It's been over 25 years now since I completed my mandatory service with the German Air Force. Every once in a while, memories come flooding back, usually because of an intense dream (or nightmare) in which I'm all of a sudden a soldier again.
While it's true that I could have avoided the draft through the "conscientious objector" court process and could have spent this time in a much more useful way through civil service in a hospital or nursing home, I still think it taught me a few valuable lessons.
I'm grateful that I had the opportunity to get to know other soldiers, including some officers, and to experience the military from the inside. It put a human face on the "military machinery" with all its struggles, pains and shortcomings. It also made me reflect quite a bit on the meaning of obedience - why do I obey, whom do I obey, when do I need to choose to disobey regardless of the consequences?
Some look at the military as one of the last places where you can still live a true adventure. Others believe that the evils of violence and war will always outweigh the values of defending your own country or intervening elsewhere in the world to stop things like genocide or a nuclear threat, and that a Christian should never get involved in any of this.
I think neither one of these perspectives is a very realistic one. I've had my own share of adventures in the military and it makes for some good stories but at the end of the day everyone I knew was just looking forward to be home with their families again, more than anything else!
And while it's true that all the talk about an "evil axis" of hostile nations and "destroying terrorism" shows only the ignorance of politicians of how evil works and where it lurks, a complete withdrawal from using force and intimidation is just as naive when it comes to the need to deal with very real threats to security and freedom. You may as well abolish the police and the courts right along with the military if you think that fighting evil with good is the only way to go, not only in God's kingdom but in this world as well.
I do admire Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German theologian who opted to participate in the resistance and an assassination attempt against Hitler, knowing very well that he had to choose between two evils: the murder of someone in authority or passively supporting the ongoing murder of countless Jews and others who became victims of the Nazis.
And today - where so many things hang in a delicate and fragile balance - I believe we really need to pray fervently and consistently for our leaders for wisdom when to be decisive and when to use restraint. While a strong military is not the answer to the root of evil in this world, it still has its proper place (along the lines of Romans 13:1-7).
