Jack Kruse, Author

Duty to one’s people and one’s country is a powerful force in times of national emergency. Everyone is called upon to make sacrifices. The combatant must leave family, comfort, and normal life behind, prepared potentially to lose one’s life. Non-combatants say good-bye to loved ones going to the front. At home they do what they can to support the cause and defeat the foe.

Many women served in Soviet military units during the Great Patriotic War, known in the west as World War II. They served in all female units and mixed sex units in combat roles. Eighteen per cent of the Soviet Air Force personnel were women. They flew combat aircraft in combat. They also worked on the ground, in combat zones, in a multitude of capacities.

Loss of one’s life while performing one’s duty to family, country, and a way of life is not a sacrifice easily made. In addition to fear of death, there is fear of personal injury. These injuries are expected, even demanded during times of war. Duty forces one to expose one’s self to injury, including fatal injury. Fear is ever present. Many either overcome, ignore, or suppress it in times of need. In addition to physical injury, one must also consider the emotional and psychological health cost. Physical and emotional trauma to oneself and one’s comrades is a cost potentially paid to the end of one’s life, however long or short that may be.

If a combatant falls in love with a fellow combatant, one fears the loss the loved one. Love in war puts immense strain on people in love. This is especially true when one is in love with a fellow combatant in the same unit. The commitment of one’s self to another person when both are in combatant roles is an act of faith which defies the reality of combat. Knowing the loved one can be killed or horribly injured at any time may interfere with one’s ability do carry out ones duties. 

The question of love taking priority over one’s duty to one’s country may cause questionable behavior. One may remain in combat longer than one normally might under the assumption that one’s absence would put the loved one at risk. Seeing the loved one in danger may cause one to take additional risks in combat to protect the other. One might abandon the fight to care for the loved one if that person is wounded. All of these can endanger the success of an operation.

Weighing one’s duty to country, the other combatants in one’s unit, and the success of an operation against the strength of one’s desire to spend one’s life with the loved one may overpower one’s emotional strength. Ultimately, being in love affects one’s performance of one’s duty. To my knowledge, no correct path exists. Each person must search their own heart and make the best choices available under the circumstances.