Back in 2013, I was a civilian bystander.

Sure, I was concerned about our perpetual wars and the trauma that follows in their wake. But I was also strangely detached. I was busy pursuing my amazingly safe civilian world. War was over there, not here. But all of that changed when two combat warriors came-a-knockin’.

“Hey can we help you build that Rooster?

“Yeah, c’mon in and grab some gloves.”

 I didn’t know it then, but my world was about to get rocked.

I thought they’d come by for a few days or so but they kept showing up for over 9 months. We became a team. A nod, a glance, or a tap was all we needed to know where to heat and where to hammer.

We laughed, spoke of war, ghosts, depression, friendship and courage and so much more.

Over our time together, I saw something shift in both of them. Were their bodies more relaxed? Was there a softness in their eyes? It seemed so, but what happened for them is not for me to define.

But I can describe what happened for me.

These two combat warriors ever so gently opened my heart and my eyes to my civilian duty. They showed me, that even as an untrained civilian, I could be of service to them by simply inviting them in to my world of doing. There was no need to fix, heal or change them. All I had to do is say, “C’mon in, lets heat up some metal and hammer on it until it tells us a story”.

One day we rolled the 8 ft tall hand-forged steel Rooster out of the shop and into the sun. The Rooster was complete. Our team was done. There was swelling of tears in my eyes. Did I see the same in theirs?

And that’s when the question came. “What’s next?” they asked, “What do we get to do next?”

5 years later that question has now sprouted into the Warrior StoryField Sculpture Project.

I will never again allow myself to be detached from those who go to war for us.

I will never again by a civilian bystander.

Thank you Brad and Danny for this amazing gift.