How has the military affected you?

General General Discussion
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Started to watch The Pacific tonight and it looks like they will be focusing a little more on individual characters and it got me thinking.

I thought it would interesting to hear how serving in our country’s armed forces has impacted the lives of the men and women have and are still serving.

It can be both positive and negative if you are willing to share. Feel free to discuss anything like what you took away from your time serving, new outlooks on life, attitudes, friendships gained or lost, lessons about life, improving areas of weakness, the way you now think or even funny quirky things that you do now. It doesn’t have to be about combat experience but it can be if you are willing to share. Anything at all.

Thank you for you service.

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I started out my service at a military college in VA. It definitely made me a more upright person, both physically and mentally. It got me in shape and gave me the “warrior’s spirit”…ie, “I can overcome this”.

During my time in college and in the NG, I learned that every soldier, despite his past (rich/poor, black/white, big/small, etc) can rise from the ashes when brought down, but true leaders will shine above the rest. It gave me a more positive outlook on life, as well as kindled my patriotism. I had always been a history buff, but actually being able to interact with and take classes from some pretty remarkable servicemen was a true eye-opener. Now, I go out of my way to thank every serviceman and woman I meet for their service, especially the aging ones. My grandfather is one of the ever dwindling number of WWII veterans alive, and it’s people like him that I truly revere.

On the downside, it taught me to operate on my own sometimes…and that may or may not have affected some of my past relationships. I also accept being away from loved ones a little too easily. Four years away from my family puts a strain on anyone, but I just kinda brushed it off and told myself it wasn’t a big deal. I’m slowly re-learning to value “face time” with the people I love, including my current GF who is out of the country for school.

No one is the same after .mil service. I guess it’s just a matter of whether one seeks and finds the positive outcomes rather than dwelling on the negative aspects. My grandfather (1st Brigade, 6th Marine Division) regards his service in the USMC as some of the best years of his life and regards the day he was discharged as “the second saddest day I’ve ever lived through…second only to your grandmother dying.” Very few people today appreciate what the Greatest Generation did for us. I can only hope that school children in 60 years will look back on the current soldiers/Marines/airmen serving today and feel the same way I do about all the aging soldiers I meet.

4

I can either order a beer or get my face slapped in over a dozen languages.

I have a sufficient mastery of profanity to make a Navy Chief faint.

I can quote the maximum effective range of a couple of dozen weapon systems that have been retired.

And I appreciate very much the awesomeness of this nation, and the precious gift of true friendship.

And I still stand whenever the Marine Hymn is played. I just have to use a cane sometimes to do so these days.

5

First time I fired the AR platform(M16A1 with a nice shiny bright BC) Been hooked ever since/

Felt like I was more prepared for the eventual Soviet attack(I joined mid 80s)

Basic training enhance my sense of humor such that I kept getting dropped because I could not stop laughing(yes - this was an issue - they dropped me just because I knew it was funny)

Opportunity to blow things up as I never would have(Combat engineer)

Curse better than a sailor(I was Army)

Have taken the sense of team work, getting the job done, chain of command, etc to the work place and have risen enough to see where the non-prior service folks drop the ball.

Have a general commradery with prior service folks, no matter what branch.

P.S. - still best friends with the two friends who enlisted with me together from high school - est 1985.

6

I’ve made many lifelong friends, learned a skills set that enabled me to land a good paying job upon leaving the military, and allowed me to give something back to the nation that I love.

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My years in the .mil both helped me in a lot of ways and sorta put on a couple of rough edges. I joined right out of high school (early 80’s) and the .mil was way different back then. I got a lot out of it. Teamwork, sense of duty, comaraderie. Left with three lifetime friends. Lost one on active duty. I’m grateful for the opportunity, as well as what it made me. Not so much with my colorful language.:slight_smile: Sorta miss the comaraderie in the civ world. +1 on the connection with other previous duty types.

