Freedom

There are many symbolic images that come to mind when we try to define the word freedom. America, and their fabled star-and-striped banners. The imagery of a bird emerging from shroud, taking flight and fighting its way up and into the air. A metaphorical burden lifted, a sense of weightlessness, unkempt and unregulated. The feelings triggered by the very thoughts of freedom are expressed as hormonal and electromagnetic reactions in the heart, stimulating our spirit. Freedom is of our own perception, since it is never given, forfeited or taken away. When our freedom is challenged or suppressed, it strikes up a fire that brings light to a dark place… or burns us to the ground.

Over 100 years ago, the Commonwealth rallied its dominions to the call of war for the greatest fight human existence has ever known. Millions of people amid panic, hardship and struggle understood that it was not assured that they would live to see the fruits of their labour, stepping onto troop carriers that would sail to the other side of the world to fight for the Crown, because their right to live was to be earned in the fire and flames of battle.

30 years later, our people were called upon again to defend their freedom, and that of others. The people of Europe and Asia were again in turmoil under tyrannical and ruthless dictators. The spread of hate, fear and death was far reaching, even beyond the spoken and printed voice of communication. Service to the nation was service to the world, and violent action was to be met with violent response. To face evil was to embrace courage, commitment, comradeship and integrity together as the marching force of good and just. Radical, racist and discriminatory rule appeared later in Korea, Vietnam and the Balkans when once again, radical ideologies ground against the human rights of freedom. The power of choice and the power to say no in the face of tyrants was earned by those who fought, or died for it.

A 12-year old boy was woken up by his father on the morning of September 11th in 2001. The boy sat in the kitchen with his family looking up at a small TV on top of the fridge and watched a plane full of people slam into a building in New York City. This started a war for freedom, a televised controversy that was not as heroic or romantic as the wars gone before.

Two countries were invaded. Hundreds of thousands dead. Bombs in schools. No weapons of mass destruction, just oil. A tyrant toppled and hanged; another hidden. Beheadings. Torture. The Improvised Explosive Device. Uncertainty in our own streets. Conspiracy theories. The military industrial complex. Freedom, was not free.

We are uniquely gifted among the kingdom of animals we have risen from. We have the gift of perception, comprehension, understanding and other such words we have created from a broth of experiences and literature, artistically expressing our independence as thinkers and creators. The very concept of freedom, a feeling, a by-product of chemical reactions in the brain and heart when we experience gratitude, honesty, love and fortitude. It fills our hearts with warmth and makes our eyes swell with tears of joy. Our gift is to feel free; our curse is to feel it being taken away. To be threatened. Anger. Frustration. Energetic force. All of it is the spirit of the animal, what we still are at the end of the day. We can observe that energy that flows through our hearts like a stream of water turning a mill. That stream can trickle and surge, turning the wheel faster or bringing it to a dead holt.

When Charles Upham V.C. was captured by the enemy he did not surrender to the walls of his confinement, for that is not where his freedom resided. His final escape attempt at Colditz Castle resulted in a failure that was certain death – caught in a concertina of wire, ensnared and wounded where shortly after recapture the guards sentenced him to death. He did not weep, repent or regret. He symbolised the eternal fight to live, smiling at his captors with a cigarette in his mouth. The symbolism of his actions was felt by the guards, that’s why they let him go. The power of the spirit transcends language, race, ideology and belief. He symbolised the cycle of life – a fight to the end, despite all odds. To them, he felt what every person wants to feel – free.

The sacrifice of freedoms for a greater good is a metaphysical concept used by all regimental bands. The act of signing your name to a line and enlisting into the ranks of a service is ultimately a sacrifice of time where in exchange for that time, you are given penance for performing duties asked of you, sometimes without the luxury of rational discussion and disagreement. Those duties may include killing, putting ones-self at risk, and forfeiting freedoms of choice for the greater good. Those conditions of service are what bind people together because the sacrifice of our freedom gives us coherence and unison. Leadership is the ability to influence another’s will and convince them to do something they don’t want to do. Teamwork is the vehicle in we travel toward a collective goal. Trust is the vulnerability we allow, where an order is followed without question because the intent of the leader is perceived to be genuine. To function efficiently as a team, there is a degree of freedom that must be sacrificed. The lone wolf dies, but the pack survives.

The balance of freedom and servitude in the military must always be kept in balance, for the scales of what is right and just are not owned by any soldier or officer. Freedom is in defiance of fear and tyranny, and our servitude in the name of our nation is the sacrifice we each make to preserve it. Our service is a token we give to others, so that they may feel the freedoms we can’t.