Stumble It!Nov 10 2008
On Service, Sacrifice, and the “Real World”
As a former member of the United States armed services, I was always mindful to say “thank you” and shake the hand of any man or woman who I knew was a service member or former service member. Very few people truly understand what it means to be in the military - case in point.
My wife and I were just beginning our life together and I was considering re-entering the military because times were hard. An acquaintance of ours mocked the potential decision saying words to the effect that we “couldn’t make it in the real world.” I don’t hear that very often anymore; the hurtful and disrespectful comment (not to mention the total untruth of the military not being the “real world”) has rarely been repeated, at least not in my presence. Still, there are those people out there and I overheard one today. I was stopped at a gas station to get a soda and to wait out traffic when I overheard two women talking about one of their son’s decision to enter into the Navy. The “proud” mom sighed that she wished “he had given college and the real world a chance” before joining. I was so sickened to my stomach that I left the store without my soda and fumed the entire way home.
I had an epiphany, though, on that ride home. The people in this so-called “real world”need to understand what it is like for people in the military and the history of the military as well.
The United States military is now (as it was in pre-20th century times) an all-volunteer military. As with most militaries over time, it is composed of people who are from every economic class and political persuasion. There are men, women, black, white, asian, hispanic, American Indian, gay, straight, Christian, Muslim, Jewish, agnostic, and atheists in the military. The military is actually much more diverse (though it has not always been than the so-called “real world.”
During Basic Training and later instruction (technical school and various post-basic training specialization schools), people in the military learn that their lives, their concerns, are put on the back burner for the protection of the American populace living in the “real world.” Enlistees, especially married ones, struggle with weak pay, long hours, exhaustion, danger, boredom, and a continuous reminder that your life can (and will) be snuffed in an instant in the execution of your “not real world” job. These traditions have been in place over 230 years, since before the official founding of this country.
Though during the 20th century a draft was instituted in order to heighten military rosters, such as for World War Two and the Vietnam War, the U.S. Military has long been a volunteer army. Few countries in the world can boast that even now. The Revolutionary War relied upon the skills and courage of groups like Washington’s Army of the Potomac and the Green Mountain Boys in order to face a much-superior foe. Prior to the Spanish-American war,the United States was considered a minor, regional power akin to it’s closest rival, Chile. Volunteers for the army including Teddy Roosevelt’s “Roughriders”(1st United States Volunteer Cavalry Regiment) changed that perception in Cuba and the Philippines and changed the course of American history. American Flyboys volunteered in France for World War One event hough many had never even seen an airplance before. Ernest Hemmingway and hundreds like him volunteered to fight against Fascist elements in Spain in the 1930’s. The initial response to Pearl Harbor (and to September 11th, 2001) was a flood of men and women (in both wars) who quit their day jobs and enlisted in the military (though women were technically “non-combatants” in World War Two, they died just the same whether serving as nurses, aides d’ camp, ambulance drivers, WACS, or WAVE). Volunteering for a higher cause is not abandoning the “real world,” it is embracing the challenge of maintaining the “real world.”
Can you tell the people who dies in Boston that Bunker Hill (it was actually Kettle Hill) was not “the real world”? The men and boys who died at Antitum or Bull Run certainly found the “real world” of bullets and blood. Doughboys marching off to World War One’s infamous trenches, or those who volunteered before American involvement, were certainly aware of the price of defending the “real world.” If the soldiers, sailors, and Marines of World War Two had not answered the call of “not the real world,” would you have your Hummer H3 or your Double Platinum credit card to play with in the “real world”? Men died by the thousands in Korea so you can enjoy Samsung, Kia, and LG today. Thousands died and millions were psychologically scarred by the Vietnam war; are their sacrifices part of not living in the “real world”? My own cadre went to war in Kosovo, Somalia, and Kuwait to prevent the explosion of violence in Europe and maintain the sovriegnty of the Middle East and prevent genocidal tyrants from increasing their wealth and power. My successors are living in the mind-numbing cold and brain-melting heat of Afghanistan and Iraq in order to protect you. Whether you agree with one war, both wars, or no wars, the fact is our children, our husbands, wives, daughters, sons, uncles, aunts, cousins, friends, and countrymen and -women are paying the ultimate price. Their home is now a 6′ x 3′ x 6′ plot of land with a white stone marker. Where do you live? How much have you given up for the furtherance of the ideals of Democracy, freedom, and liberty? What have you lost besides money or a job lately? You see, in the “real world” of the military, when you “lose it all” there’s no getting in back.
I sincerely hope no mother ever has to bury her son or daughter who died in the service of this nation. I hope these wars end soon and that our military service members come home to the welcome - and rest - they so richly deserve. I also hope that they will never hear their mothers sigh in relief that they have returned to the “real world.”
As we approach Veteran’s Day: To all who have served, are serving, or are the beloved of a service member we have lost. Thank you; from the bottom of my heart, thank you. May this country give you the proper respect your sacrifice and honor deserve.
