Editor’s Note: A Soldier’s Heart

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“I’m the only presenter here who is publicly working with veterans and war healing,” he says. “And when I go into veteran communities, I’m often the only progressive, nonveteran there talking with the vets. This expresses a great divide in our society—how profoundly citizens and warriors are alienated from each other.

“And what’s the root of that alienation? People are afraid of vets. People don’t really want to talk about war and violence. It’s too painful. It’s too horrific.”

Another reporter, also a vet, wonders aloud whether some fellow progressives don’t also subconsciously pass judgment on those who choose to wear a uniform. Sure, war is hell, but most enlistees know what they are signing up for and get what they deserve.

“It’s an example of rejecting the idea of a virtuous warrior because you reject war and violence,” Tick responds. “I’ve met so many veterans with devotion and discipline, who strive for moral excellence, believe in higher ideals, give everything they have, and are willing to sacrifice themselves.”

In 2000, Tick led his first journey of reconciliation to Vietnam, where he’s since taken groups of veterans, their wives and siblings, professors, teachers, protesters, adventurers, and students through the country’s battlefields, shrines, schools, and healing centers. Experience has taught him that the wounds of war transcend generations, national boundaries, and politics. Supporting the troops is what’s most important, he insists, which is why he’s careful to be apolitical in public and holds his tongue when confronted. Even when I push him to address those who, in their zeal to support the administration or object to its militarism, lose sight of our common humanity, he looks for ways to build bridges.

“We have really good values on the left,” he says. “We believe in being peaceful and cooperative and loving one another. Men and women in uniform often have a higher level of structure and discipline that creates strong and solid and devoted human beings who can live up to those values. If we could bring some of our goals and some of their process together, it could make for an extraordinary synthesis.”

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