Today marks my sixth rebirthday. In 2006, I was baptized and became a Christian in Honolulu, Hawaii. One week later, I would be told that my actions, as an active duty soldier facing a second deployment to Iraq, aided the enemies of America and brought discredit to the non-commissioned officer corps of the United States Army. I begged to differ.
At the time, I had been on active duty for over five years and had spent over a year in combat in 2004 as an artillery forward observer. After coming home from war, my conscience matured and my faith began to crystallize. I came to discern that to be a Christian meant that I could not be directly responsible for killing the enemies Jesus called me to love. To be a soldier, however, meant that I was "an infantryman first." Where did God begin and country end? It is a question I still wrestle with, that Fourth of July and every one since.
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