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“How does someone survive a war?”
“I don’t think they ever do.” – Audie Murphy
I asked my friends Thursday “If you could sign up for the military today, why would you?” Expecting to hear things like protecting our country, that wasn’t the most common answer.
One said he couldn’t, because of medical reasons.
Another said she would do it for the American People, but she wouldn’t make it through training.
Three of them answered because of free college.
I used to want to join not because of college being paid for, but because it was the patriotic thing to do, but that all changed in September.
This one veteran I interviewed (I was asked not to mention his name, but shall refer to him as Hercules) was a Specialist Four in the Vietnam war. Hercules made a few statements that forever shall be engraved in my mind,
“We were up to our elbows in mud, dirt, and blood.”
“You are young, and hopefully will never have to put on a uniform.”
“I was told I could talk about it, or eat a bullet.”
“That slight insanity kept me from going totally insane.”
“When your country calls, go.”
You don’t just sign up for a free college; Hercules never wanted me to put on a uniform. Why? Because I was young. We never seem to realize that veterans don’t just get shot at, they watch their friends and brothers die, they bear pain that we haven’t, both physical and mental. They sacrifice not only their blood, but also a life without PTSD. Most veterans if not all have PTSD all their lives (like in the Audie Murphy quote, you never truly survive a war). That is not something you do for money, it’s something you do for the American home ground. It’s something you do to stand up for what the Founding Fathers built. When you sell your life to war, you don’t do it for money, you do it because your Country calls.