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Great question.
I've come full circle, although I didn't end up where I originally started. When I joined the military some 25+ years ago, I did so out of a sense of duty, honor, country. I believed I was answering a higher calling and entering a noble profession.
I entered the part of the military that shrouds itself in total secrecy. No, it's not as glamorous or exciting as you see in the movies although Tom Clancy certainly comes close to describing the real thing. What resulted from these experiences was a somewhat jaded and cynical outlook towards global politics and the military missions ordered to accomplish certain national objectives.
When I was deployed to Bosnia, it was without much enthusiasm for that mission. I thought it was a huge mistake to send US troops to fix a problem that should be handled by the Europeans. It's their backyard, and nothing that happened in Bosnia would have any direct impact on our lifestyle in the United States. During that first year, there was lots of evidence of the pure hatred that existed in that region. I've seen the mass graves, I've seen entire neighborhoods left in total ruin, I participated in the hunt for the evil men who brought such horror to these people. But the defining moment for me came on the day when the Bosnian children were going to their first day of school.
The significance of that day was that it was the first time in four years the children could do something as simple as attend school without fear of a mortar attack, gunfire from snipers or watching their mothers attacked and raped. The children waved to us as they passed our HMMWVs, and some of the parents were smiling with tears in their eyes, some of them bringing loaves of bread to us as tokens of appreciation.
There are many other aspects I haven't even touched on that convinced me that military duty is a higher calling. It is indeed a noble profession. However, I have a more balanced outlook rather than a blind jingoistic view. I acknowledge the political realities of national objectives and understand Clausewitcz's axiom of "war is an extension of politics by any other means." But there is also a sense of selfless sacrifice, devotion and love of country that exists down in the trenches and manifests itself when the time counts. Not all military experiences are the same, and there are a number of bad apples who give a bad impression for those not familiar with the warrior ethic. However, generally speaking, you can pretty much count on a military veteran, especially one who has heard the sound of shots fired in anger on a battlefield, to have a certain degree of self-discipline and sense of mission accomplishment. You will never hear them say, "I can't."
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