They Are Soldiers (Coyle, Harold)

They are your neighbor and the person who delivers your mail. They teach your children and build your homes. Every day you see them but do not notice them, that is not until they are needed. Only when disasters strike, whether it be natural or man made do they become something quite different, something more than a fellow citizen. Throughout our nation's history they have been called many things; the militia, the home guard, the National Guard. But regardless of their title they havealways been unique, something more than ordinary people. Their willingness to be both a good citizen in peace and a warrior when called upon make them soldiers.The nature of the mission, to man a security zone that separates the nation of Israel from the newly created Palestinian state present him and the Guardsmen of Company A with a unique set of problems few are able to predict. Together the professional officer and the citizen soldiers he leads must find a way to navigate their way toward an uncertain future in a troubled land.Part of that future involves dealing with those who are determined to use the arrival of the Americans to further their own political and personal goals. One of these men is Hammed Kamel, a microbiologist who seizes upon the introduction of American forces in a place some still call the Holy Lands as an opportunity to strike a telling blow against the two nations who have oppressed his people, the Palestinians for decades. Together with a crops of like minded men, Kamel sets in motion a train of events that places the citizen soldiers of Bedlow, Virginia and their community on the other side of the world in jeopardy.