War - What is it Good For?

Let me preface this by saying that my family has a pretty extensive military background - My grandfather was in the US Navy during WWII (Pacific Theater). Some of my great uncles were in the Army. My dad and his brothers were all in the Navy. My cousin, David, was a US Marine, killed in action in 2004, in Iraq. He was younger than me. Incredible. I remember his funeral ceremony, and the memorial at Camp LeJune were incredibly moving experiences. Have you ever seen a group of Marines cry? It is so, so sad. I did a reading at his memorial service and it was the hardest thing I've ever had to do.

History geek that I am, I recently read Studs Terkel's book "The Good War" about WWII, and have been watching the HBO series "Generation Kill" (It was a Christmas present - thanks, Heidi and Jane!) - something about the soldiers' stories, the lost innocence, the sacrifice, the daily life, are all things that we civilians can just never fully comprehend. We watch, we pray, we send letters and care packages, we hope they will come home safely. I think I am about as patriotic as the next person, and I am always deeply moved by military rituals - the presentation of the colors, the playing of taps, all that stuff, speaks to me on such an emotional level.

That is a really long way of saying how much I was looking forward to Black Watch (and I am not just saying that because I work at CST now! Or because it featured a cast of lovely Scottish lads.) - the story of the famed Scottish regiment during the Iraq war. It was performed in the Broadway Armory, which was actually (duh) a military Armory and training facility and is now part of the park district. Gosh, if those walls could talk.

The show chronicles the story of the soldiers in the regiment, with a bit of history about the Black Watch thrown in for good measure. A proud battalion of fighters that participated in storied battles including Culloden, WWI in France and the Middle East, WWII (European and African Theaters), Korea, and were sent to Iraq to support the US Operaton Iraqi Freedom. The unit was deployed to what was known as the "Triangle of Death" between Fallujah and Karbala (the same area where my cousin died in battle). The show included music, a little humor, and a real life look into the Scottish soldiers' experiences in the war.

It wasn't their fight - but they fought. They wondered what the point of it all was -this was not a threat to their country, or even necessarily to that of their ally the US. They faced a new kind of warfare with suicide bombs, IEDs and danger lurking around every corner. They fought for each other, for their mates. Some of them made it home to tell the tale.

I was (can you tell?) deeply moved by the story, even though the sound was super loud (but come on, it was in a gym, for god's sake) and at times the dialogue was hard to understand. Oh and they swore a lot. I heard one guy comment if he had a dollar for every time they said "fuck" and derrivations thereof, he'd be a wealthy man. But I mean, come on. They're IN THE ARMY. In a place called THE TRIANGLE OF DEATH and I think a few "fucks" are warranted. Quite a few. But whatever, should they say "Oh, shucky darn, we're being mortared?" I thank Terry Pratchett's wee free men series for teaching me what "ken" means - because otherwise I would have been sitting there going who's ken? They keep talking about him...

I enjoyed the show. I am planning to see it again. It is raw, it is timely, it is thought-provoking theater.