Betrayed Soldier

There are Soldiers who are betrayed by the ones they leave behind when they go to fight a war.  In truth, there are all kinds of infidelities which can creep into the relationships of military families.  General David Patraeus, despite all his accomplishments, will forever be remembered as the poster child of betrayal on the part of a Soldier toward a supportive spouse.   Spouses bear their own sacrifices required of service.  Then there are those Soldiers of every rank, who while they are deployed, learn that the one they love has not been faithful.  Their marriages or relationships often become tragedies of war.

Recovering from a broken marriage is difficult for anyone, but our military families have borne the stress of so many deployments and separations.   With the strains of the Service Member conducting war, the dissolving of their relationships can be more dramatic than most.  Many of the Service Members have seen atrocities, watched those serving beside them sustain injuries, and of course some have lost the one serving beside them to a combat casualty.  What I have observed as even more difficult for many, is the loss of someone who has served next to them to suicide. 

Of course the spouse and children left behind face challenges of their own.  The girlfriend or the boyfriend as well will live in a strain that is not conducive to the strengthening of the relationship.  All of these experiences contribute to placing great struggles upon the marriages and relationships of our military and their families.  Even with all of the negative which threatens the military family, most grow stronger from meeting their challenges, and those who do grow stronger gain a unique courage to meet life's greatest trials.  That serves to make them even stronger than they were before war came to their lives.

Still there are those who will need the support of family and friends after having survived the battle field, and then being wounded by the loss of a relationship.  I offer no explanations, judgements, or thoughts on the behavior of those who betray.  However, I am confident that one day, He Who Sits on the Throne will judge their actions rightly.  This is a very dark poem about unimaginable pain of the heart.  These kinds of wounds can be as deadly as IEDs and bombs.

Milling faces took my breath today,

Made me ask could she our love betray.

She said she meant to take the images away.

That told me she knew it was wrong that day.

The pictures were made on a day in May,

All this time she had allowed them to stay.

She will never know the price I have had to pay,

While I went to war and she stayed.

My heart aches and I can’t hold the tears at bay,

I feel loneliness has been my constant companion always.

This pain holds me captive in its sway.

I cannot escape; my world has gone dark and gray.

Her words to me a love story do not portray.

I think never will I feel loved again in any way.

I cannot in this world I am in, where all there seems to be is pain,

See within myself or anywhere, something I have the desire to gain.

Daily all around me there are those who escape this world's ultimate despair.

In this solitary place I have the means and courage their fate to share.