Ordinary Patriot

By Carol J. Posner

Wartime communication is poignant and stirring in a way nothing else can possibly be. What seems to be missing in most eyewitness accounts are responses from the recipients. When those recipients are a Christian family, there is an emotional and spiritual battle that transcends mere historical significance. Told as if sharing with friends, Ordin

• Language: English
• Publisher: Stratton Press
• Release date: Feb 8, 2022
• ISBN: 9781648957550

Carol J. Posner

Carol J. Posner is the mother of an American veteran. Wife, mother of three, grandmother of five, kidney transplant patient for 46 years and victim of violence, she shares her life's experiences by speaking and writing, in hopes of reaching out to others who are struggling. She has served in various ministries at Restoraion Life Church in Lawndale, California, where she worked for 21 years as Church Secretary. Carol lives in Torrance, California with husband, Joel and their Staffordshire Terrier, Winter.

Book preview

Acknowledgments

In a matter of hours, thousands of lives were changed by the events of September 11, 2001. It would take uncountable volumes to share all the stories of horror, pain, sorrow, courage, miracles, and hope. For our family, how it all began is best described by the lyrics my daughter, Leora, wrote for a songwriting contest:

Patriot

Your eighteenth birthday, away from home.

Fort Benning combat training, tired, alone.

Chose this life of service with morning PT done.

Life had new meaning. It was nine-one, one-o-one.

Just another birthday, another year.

It defined your life and the nation you hold dear.

Pray you’ll be followed by other patriots true.

I feel better knowing you serve the red, white, blue.

Just your little sister, old enough to know.

Could lose you instantly wherever you may go.

They woke sleepy dragon, now the eagle flies.

You graduated airborne, the warbird in your eyes.

It has been our faith in God and the support of our church family at Lawndale Christian Church or Restoration Life Church that helped us through these times. Our pastors, our board of elders, and everyone who lifted us up in prayer are the unsung heroes behind every chapter of this book, holding my focus on what God would want. Thank you, my dear brothers and sisters in Christ.

Introduction

In this day and age, one almost hesitates to admit to being a follower of Christ. Those outside the Christian faith have pretty much summed us up in one neat but not very pretty little box. The fact that Christians are just as diverse as any sector of the population seems to elude most people. So how does the Christian family deal with having a child at war?

We deal with it much like any other family with fear and concern. The biggest difference, however, is that as we are coping with one of our own being in the valley of the shadow of death (Ps. 23), we are learning to pray like we never have before, and we are learning that the words of scripture are especially comforting.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding (Prov. 3:5) is especially pertinent to parents who are not just trusting in the Lord, but trusting the Lord with one of the most precious gifts one is given in this life, one’s children.

How painful will this road be? Will I be able to bear it? It can be daunting and absolutely terrifying.

In writing this book, I hope to bring comfort and a sharing of the road to those going through the same walk. I’ve tried to express my feeling as I would if I were just sharing thoughts with a friend in my home to let all parents of soldiers know that God loves your child more than you can fathom, and He loves you. His Son was in danger; He walked your walk, and He will walk with you.

Wartime letters seem to transcend all time, politics and agenda surrounding a conflict. They give us information that is not known by most historians. They are eyewitness accounts by the people who lived the details.

Just as real and historic as the letters themselves are the reactions and thoughts of the recipients back home. Did these communications seem like the words of a stranger, or do you recognize them as coming from that child you knew so well? Did the reader search for a date to mark a calendar, showing the last time the writer was known to be alive? Would these experiences change his faith? In Ordinary Patriot, I try to tell both sides of the story.

Chapter 1

It Begins

I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves. Be on your guard against men; they will hand you over to the local councils and flog you in the synagogues. On my account you will be brought before governors and kings as witnesses to them and to the Gentiles. But when they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say, for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.

—Matt. 10:16–20

In the five years previous to 9/11, the Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (JROTC), once vilified and for the most part run out of our institutions of higher education during the Vietnam era, had a rebirth. The children of the baby boomers, brought up in a permissive anything goes society, seemed to crave the discipline and challenge the JROTC program offered.

Our son, Jesse, and many of his friends had been active in the army JROTC all four years of high school.

It was now July of 2001. He had heard all the horror stories about insane drill sergeants and passing the gas chamber test. Seventeen years old and right out of high school, he left home, still a child in many ways. Even so, it seemed that things were getting easier.

Jesse took a lot of ribbing in his platoon because the guys found out we still called him Puppy at home, but he didn’t seem to mind. (His nickname would later change to Possum because of a drill sergeant who had trouble pronouncing his last name.)

Back home, we had almost become accustomed to his empty room, and his white-and-tan pit bull, Dylan, slept with Mom and Dad now. It was a time of some sadness, but we truly felt we had followed the admonition of Proverbs 22:6: Train a child the way he should go and when he is old he will not turn from it. We received our first letters:

August 2, 2001

Hi Mom and Dad, I’m doing fine. Howz Dylan? Good, I hope, and Leora and Jeremy…Today I went to the doctor’s because of a sore throat, headache, earache and congestion. They gave me Tylenol, Amoxicillin for the ear and Sudafed. Oh yeah, and cough syrup. In four to five days I should be better, the specialist said. Tell everyone I love them. P.S. I got a raise from President Bush. I don’t know when it starts though.

August 23, 2001

Dear Dad, I just got your letter. I don’t know why it took so long. I started basic on the 9th. It’s been cool and hard. I’ve done so much P.T. [physical training], I’m feeling like I’m going to die. That’s why I need everybody to pray for me. Today I went to the gas chamber. They took a handful of CS powder, lit