David Losoya

"An empowered individual in touch with their own existential core can do what that guy did with the eighteen tanks(Tienanmen square). It was an IDEA that stopped the tanks. And it was an idea expressed not over state radio, not through the newspapers, but by one person taking a stand" Terrence Mckenna My name is David Jonathan Losoya and I am a soldier in the active army. I joined the military in 2009 and was sent off to basic training in march of 2010. My goal was to die in either Iraq or Afghanistan, at the current time my life was turmoil I was in complete distraught with the status quo. After joining the military my life started to pick up again, I had a history of law enforcement career, amateur tournament paintball, gamestop funployee, and a self proclaimed crappy artist. Even though my life had finally picked back up and no longer felt like getting offed in a gunfight I couldn't help but feel disdain for my current environment. I have met some of the most morally corrupt, emotionally distraught, and unethical people of my life. It's ok though i am use to that kind of crowd, i use to answer all my questions with the bottle but over came it and wont go back to solving my questions and grudges with shattered bottles and drowsy eyes. I felt like I was being treated like a child everyday, I put up with it. July 2011 I left for Iraq. What happened then would be nothing less than a cultural revolution and revolution of ideology for me. I was taught that the enemy where terrorist that I would be fighting evil men who oppress people and plot to destroy America at every turn. Nothing of that nature happened. I witnessed giant FOBS and COS. Millions of tax payer dollars poured into these institutions, So that a soldier could enjoy pizza hut or star bucks in a foreign land.The sight disgusted me, we weren't opposing the enemy we where merely there looking out for ourselves in my personal view. Instead of finding people who would plan to destroy my fellow soldiers we where making plans to trade blankets for food. We would be at a village for hours at a time so our leadership could eat and talk.I felt like this was all a cruel joke, Instead of being a soldier fighting for freedom I was used as a tool to help embarrass, harass, nullify revolution, and corrupt thousands among thousands of years of tradition. Then one night during a mortar attack it hit me. A epiphany simple yet over taking. These Iraqi men weren't planning some cruel attack on American soil, they wanted the tyrant out of the land. Given the situation was turned i would be sending rounds down the mortar tube or planting bombs to rid my land of the oppressor or the foreign culture thrown upon as if a rape was near. Two big events happened that changed me completely.The first being when my PL wanted to stop our presence patrol so he could ride a camel and chat with a Bedouin, so thats what we did, we stood by while he got his laughs and rode a camel in theater, so we pulled security for him instead of guarding the highway or the Iraqi people. This wasn't a war, this wasn't a just fight or defending freedom this was a man using tax payer money for personal gain, embezzlement goes further than cheating a check, The second is when during the close of our COS young Iraqi boys crossed our wire and soldiers were ordered to shoot them, they were told to be military age males and if they look like they could ride a bike then they are capable of being shot. The soldier refused to shoot. I regret my aggression and hate against the Iraqi people and Arab culture in general, I learned one thing with my military experience and that is that a teacher, a fire man, a little coach can do more for his nation in a positive way than a soldier could. People who help mold Americas future, not men who cash a paycheck and knowing whats wrong we still do it. I give my hat to the men who have said no to war, to the protestors, to CO's and for those who fight for GI rights, And the ability to organize work rights for soldiers. A soldier should not give up the rights he has sworn to protect. I will never again go to war, and will never be a tool of destruction again. My name is David Jonathan Losoya and I am a Humanitarian before a American, soldier, brother, son. The biggest lesson learned is that every man in the world is the same, we bleed the same blood, we share the same bones and our mother's tears shed the same.