WAR ZONES
War zones can be terrifying places, whether you’re in uniform and armed or are an innocent caught up in a conflict that was none of your making.There’s another category who participate, they are unarmed but willing participants and they don’t belong to any combatant or ‘side’ of a conflict as such, except one. They stand firmly on the side of the innocents.
Recently the topic of ‘War Zones’ arose and it has prompted me to write this post because, as it happens I have limited experience of being in one. Interestingly, the majority of those who I know to have been so involved don’t care to discuss the details and neither do I apart from saying where and approximately when with a line or two of brief descriptions. My preference is to leave such detailed discussions and descriptions to those who have direct, relevant and proven experience and for whom I have great respect. Read on..
In my case the location was Bosnia and it was in the 1990s at a time when the conflict was at a very challenging stage. This post though, is not about me, it is about someone I met there and spent a little time working alongside, his name was Bob Macpherson. To be more precise his full name was Robert Seamus Macpherson and when we met up in Split, Croatia, Bob was a Colonel in the US Marines. He had joined up as a private had worked his way through the ranks and had seen service in Vietnam, Iraq and Somalia.
The reason for his presence in the region was two fold, firstly there was, I think, a military reason and secondly he was there to pursue and lay the groundwork for his passion, Humanitarian activities, helping those innocents who were in no position to help themselves. During field trips into Bosnia we visited places including Mostar, Yablanitsa and numerous other locations that once were small towns and villages. For those who have visited the country in these better times, it is stunningly beautiful, the rivers are an incredible blue due to high levels of minerals and minimal pollutants, with stunning landscape views as the backdrop. At the time, those now beautiful views were often clouded by smoke from burning buildings and the sickening sounds of artillery and mortar shells making their way to deliver death and destruction. Occasionally you could hear volleys of small arms fire, it didn’t do to think of the purpose.
It wasn’t long after his time in Bosnia that Bob took up his second career and he has written a detailed account of those years. He revisited some of the countries in which he had previously served and fought but on these occasions he was working to set up security and safety for aid workers. It was not rare for aid workers to be placed in extremely dangerous situations, many were killed or injured whilst others were kidnapped. Bob was to become one of the latter but was eventually freed. The book which I can highly recommend, is titled ‘Stewards of Humanity’, there is a Kindle version on Amazon, here: https://www.amazon.com.au/Stewards-Humanity-Lighting-Darkness-Humanitarian/dp/1611534143
More recently, Colonel Macpherson (retired) US Marine Corps was diagnosed with complex PTSD, a debilitating illness that affects so many and can do so in many different ways. There is a fascinating article written by Bob on Readers Digest. It tells of his challenges in very frank and open terms and heartwarmingly he tells us of his meeting a new ‘family’ member, a special service dog called ‘Blue’, the ‘Big Yella Fella’. You can read the article here:
https://www.rd.com/article/ptsd-dog-for-veteran/
If you’re reading this Bob, thank you for your service and thanks for the experiences and lessons that you have shared in your book, in the article and of course in our discussions back in 90s.
I hope this post has been of interest and that you will spare a thought or just a few minutes for those who deliver humanitarian aid and for those who suffer from PTSD, it’s the least we can do.