In Pictures: What Military Service Taught Me About the Importance of Voting
Prior to serving in the military and later taking classes on political science and international relations in college, I knew very little about our nation’s political system. As a veteran, I have seen first hand the impact that politics and foreign-policy decisions can have throughout the world. Voting is a unique and special privilege that should not be taken for granted. Here’s why.
Immediately after completing high school, I joined the United States Marine Corps as an infantryman. By the age of 19, I was already involved in some of the heaviest fighting of the entire Global War on Terror to date and I became keenly aware of just how important diplomacy and the political process really are.
In Iraq, our rules of engagement (ROEs) prohibited us from pursuing insurgents into exclusion zones such as cemeteries, schools, hospitals, mosques, and other cultural and religious sites. As a result, the insurgents would shoot at us and then return to these “safe zones”, which provided a tactical and logistical nightmare for ground commanders. While this problem may or may not be directly related to the voting process itself, I assure you that it got me thinking about how political decisions are made.
During the battle of Najaf in 2004, after fighting for almost three weeks straight, my unit had surrounded approximately 2,000 militia soldiers in the Imam Ali mosque. The problem, however, is that the Imam Ali mosque is one of the holiest sites in Islam and it was declared as a safe haven. Because this area is one of the holiest and most sacred areas in all of Iraq, we were unable to send a raid force into the mosque itself to eliminate the remaining enemy. Instead, we fought for three days straight from buildings outside the mosque, surviving constant ambushes and rocket attacks while commanders and politicians in Washington decided how to handle the situation. I was fighting for my life while at the same time commanders were trying to avoid a political nightmare. In the end, both sides agreed to a cease-fire and the mosque was returned to the Iraqi people.
At the time, I was frustrated and upset that we were so restricted by our own rules of engagement, while the enemy followed no rules at all. It took me several years of college and life experience to learn that due to the historical and cultural significance of some of these areas, the results of our actions could have had not just a local impact, but also a global one. If we had destroyed even a portion of this mosque, the result could have been the loss of much of our political standing in the country and the loss of more American and Iraqi lives.
Not all of our missions were combat related. Often times, we were involved in the “three block war” in which we would serve as combatants, peacekeepers, and providers of humanitarian aid within the span of three blocks of a given city. This is where I first began to understand how fragile and complex both war and diplomacy can be. When I returned home from that deployment, people would ask “Do you think we are making progress over there?” As a result of our direct efforts to rebuild and stabilize the country, I could honestly say that did make a difference in the lives of the Iraqi people for the better. However, as battles for Mosul and other areas held by ISIS continue to rage on, it becomes a harder question to answer and I do admittedly find myself wondering if we have only made things worse at the cost of so many lives.
In early 2005, I had the honor of providing security at local polling places during the Iraqi elections. The look of joy and accomplishment on the faces of the Iraqis after they had voted changed my life. As they came out of the polling sites, they thanked us, hugged us, and proudly held up their fingers covered in the distinctive purple ink. As I watched them, I could not help but wonder why I had passed up my own opportunity to send in an absentee ballot a few months before. My lack of knowledge about the issues and the candidates running for office showed my ignorance about politics at the time. I was only 19 years old and knew nothing about voting, politics, candidates or issues.
The military has taught me that we are the ones who decide our leadership and all too often, our leadership decides our course of actions. In the years since leaving the military, I have become active in politics and thoroughly interested in US foreign policy. In 2013, I graduated with a degree in Political Science from UC Berkeley. While this year’s election may seem like a tough one, it is still everyone’s right and duty to make their voice heard and elect the candidate of their choice, based on a thorough understanding of their policies.
Voting is an incredible privilege. Get out and vote.
