University of Virginia. Their careers, while not the most lucrative, have given them some of the most rigorous and advanced training this country has to offer, and molded them into two of the best men I will ever know. They are humbled by their service, motivated to do good in the world, and have some of the greatest and most joyous gratitude and love for life that I have ever seen. While with every deployment I have had to confront the reality that I might not see Forrest or Porter or Dad again in this life, their example, their willingness to volunteer some of their best years in service to their country has elevated the purpose and steered course of my life thus far.
I have spent my summers in college working with the troops and their families and the many organizations that support them with services that range from painting houses and other handiwork, to facilitating easier and more frequent communication with their loved ones overseas, to providing monetary support to families that have had their primary providers killed in action. I have visited wounded Marines at Bethesda Naval Hospital and looked into their eyes as they tell me they want to get back to their men, their brothers, and finish the job they began. I’ve observed the diplomatic relations of the Secretary of Defense, and been briefed time and time again on the changing structure of our military and its capabilities in the conflicts we face today. Motivated by a desire to understand exactly where and who I was sending my brothers to fight and protect overseas, I have devoted my studies at Harvard to understanding Islam and the causes of conflict and instability in the Middle East. My interest in the Middle East has gone far beyond the classroom, however, and has turned into a desire to be a part of the solution to the many issues of the region — a desire that brought me as far as Cairo, Egypt studying abroad last summer, and I hope to have take me as far as Baghdad and Jerusalem next year working with an NGO on religious reconciliation as one of the building blocks to peace in the region.
I ask my brothers and my father, “Why do you do this? Why have you chosen to give up so much opportunity to live a life that is so hard, a life that is not steady or safe?” They tell me that what is most fulfilling about their journey, and what has kept them motivated and on course, is their love of country and the sense of serving something greater than themselves. Thank goodness there are so many opportunities to serve in this world, because I truly believe that military service is not for everyone, or else I would have donned a uniform three years ago. But it has been precisely the risks my brothers and my father have taken and the sacrifices they have made that gives me so much pride in this country and what we stand for as Americans, and which has been the inspiration and motivation for me in my life to devote my time, knowledge and talent in her service after I leave Harvard’s hallowed grounds this June.
Hope Jones ’08 (hajones@fas) is grateful that her family has the opportunity to serve the United States of America.