A Pendleton Marine, an Afghan interpreter and the meaning of 'always faithful'
The Latin motto of the U.S. Marines, “Semper Fidelis,” translates into English as “Always Faithful.” Ask Maj. Tom Schueman and Afghan interpreter Zainullah Zaki about it and they will tell you this: The word that matters most is always.
Their unexpected friendship forms the backbone of a new book, “Always Faithful: A Story of the War in Afghanistan, the Fall of Kabul, and the Unshakable Bond Between a Marine and an Interpreter.” The family flew to Qatar, then Germany, and eventually settled in San Antonio, where relatives live. They are awaiting a ruling from U.S. immigration authorities about whether they can remain.
After 9/11, the U.S. invaded, and brought with them new schools, health clinics, cellphone networks and roads. Zaki attended school regularly for the first time and “began to see a future for myself beyond our fields.” He’d grown up in Chicago, the son of a single mother who worked for the police. His father did time in prison in Georgia. He was super competitive in sports and academics — a boat with a powerful engine, he said, but no rudder. The military gave him direction and a way to pay for college.“I’ve never been the smartest or most talented guy in any room I’ve been in, but I am relentless — for better, or for worse,” he writes in the book.
As the translator, Zaki talked to village leaders about what they wanted from the Americans, and what the Americans wanted from them. They knew that some of the people were lying, Zaki said, and that some had probably been the ones shooting at them on other days.“Power shifts suddenly in Afghanistan,” he writes. “Who you know and support matters more than who you are. It has always been that way.”
Five years went by. The men settled into lives in their home countries. They got married, had children, tried to keep at bay the demons war had left them. Getting him out of the country, though, proved harder than he’d imagined. Just filling out the forms was problematic because of cultural differences. Many Afghans only use one name. They don’t always know what their birth date is.