Redeployment

by Phil Klay

“That’s not what prayer is for.” “What?” “It will not protect you.” I didn’t know what to say to that. “Oh,” I said. “It’s about your relationship with God.” I looked at the dirt. “Oh,” I said again. “It will not protect you. It will help your soul. It’s for while you’re alive.” He paused. “It’s for while you’re dead, too, I guess.” •

This was the man who would announce, straight-faced, that his idea of leadership was “taking my Marines to the field and beating the shit out of them.” It’s a leadership style that goes over well with nineteen-year-olds before they’ve actually been to war. When their lives are on the line, Marines learn to want more than pure, unthinking aggression. Unthinking aggression can get Marines killed. In this deployment, it had already killed more than a few.

Geared up, Marines are terrifying warriors. In grief, they look like children.

And yet, I have this sense that this place is holier than back home. Gluttonous, fat, oversexed, overconsuming, materialist home, where we’re too lazy to see our own faults. At least here, Rodriguez has the decency to worry about hell.