8

I cant work anymore because im 100% retired at the age of 29
after 3 deployments in the oif/oef parade i got injuried… bad
ive had 3 heart surgerys
ive had 2 strokes
and i never got any paralisis somehow
all due to injuries and they won’t let me go back :mad:
there explaination was if you loose an arm you can stay in if you have a tramatic brain injury you cant so i guess im out of luck on that one

we found out i had a stroke after i repoted directly to my oic after the our convoy had been hit and i couldnt remember anyones name and i was calling my cheif a sir and didnt know what month it was or my mothers name

so now im one of the tramatic brain injuries that there talking about on the news
my mood has changed completly i cant maintain relationships anymore and i hate everyone but im still too stuborn to go to any support groups because im tired of hearing about ptsd because all i want to do is go back to the sandbox

soooo here i come private contractors because none of them care about my injuries i have passed all tests now and have recoverd just more of a grouchy person now i suppose so im heading back very soon just figuring out the details i have a meeting with my soon to be employer tommorow actually and hopefuly ill be sandy and mad i went back soon

if it doesnt work out for some reason im considering living up in the woods away from everyone so i dont have to deal with the civilian world i have had a extremly difficult time adjusting i cannot stand the lack of efficency and discipline , i cant go out anymore i cant do anything the only thing i do is i drag race with my father and i go shooting 2-3 times a week usally at sunrise just when the range opens so no one is there and i leave when people show up unless they go to the other end of the range

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I will say this.

I put a lot more rounds downrange in the year before I enlisted, o my own money, then I will my whole time on active duty.

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I’d say that now I have a much lower tolerance for BS and stupid people, especially stupid people.
I have very little respect for most of my generation and zero tolerance for people that tell me about how wrong war is or some hippy crap like that.
I respect my elders a lot more and ask for advice from them more than I used to.
I learned that no matter what I did in the Marine Corps it is irrelevant if I don’t have a college degree.
I don’t take time with my wife and kids for granted
I appreciate showers a lot more than I used to

11

Enrolling in ROTC and earning my commission was probably the best thing decision I ever made in my youth.

Out of High School I was soft and undisciplined. It isn’t that I was a bad kid or had low self esteem, it is just that I didn’t stick to things, didn’t have a lot of self confidence, and wasn’t able do do what needed to be done. ROTC was rough on me because of this but I had instructors who were able to inspire me and pull out the best from me. By giving me metered leadership opportunities as well as being part of something bigger than myself, I grew into a much stronger person. By instilling discipline in me, it made it possible for me to get my engineering degree despite initial difficulties in school.

I was fortunate that in my 10 years, I did not have to see combat, so I can honestly say that my military experience was 100% positive. Now that I am out, I miss it every day and am often saddened with the reality that I will not be able to forge the types of relationships that were made every day in the service. I truly believe that our warriors in uniform today are among the finest people our country has. No matter how bad things at work are and how pissed off I am at the fact that I won’t get to come home this week, I never loose sight of the fact that I have buddies and former soldiers who are deployed right now under less than ideal conditions and won’t be coming home for another year.

I can only imagine what my life would be like today had I not done ROTC. I am certain that I would not be half the man I am today, would never have reached my dream of being an airline pilot, and I doubt I would have married a girl from the FRY. The people who have shaped my life the most are my father, mother, grandfather, uncle, and one SFC who believed in me.

Oh, and getting to blow things up was pretty cool too :wink:

12

Got my draft notice in record time after graduating from college in '65. Decided I would rather be in the Air Force than the Army, and since I had no plans anyway gave 4 years instead of 2. Stayed enlisted as I had no interest in bossing people around and chicken$**t. I was what Burt Lancaster termed “a Goddam tourist” in “Go Tell The Spartans” but it was quite the education. Volunteered for SEA and did a year there which was pretty eventful. Even my stateside time was interesting.

Even though I was thrilled to get out, it was experience I needed to grow up. I don’t take much for granted these days, and I really feel sorry for people who haven’t had that experience. I too feel a kinship for vets, and always preferred to work with fellow LEOs with military backgrounds. Seemed like they were always more switched on and reliable when stuff hit the fan.

