Is There Pride in Serving Our Military?

Pride in Serving Military

Compare the job of serving in the military to the regular day by day job of working in the office with briefcase and cellular phone heading meetings, but more likely listening to the boss, whilst sitting down by the desk and filing paper after paper trying not to yawn. In this scenario, there is the office gossip, the attempts not to yawn, the stress, and the doldrums, and over and again the knowledge (lurking at the back of one's mind that Businessman is constantly trying to suppress) that he is working for another, not for himself. Now compare that to jumping out of a plane; to landing in some new, foreign, interesting Argentinian or Afghanistan village; to striding down those streets with a gun knowing that one is protecting the people from harm and that one is protecting the world from tyrants such as Ibn Laden. Imagine being one of those soldiers who actually smashed down the door of Ibn Laden's haunt and managed to capture him... What a job!

Not only do I as military recruit save the world from tyrants and make it a better place for my generation and for future generations, therefore being amazingly altruistic and facing the prospect of being admired and venerated by towers, but I am also selfish in the process for I am enabling others to pay for my opportunity of traveling the world and for free education whilst seeing a never-ending ceaseless montage of stimulating sights. This helps my imagination, making me eternally fresh and innovative since, unlike Mr. Businessman who is constrained to his bureau day after day, I actually travel the world, may jump out of places -- fly one myself -- ride ships, - pilot them myself -- walk amongst foreign people, live amongst them, learn tolerance and expand myself as a human being.

There is a purpose in serving in the military that very few other jobs can give us. And serving inserts valuable traits such as selflessness, dedicating, self-discipline, self-control, courage, and the need to dedicate ourselves to something higher than us. This is powerful and can make of a puny human someone far greater. Soldiering is a life-changing profession. Rarely is there a profession that changes you as dramatically as the army does. Sarah Sandifer, spouse of a military recruit, describes this better than I can when she exclaims:

It expands your worldview, forges friendships, and instills pride. It develops compassion, patience, and grace. It cultivates selflessness when you help others, and gratitude when you receive help. It changes you. It matters.

Indeed, it does. And that's why I see pride in serving the military.

The term 'soldier' has a ringing tone to it. 'Soldier' was the stuff of nursery rhymes, fairy tales, classic novels, inspirational songs. 'Soldier' is the term denoting courage. We use it when talking about 'Christian soldiers' or 'soldiering on' and most kids remember wanting to read stories of soldiers, dreaming of joining the army, dressing up as a soldier, or- if they were girls -- planning to marry one when they would grow older. Still today, the word' soldier' has a certain ring to it and many may find it more dramatic and fascinating to speak to a solider than to hold conversation with a 'regular' businessman. 'Soldier' after all is infused through and through with connotations of courage and even though the term has become sullied by reality, it is ultimately the military and soldiers whom we turn to for protection of our country and our lives. What greater responsibility can there be!

True, that the military can become complex with politics, economics, or family dynamics intruding and agonizing the recruit. Attrition is rife. There are stories too of sexual harassment in the army and of conflicts with friends both within and without the army life due to being a soldier. On the other hand, this is a blip on the horizon when compared to the wider picture.

True, too, that there are movies and books such as the famous movie "Born on the 1st of July" and Hemmingway's series that are critical of war and dispel their romantic myth, and indeed romanticism of war can be harmful. The grill and gut of killing is no fun. I am not talking about that. What I am considering rather is war done for the purpose of mankind, or not even war but rather activities involved in protection of defenseless people and activities dedicated to prevention of another war. These I consider heroic and magnificent.

Unfortunately, all too often the military has been depicted in a negative way by pacifists or those who have had negative experience or those (usually but not always, radical liberals) who have some agenda or other. Yes, there are some soldiers who have acted immorally and see the military as fodder for aggrandizement and opportunity for ambition and callousness. All too often, unfortunately, stories of heroic soldiers who risk their lives for their country and colleagues go underrepresented if not ignored and fail to receive the attention that they should. Their actions are as important as the firemen who jumped into the Twin Tower son September 11 and who sacrificed their lives for the victims. Firemen sacrifice their lives daily for individuals. Our police force does too. The military does likewise, but too often the military are condemned.