The Army as an Option

Two of my sons served on aircraft carriers near Iraq a couple of years ago. That was my first experience with having children in the armed forces. They’d both joined before there was an Iraq conflict; we had no clue then that a war was coming.

At the time I was so aggravated at their inabilities to jump start their lives into maturity, to hold jobs and not get into fights there. One son joined on his own, a Navy recruiter stopped him from applying for a job at McDonalds, offered him a better opportunity which he jumped on, and I exasperatedly called the recruiter to come get my other son after he’d been fired again from a job. The second son is still in the Navy now.

Both sons blew me away on the Pride Barometer. They rose to the occasion, bravely served, endured all kinds of hardships and became the men I now so admire. Handsome in uniform, emotionally strong, they were awesome, and the other 19 sons of mine certainly took notice.

Another son, halfway through college, mature already, joined the Army this past year. I was upset this time since there has been a war going on. I could hardly sleep when my first two sons were in the Middle East.

This third son will now have his tuition paid, he has a sweet deal actually, he trained in the Army, but is technically in the Georgia Army National Guard, and will serve in Communications, and he’ll come back to school next fall, and enter service two years from now as an officer.

I have become a big fan now of kids serving in the armed forces. This from a former proponent of Vietnam War conscientious objectors, a child of the 60s, a distaste for conformity then.

Kids now are very, very different. Maybe I’m just an old pooter, but the laziness, disrespect and over-indulged weenies I see everywhere, instead of hard-working teens, appalls me. I was favorably impressed this past week as I visited two different army bases with my already hard-working son.

Another parent there, who owns a restaurant, complained to me how hard it was for him, in a small Montana town, to find young adults who’d work hard, who didn’t whine to have their weekends off from work, and who’d give an honest days work for their wages. He was proud of his own son for choosing the Army, and he’s the one who’d suggested that more kids would benefit from this mandatory training. I find myself agreeing as I returned to the civilian world and looked around at the slackness I saw everywhere.

You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.