VLC contributor living in Aleppo writing about the Paris attacks
I&#x27;m living in Paris.  I heard gunfire from my apartment.  My heart goes out to Salah-Eddin, and all people living in the shadow of unspeakable abominations.  It saddens me to imagine that simply hearing gunfire in the distance is nothing compared to what my fellow man has witnessed elsewhere.<p>Salah-Eddin&#x27;s condolences mean a lot to me and I wish him all the best.  It&#x27;s my sincerest hope that French troops will be deployed to Syria in the near future, and that such an action will prove useful in protecting him, his family, his neighbors and his culture.<p>For what it&#x27;s worth, I&#x27;ve submitted an application to be a reservist in the French army.  It&#x27;s one month of training and 30 days of active duty per year.  I sincerely hope my small effort will be helpful not only because it puts another man in the Parisian battlefield (yes... that&#x27;s sadly what it has become), but also because it allows a better-qualified soldier to (hopefully) deploy to the Middle East.<p>I don&#x27;t presume to know whether or not my action is helpful, but I sincerely hope it is.  I&#x27;m already quite busy with my dissertation defense coming up in a few short months, but this can do, so I will.<p>I suppose I needed to get that off my chest as well...