Fan Blogger--Army SPC Angelina Christian

Today’s blog is the first of what I hope will be many by Star Trek fans and people attending Planet Xpo’s STAR TREK 40th Anniversary Gala Celebration & Conference in Seattle. This one comes to us all the way from Iraq, and I really hope you will take the time to leave Angelina a comment about her blog entry. You could be our next guest blogger! Send your photo (if you have one) and brief story to Amy Ulen as soon as possible...we only have 29 days to go!

Blog #11 by Angelina Christian,
US Army Specialist currently serving in Iraq

"What I Learned from Star Trek"

To wear a uniform of any country is to represent the ideals of that country. And you must believe in those ideals or it is no longer a uniform but becomes just a costume you cloak yourself in to avoid personal responsibility for your actions. Not to say everyone who wears a uniform is righteous—-far from. I wear the uniform of an American Soldier, and I wear the uniform of a Marine in Starfleet. As I put on my boots, grab my shirt, and adjust my hat, I am a stranger in a foreign land. Some see me as an invader or savior—-for I have been called both-—because I wear the uniform that embodies the principles of my forefathers who struggled and are struggling still for freedoms most never know. If I fail in my tasks and do evil (as some who wear this same uniform have done and are doing), I feel the sting and must strive harder to remind both the people who I serve and represent and the people who have allowed me to remain in their country that we are not all the sum of the whole.

As I put on the uniform of a Starfleet Marine, I am cloaking myself in the vision of a man I admire who, with an imagination that knew no bounds, created a world in which we as a species set aside differences and embraced a simple concept “Infinite Diversity in Infinite combinations. Or ‘Can’t we all just get along?’” And with these words international cooperation between governments opened the way for science and doctors, scholars and teachers to better ourselves and allow us leaps and bounds in space exploration, education, preventive medicine. As we explored space if only with imagination and a little help from special effects, a small box brought us to a world which hopefully in the future we can strive to embrace.

My day begins before the sun rises, and I am still working long after it sets. I wear a uniform that attempts to blend into my surroundings, and my equipment is a far cry from high tech. I carry no phaser (but it sure would be nice to have that stun setting). My weapon is my actions as I remain calm and polite while inside I shake and scream at the injustice I see. I stand back as I watch a country piece itself back together, thinking “let me help,” but I must remain silent and offer assistance only if asked. It is a fine line I tread, and I do this because someday soon I hope to be partners with a people I both admire and want to smack upside the head for the atrocities they do to themselves and my fellow soldiers. And, yes, sometimes I wish to smack my fellow soldiers, too. You are free to disagree or agree with why I am away from home and family, my opinion is mine and I will keep my own counsel. I wear the uniform of an American Soldier so someday soon the universe I watched on television will help transform the world I know into the world I hope for.