Jewish Soldiers - Pesach Dinner, Fallujah

Back home I never really heard too many of my friends (most of whom were Jewish), ever mention anything about the military as an option after high school or word of any of their relatives being in the military. Not too many Jewish men and women serve in todays armed forces.
Moreover, an article published by the United Synagogue for Conservative
Judaism, says that Jews account for 2.1 percent of the U.S. population, according to the latest census figures. If Landman's estimate is correct, out of an Army, Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps totaling 1.4 million, fewer than 15,000 are Jewish.

A little dirt on me:
For over 6 years I have served in the US Navy both in the Aviation
field and Intelligence. Originally I signed up for the Marines, but
quickly changed my mind after considering the Navy Cryptology programs.
Just out of high school, with a little college under my belt, my life
seemed reckless and I was facing the same monotony day in and day out.
It was time for change, or I would have gone crazy. About late 2000 I
went into a Marine Corps. recruiting office, trying to get my hands on
a field job in Intelligence operations. They told me my first tour
would be served as a "grunt," then I could do practically anything in
the USMC. A "grunt," is infantry which means I would have more than
likely went to Iraq to fight in Bush's war. At that point I felt like
giving them the middle finger, I didn't instead I simply walked away.

About 3 months later I actually scheduled a meeting with a Navy
recruiter at my house. He came over in the navy working white uniform,
in a very kind manner greeted myself and my mother. I talked to him for
about 2 hours, and made my decision about 3 days after that. I was in
the Navy. Then in September 2001, my senior year in high school, the
World Trade Centers shattered our vision of safety and comfort that we
as Americans were so used to all these years leading up to this. I
remember looking at the television in my humanities class, and
wondering to myself "I am going to war, and I don't know how long I
will be back." Turns out I didn't return home until a good 4 years
later - seeing everything changed is the hardest part of being in the
military, wishing somehow you could have been there for all the
memories you missed out on. This is the ultimate sacrifice, in my eyes
that they talk of.

As far as my Judaism was concerned as a new member of Chabad, it was
a long stretch from what I was accustomed to, which was pretty much
nothing Jewish. I was raised with a mezzuzah on the door, a menorah in
the living room with and a picture of Jesus on the wall, with Hindu and
Buddhist books on the library shelf in the study. My mother's upbring
was a conglomerate of Judaism, Christianity, Buddhism, and Hinduism.
After high school, I planned to go up north to study at St. Johns
College, on a rowing scholarship. Instead I turned radically wild, and
started to inquire about the military. In 2001 I graduated high school.
And July of 2002, I was sent to a military entrance processing detail
in Jacksonville, Florida to begin my dangerous journey as a Jew in the
military.

From then on I began my career in the Navy as an Aircrewman
supporting special operations with Navy Special Warfare and doing
routine cargo missions throughout the United States for joint
exercises, and aboard Naval Carriers. I did this for a good number of
years before medical issues arose, and I was physically unable to
continue. So I put in a request to do something a little less demanding
- a job as an Cryptographic Technician, or CT which I did for a good
while getting great jobs around the east coast and meeting great
people. Today, I am a lowly student with many sea stories. The
following being one of special importance to me...

Jewish Servicemen in the US Military: My Personal Perspective

I've been to over 15 countries outside the United States and
stationed in over 6 cities within the U.S. One commonality existed
everywhere I went - a low count of Jewish people within the US Navy,
and most armed forces for that matter, as stated above the number
really only sits around 15,000 people. It was not until I went to such
places as Virginia, San Diego, Japan (very few), and some parts of Los
Angeles that I met a few number of Jewish armed forces presence. In San
Diego I met an Israeli-American Jew that was in the US Navy as well. I
met two Jewish men in Virginia, one really observant, one very radical
and detached from reality. More recently I met a number of Jewish
chaplains still in the Navy, some of which were a little questionable
and one who was the Chief Rabbi in the Navy, who seemed very
knowledgeable and well connected in his resources of the people whom he
knew, ironically I knew the same people. So if one were to ask me what
it means to be Jewish in the military, I could not give you a straight
answer.

In light of all thats happening in the middle east, especially with
the random spikes of violence with Hamas in the west bank, most Jewish
families condone their children from even thinking about being in the
armed forces. In many ways than one, it is a safety issue, parents
naturally care about their children why would they want them in harms
way? If your a Jewish parent would you want your child to go to Iraq
and fight in the war? This leads me to introspectively want to know if
a Jew is fighting in the war is it honorable for his religion or his
country? Or both? Does one fighting to defend our freedom fall under
the guidelines of Pirkuach N'fesh? Is the military bad for Jewish men
and women?

Sources:

www.uscj.org/Raising_Jewish_Milit6099.html
www.nmajmh.org/

www.jwv.org/