June 30, 2004
Call of Duty
Even before I saw yesterday’s recruiting poster I have thought about joining the military. My father was in the Marines and served in Vietnam, so I have always had an interest in this branch of the service. There is a mystique there that I can not quite understand and I’m sure it has a lot to do with stories of honor, discipline and hard work narrated by my father.
HISTORY
Coming out of High School, the military was not even a fleeting thought. I was going to college and was going to get an education. The guys I knew in High School that were going into the military seemed at best to be scholastically challenged and thus the service was a good fit for them. However, not only did I not have an interest in going into the military but my father was against it as well. This was a two fold reason. First off he did not like how he was treated upon his return from Vietnam by the general public and he blamed this on the government’s mismanagement of the conflict, so he was very distrusting of our government. This was compounded by the fact that in 1995 when I graduated, our Commander in Chief was a less then honorable man when it came to the military. My father had no desire for me to serve a man who ran away to hide when his country called him duty. All this was before he perjured himself, so the level of dishonesty and dishonor were not yet fully realized.
None of that really mattered to me then, because I was prideful and couldn’t see myself submitting to the authority of a military officer. So I didn’t even see any of that as option. Recruiters would call the house for me and my father always answered the phone and spoke to them. I don’t even remember ever knowing about this at the time and I certainly never spoke to a recruiter myself. My father was very abrupt with them on the phone and his standard line was something like, “My son isn’t going to serve any military with Clinton as the Commander in Chief!” CLICK
PRESENT DAY
Now we live in a post-9/11 world and I am almost 27, so my father isn’t making decisions for me anymore. I fully support the War on Terror and understand how the liberation of Afghanistan and Iraq play vital roles in that war. Also, my heart struggles with supporting this war, but not putting that into action, more specifically not serving. In contrast to the failed argument against President Bush’s leadership; it is possible to lead and to speak wisdom into a situation without having combat experience.
Mark Levin hosted Sean Hannity’s nationally syndicated radio program earlier this week. He was jokingly fielding phone calls as Maurice the Liberal and anyone that spoke about the war, he would pose this silly question.
“Did you serve in Vietnam?”
“No I didn’t”
“THEN YOU CAN’T TALK ABOUT THE WAR”
or
“Yes I did”
“Oh okay, then you can keep talking”
This is an illustration of the illogical thinking that you must have served in order to speak to the situation. While this logic is incoherent, there is tremendous value and character molding opportunities available to those that do serve.
Just about six months ago, it looked like my fiancé was not ready to get married and we were going to post-pone or even cancel our impending nuptials scheduled for September. This was extremely disheartening and weighed heavily on me daily. The perfect escape from the life that was beating me to a pulp seemed to be joining the Marines. Now realizing that anytime escapism is a motivation, you really need to question the wisdom in that decision. At the same time, it would have offered an excellent opportunity to take my life in a new direction that I had not dreamed of or was not brave enough to take in that direction without a push. Things finally settled down for Amy & I, while some of her fears still linger they have been put into their proper perspective and we trust the Lord’s plans to prosper us and not harm us (Jeremiah 29:11). The wedding is back on schedule and now I am faced with the idea and responsibility of a family.
I’m not sure that the military is really in my future, and I have not been really led in that direction as of today. But I am prepared to fight for my country in any capacity that is necessary. If a draft was reinstituted then there is no question that I would step up and serve before my number was called up. It would be an honor to join this band of brothers, the United States Marine Corps, the few, the proud.
Posted by price at June 30, 2004 10:05 AM