I have to admit, I joined the military for the same reason a lot of other young men and women did back in the 80s. I wasn’t ready for college and I didn’t want to spend the next few years of my life working in a menial job trying to figure it out. Unfortunately the military had a bit of a bad name attached to it. For one thing, It had been less than 10 years since the end of the Vietnam War and although most Americans (I believe) appreciated those who served, the impact of poor political decisions had taken their toll on its reputation. That’s probably one of the reasons why my high school guidance counselor didn’t exactly push the idea. The general opinion was that unless you had a burning desire to serve, joining the military was for kids without a plan. And that was me. A rebel without a clue.
The first day of military service typically goes like this: Your parents drop you off at the federal building where you get “in-processed” for the first time. This involves a “group” physical exam (fun times), a lot of harsh directions that sound like the adult voice on any Charlie Brown cartoon, and the Oath of Enlistment, which you hardly remember several minutes later. Then you get flown and/or bussed to basic training where you learn that your infinitesimal attempts to follow directions are disdainfully dismissed by a hoard of drill instructors, circling the scared and disheveled group of enlistees like vultures over roadkill. By the time your head hits the pillow in your new barracks home, you have been thoroughly dressed down, embarrassed and have little or no hair. Believe me, nobody goes to sleep that first night thinking this was a good idea.
Basic training is a weeding out process. Within the first 24 hours, a couple of dudes in my flight, (platoon), admitted to smoking pot prior to basic training which was grounds for immediate dismissal back then. It’s not that they actually had; they just decided to take the “easy out” of a rough situation. Things like that cross your mind in the first 48 hours. Your’e thrusted into a harsh environment where you can’t do anything right no matter how hard you try. And you’re now living with a bunch of other scared young men trying to be tough men. You see, all of this is by design. Like I said, it’s a weed out process. You cannot shape a person into a soldier, sailor, marine or airman if they do not have the willingness or ability to push through hard things. Basic training is the first step in learning that you are capable of far more than you thought you were. At least, it was for me.
And things get tougher when you move on to whatever type of school teaches you how to fulfill the role you signed up for. This is particularly true in any technical field because the military usually doesn’t have two-four years to educate someone. Instead, the superfluous crap colleges add to increase revenue is eliminated and you learn how to do your job…quickly, or you end up failing tech school and cast into an entirely different role. Unlike the civilian world, you don't get to quit. You signed up for four to six years and theres’s no backing out just because you couldn’t cut it. In my case, for example, we started with 28 students in Physical Medicine (Physical Therapy) Technician School. 12 of us graduated. What most colleges teach in a semester, we did in two weeks. If you couldn’t keep up, didn’t put in the time studying and didn’t help each other, you flunked out.
The standards and expectations were high, whether it was combat medicine, crew chief, security forces, infantry, etc. The standards were high because the cost of failure was far greater. And guess what; for the most part, we all got along really well. Want to know why? Because the most important thing about military service is learning that the mission comes first. And that mission, regardless of who you are, what you believe or where you come from is the protection of freedom. If you think this sounds like a bunch of patriotic rhetoric, allow me to speak for my brothers and sisters in arms past and present: Go pound sand.
All of that training, discipline and all of those high standards culminate in saving lives and protecting freedom. Because I was never deployed, never got shot at, I have rough time accepting “thank you” from well-meaning folks on Veteran’s Day. I have rough time because I treated a lot guys who were protecting freedom in places most people had never heard of until the late 90s. I saw my share of burns and shrapnel wounds. I’ve seen what bullets do to flesh. Helped men at the initial stages of learning to do life without a leg. The thing is, most of these guys felt like they had let their brothers down. Many wanted to return to hellhole they came from so they could be back with “their boys.” That’s what I think about when I see someone taking a knee to express their dissatisfaction with our country. They may have a point, but there’s a better way to express it. I invite anyone to try to change my mind on that one. I’m here all day.
Service, real service means putting others first. People you don’t know and maybe wouldn’t care to know. It means looking at the flag and realizing for all of this country’s faults and despite all of our past failures, there is still no better place to live. And even though one of our most important rights is currently under attack these days, there are still men and women willing to sacrifice their lives for your freedom to attack it. They are the line between your freedom to express yourself, marry who you chose, strive to live the way you want…and oppression. Oppression…like Nazi Germany oppression. Like Berlin Wall oppression. Like Communist China oppression. You may disagree, but a scant view of world history would suggest we are perilously close to something like that today. Wake up.
One thin line of young men and women willing sacrifice...everything. Maybe it starts out as something self-centered as it did for me, but if you stay long enough, you begin to see what service is really about. It's about something bigger than you. It's about freedom.
Those who wear the uniform today represent those who wore it yesterday. Let us be grateful for all of them.
Dave Magliano
Tatsu Dojo
Jissenkan Budo
Dojo Cho