Honoring All Our Service

By Rabbi Aaron Stucker-Rozovsky

United States Marines Corporal Paul Fagundes, Lance Corporal Giovani Cruz, and Lance Corporal James May Jr. They weren’t shot by a Taliban sniper in Marjah, Afghanistan; they weren’t blown up by an IED in Baghdad; nor were they torn apart by an ISIS mortar in Syria. They met their end on July 4, 2010 when they drowned in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, while serving with Fleet Anti-terrorism Team (FAST), Alpha Company, 6th Platoon.

I was serving in GITMO as a deployed Army National Guard Military Police Platoon Leader the day Fagundes, Cruz, and May died. There hasn’t been a Marine Corps birthday, Veterans Day, Memorial Day, or July 4th since, where I haven’t thought of these three young Marines, how their lives were so suddenly and sadly snuffed out, and how the lives of their dear families, friends, and hometowns were forever affected. Despite the deaths of these three young men, these Marines, despite the fact that there were soldiers in my company who worked 17 hour days for 6-7 days straight in extreme heat and humidity, despite the fact that we were tasked with securing one of the most high visibility and strategic detention facilities in the world, and despite the fact that we were separated from our loved ones for a year, when we got home, some fellow service members had the gall to tell us, “You know you weren’t on a real deployment, right?”

How hurtful, how belittling, how shameful, how flatly untrue.

I have been deployed overseas twice, to both Guantanamo and Afghanistan, and I am equally proud of both deployments – the people I served with, the missions I was on, the units whose patch I have the privilege of wearing – all of it.

During World War II, the 150th Infantry Regiment of the West Virginia Army National Guard was deployed overseas. They didn’t fight at Salerno, Normandy, or Bastogne, and they didn’t storm Guam, Leyte, or Okinawa. Their role was protecting the Panama Canal. Imagine how much more drawn out, how much bloodier an Allied victory would have been without the canal and the vital link it provided between two theaters of war. Being such a linchpin, a prized jewel in the American defense enterprise, someone had to defend it from would-be saboteurs, Nazi spy rings, prowling U-boats, and even possible German and Japanese air raids, and these proud Mountaineers did just that. These West Virginians were part of the peak strength of 119,000 American service men and women defending the Canal and the Caribbean in December 1942. I wonder though, if when these soldiers came home after the war, they too received the same reception that my fellow Guardsmen and I received when we returned in 2010.

In the book of Vayikra (Leviticus), specifically 25:17, we are commanded to abide by the following decree: “Do not wrong one another.” Traditional sources and commentators such as Maimonides’ Mishneh Torah have said this means not harming one another through speech. Additionally, Leviticus 19:16 instructs us, “Thou shalt not go up and down as a talebearer among thy people.” Maimonides again tells us that this means that we are not to speak ill of others. Finally, Leviticus 19:17, proclaims “thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart.” Maimonides comments here too that this means we are not to embarrass others.

We as veterans have a solemn duty and a moral responsibility to uplift all our fellow veterans and service men and women, regardless of branch, service component, length of service, rank, MOS, or rating, and to honor them for their service, sacrifice, and commitment. Anything less would be hillul HaShem (a desecration of G-d’s holy name). Likewise, no one should ever feel the need to hide or be ashamed of their service because it wasn’t well-known or didn’t have a movie or film made about it. Why? Because the defense of our great nation takes all of us. Protecting our country is a team effort and each of us is an essential member of that team.

Perhaps there is no more fitting conclusion than this. At the memorial service for Fagundes, Cruz, and May, Major Winston Tierny, commander of the Marine Security Force Company Guantanamo Bay said, “Our hearts were broken this past Sunday by a horrible tragedy as we lost three young American fighting men. While not lost in combat, they were lost in the defense of our nation.” These words should serve as a poignant reminder to us all in honoring the service of our fellow veterans.

Bizrat HaShem we may always remember to celebrate and venerate all veterans and service men and women, no matter the time or place where they served!

Rabbi Aaron Stucker-Rozovsky has been in the Army National Guard and Army Reserve for over 16 years as both a Military Police Officer and Chaplain. He was deployed to Guantanamo Bay and Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. He currently serves as the Deputy Command Chaplain for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and holds the rank of Major. In his civilian career, he is the Rabbi of Beth El Congregation in Winchester, Virginia. He and his wife Eliza have three cats.

Volume 76. Number 3. 2022