Set against the government’s shutdown charade, President Obama, awarded the Medal of Freedom to retired Army Captain William Swenson, citing among his incredible acts of valor under fire, “a simple act of compassion & loyalty to a fellow brother-in-arms.” As Captain Swenson places a wounded soldier he has just rescued onto a helicopter, he bends down &, in the President’s words, does “something unexpected”: kisses his comrade on his forehead. All recorded from a rescue pilot’s helmet video camera, now displayed before the public during the White House ceremony.

“Something unexpected.” An instinctive display of gratitude—& affection to a comrade? “I was just trying to keep his spirits up. I wanted him to know it was going to be OK . . . that he had done his job, but it was time for him to go.” The power of touching, a strengthening & extending of relationships where our senses take over momentarily. And as we learned, it was to be the end of their flesh-and-blood relationship: the wounded comrade soon died. But the former Captain maintains contact with his deceased comrade’s wife & children. 

“A simple act of compassion?” Barely. More a Spontaneous Moment, a calling from within, a culmination of all his past—you might say unavoidable, under the circumstances.

The President remarked that Captain Swenson has struggled with combat stress the past four years & he’s been unemployed. The Captain makes known that he goes to the mountains to seek solitude. Marine reservist, Corporal Dakota Meyer, Medal of Freedom recipient from that same team, says he hopes Captain Swenson finds peace.

Solitude. Peace. Captain Swenson has applied to return to the Army. But why would anyone want war?

. . . teamwork, leadership, adventure, danger, excitement, fascination, mixing with other social and ethnic groups, away from one’s family, friends, neighborhood; in all, a deeply felt camaraderie with new found buddies. The adhesive that will cement relationships for years to come, if not a lifetime. Entrenched in the unconscious underground, another latent force to be cultivated. The sticking power that will transcend peril.

President Obama lauded the video’s capture of the honoree’s rescue mission as “never before had Americans been able to witness a small part of the bravery that led to it.” Witness but not experience the operation, a facsimile—an invasion—of a powerfully Private Moment between two comrades. Neither to be duplicated nor converted to digits nor highlighted by everyday phrases.

cross posted from Dennie's Blog