Center Stage Magazine August-September | Page 238

CenterStage D FIT SPIRATION avid Beckham The soldier is the army and the army is the soldier. He wins by outthinking and outfighting his opponent with the best tools at his disposal. A thousand years ago, horses and armor, swords, shields, and lances represented the best tools for fighting at anyone’s disposal. With them, men clashed in battle, outthought and outfought each other as individuals and as armies, and decided the fates of many great cultures. Fast forward to the present day and these tools of war have long passed into history, replaced by weapons faster, more precise, and infinitely more destructive. Still, history can surprise us with the resiliency of the old. America’s first major battle of the 21st century featured high tech Special Forces soldiers riding horses into battle with their Afghan