Soldier

A peaceful moment over a verdant Sri Lankan landscape.

If you are a young man in Sri Lanka, what do you do when it comes time to get a job? It would depend, of course, on one's qualifications... and connections. What is the ideal? You've got a university degree and you get a job in a prestigious firm in Sri Lanka. Well, I don't know if this sort of thing happens in Sri Lanka. If you were so qualified you would probably be taking a job overseas.

If you are well connected, then you get that job in a bank or in management in a company. Connections probably count for more than education in landing a good position in Sri Lanka itself.

Now, what if you are neither connected nor have very high educational qualifications. I suppose if you are still the studious or academic type, you get into IT or education. It won't pay so much, but by Sri Lankan standards you'll be a professional.

If you aren't that academically inclined then your best option, it would seem, is to emmigrate abroad for a service or labor job in the Gulf. Or you could join the ranks of the police or military in Sri Lanka.

YOU BECOME A SOLDIER



Is there any honor in becoming a soldier or a policeman? Are you viewed disdainfully by those who either question the authority of the state or don't agree with the politics of the government? The answers are probably YES to both questions.

I don't have any particular qualms with the state or the authorities in Sri Lanka.

Perhaps I am inclined not to as a foreigner. Foreigners seem to enjoy some sense of official or unofficial privilege in Sri Lanka. It's an odd remnant or legacy of colonialism I suppose.

I hold a sense of admiration for the uniformed men in Sri Lanka. I see in them a greater sense of duty and sacrifice than in the ordinary citizen. Is that admiration and respect misplaced?

ARE THEY POOR AND UNEDUCATED?

I don't begrudge or patronize the country or village boy solider, as it seems some do. You'll hear people refer to them as poor, uneducated boys. Education, in an academic sense, is only one aspect of what it truly means to be educated.

There is education in learning about the natural world around you, which is not well-taught in schools.

There is useful knowledge and skills that the uneducated village folk may have that the school-goer never acquires. Both methods of learning have their own merits and faults.

The poor, uneducated soldier whether from the village or the city will possess degrees of knowledge and skill which are of value in their own right. My point is that it is wrong to refer to a person as undeducated when there is the insinuation that they have learned nothing in life or that they are less intelligent or otherwise inferior.

IS THERE ANY HONOR?

Of course there is. If one is not already brave, then one will learn to be. If one is not already disciplined, then one will become so. If one is not already responsible--with one's time, one's duties and obligations--then as a soldier one is likely to develop these attributes.

The power of life and death becomes quite literally a one meter long instrument in the hands of every young Sri Lankan soldier. That must bestow upon the bearer an awesome sense of responsibility not easily appreciated by the layman.

Perhaps I glamorize the role a bit. Admittedly there are negatives, too. Some soldiers take on airs of arrogance and contempt. Some become blind followers.

They learn not only not to question authority, but not to question anything. Some, tragically, fall victim of the trauma of war and are never able to lead normal or productive lives afterwards. These are not qualities to admire or welcome

In any event, I hold a large measure of respect for Sri Lanka's Armed Forces men and women, who I see for the most part as carrying out their duty with some sense of honor and humility.

Sri Lankan Government Forces



THE REBEL SOLDIER (A Commentary on War)

What of the rebels? What honor or respect do they have or deserve? The nature of war and rivalry it seems is that nearly everyone supports their side. I am not Sri Lankan, so does that make me more impartial? It does, I would say, but at the same time I doubt that I am free of biases and prejudices, and my views are informed nonetheless by having lived in the Sinhalese parts of the country.

As it is, I see no merit in the LTTE campaigne. It appears misguided and under the dangerous influence of a megalomaniacal leader.

Regular attacks on civilians--not as collateral, but as the primary target--frequent assassination of one's own who are readily denounced as traitors if they fail to tow the line... this is symptomatic of a rebel movement out of control and out of touch with what is fair or right in society.

That said, I must presume that most of the rebel soldiers are victims no less than the civilians or the SLF soldiers they attack. It would appear that they believe they are fighting under an instrument of the state (their imagined state of Elam), rather than for a ruthless, illegal, banditry as many in the rest of the world see them.

To my mind, when an individual from whatever country joins a terrorist movement like Al Qaeda, for example, they do so knowing that this is in no way, shape or form the instrument of a legitimate state. But when a 16 year old boy is drafted into the LTTE, what does he know about such things? In the world around him the LTTE may appear to be the legitimate arm of the state, for which he is cajoled into believing he must defend.

These individuals, no doubt, develop admiral skills of discipline and bravery. Such is the measure of most soldiers, regardless of which side they are on. Even the suicide bomber is a victim--despite the cruelty of his/her act. He/She, too, dies bravely even if clearly for the wrong cause and by utterly wrongful means.

So, can one respect the individual soldier while not respecting his cause? I suppose one can. By the same token, respect should be withdrawn from the soldier--regardless of the side he is own--who commits acts of brutality or fails to honor the codes of acceptable military conduct.

Other Sri Lankan Male Military Links: Soldiers in Action The Unreported War The Face of War Uniformed Pageantry The War Goes On... Defenders of Their Nation Soldier in Paradise City of Guns

Other Sri Lankan Male Commentary Links: The People We Admire... Words Worth Are Black People Ugly?

All of the images in this post were obtained from a variety of sources and no claims of ownership are being made by this author. Some of the images have, however, been digitally modified for artistic purposes in accordance with the theme of this post.

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