Quote:
Originally posted by User Name
By the way, why did you join the military?
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I joined the military because it felt like the thing to do. Believe me here, I could have went to college, I could have done a lot of things, but I didn't know what I wanted to do. I needed somebody to tell me; "Hey, go kill that guy over there!" or "Hey, go fix that computer!" I cannot pretend to be all high and mighty and say that is was because I wanted to serve my country, and protect your freedoms from some of the evils in the world that wants to oppress those who cannot or will not defend themselves. But that is why I joined, that is not why I am in now. Why does it matter why someone joined, are the people who joined because of necessity but conduct themselves with honor and courage any less of a hero than those who had the choice to "opt out" but decided to join anyways.
I proudly serve my country, and would go anywhere anytime I am asked, which
could include any war zone or hostile area the Air Force sees fit, but because I am not there now, or have never been makes me less honorable than my buddy sharing the fox hole with me who had the full ride scholarship to Notre Dame?
The most heroic people in the military I have ever met have been sitting behind a desk proudly doing their job with honesty and intergerty for 20+ years, and never complained when sent away from their familes for 6 months at a time to ensure someone at a base in an "undisclosed location" could e-mail his family when he wasen't out flying a jet protecting people he never knew or even wanted to know. Is the Shop Clerk or the Computer maintence tech, or the Cook any less of a hero because the military chose to put them in a support position instead of front-line duty. I get so fed up with people who after finding out that I fix computers, and manage a base network in the Airforce, instead of "Flying Jets" think that makes me "less military" than people who's job it is to activly search out and kill, or protect, or recon. Trust me, I have enabled more missions to succeed than any one person with a gun, smeared with camo paint could ever have done.
Why did I join the military?
I seriously don't know looking back on it, but I wouldn't have changed anything.