My father was a WWII veteran of the ETO. We used the “Battle Hymn of the Republic” and had a military funeral, a firing party, and “Taps” at the cemetery for him. Pretty bittersweet, but it sure connected his generation and mine. I hope someone does that for me.

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I was an Army Medic '68-'74. I am happy that i did it and survived but I would never willingly repeat it.

I too feel a vague kinship for all vets. I bought a stranger lunch the other month, a freshly returned Iraq vet.

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I learned discipline, self reliance, integrity, professionalism, trust, loyalty and above all the meaning of service.

I also learned how to get a good nights sleep in a hole or in the back seat of a hum-vee. I learned how to storm a room and shoot everyone in it. I learned I can hit someone at 500 meters very easily. I can throw a hand grenade further than most people. I learned how well pain compliance works. I know now I can put aside my personal comfort and desires without any problems. Cold coffee isn’t that bad.

I also learned I have a short fuze now. I can’t relate to people who weren’t in the military, I don’t even try. The only friends I have that weren’t in the military are the ones I had before the military.

I’ve learned to treasure very simple pleasures. I don’t take any day for granted.

Above all I learned what my limits are. I’ve learned what I can accomplish and it amazed me.

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JJ DID TIE BUCKLE

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The NAV taught me what I like and what I didn’t like. It gave me skill sets that got me into jobs that I was not qualified for making more money than I should have.

If it wasn’t for the NAV, I wouldn’t be where I am at today.

I still keep in contact with friends I made working counter drug.

C4

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I can’t drive past a piece of trash in the road without cringing. I have had to stop my car, turn around and use different roads because the on I was on freaked me out.

I am constantly scanning for out of place things, people, situations…reading peoples eyes, their gestures, body language…

The sound of an aircraft decelerating and throttling down sounds remarkably like a 122mm rocket incoming. Usually this sound will make me hit the floor.

Sometimes I stare. Sometimes it is bad.

The air movement from a door being slammed sometimes is enough to make me hit the ground or at least think something is going off.

I jump at just about everything. One of my co-workers quietly set some bubble wrap behind my lab bench once while I was working and stepped on it. I literally hit the ground, and rolled under my bench. They all thought it would be funny, but then when they saw how I reacted they all felt really bad about it.

I don’t wake up in the middle of the night and search frantically for my M4 anymore, though I did this for some time following my last tour.

Nightmares of being burned alive, dismembered, shot (again), blown up (again). Seeing their faces again.

One of the times I got blown up it ruptured both of my ear drums. Since, I have lost most of the hearing in my left ears, and a good amount in my right ear. I have permanent tinnitus, balance problems, and when I go from low altitude to high altitudes (which is frequent in Colorado) often times my ears begin bleeding.

I had dysentery both of my tours, and now I have not had a solid bowel movement since 2003 and I shit about 5 times a day on average. Probably TMI, but it fucking sucks.

I am 2" shorter now than when I first enlisted.

I loose my temper and yell like I never did before. Sometimes I scare the shit out of myself and others around me.

I find I have zero tolerance for people’s stupidity and kids. I was cynical before and now I am a downright misanthrope. I can honestly say I fucking hate people.

All this said it’s not all bad though. I am extremely motivated and dedicated to whatever I set myself to anymore. I am working full time +, taking 12 credits a semester, have a 9 month old daughter, and am finding time to go to the gym 4 or more times a week. I just wish I could find more time to go shooting, but you have to make sacrifices somewhere.

ETA: In re-reading I think my tone was not what I was going for.

Am I proud of my service? Absolutely.

Would I do it again knowing then what I know now? In a heart beat.

Do I miss it (even being in Iraq)? To some extent yes.

I think about it everyday. I just had the opportunity to visit Ft. Campbell again with my work after leaving there 4 years ago. It was very odd, and somewhat depressing. I do miss it, and there were a lot of thing I really enjoyed about the military.

18

I quadrupled my Marine Corps salary without a degree after getting out, have learned how to deal with unbelievable amounts of bullshit and take it in stride, value my family time much more, and have an extremely low tolerance for POGs strutting around town here acting like they’re tough and I can out military fakers a mile away.

All in all a good experience.

19

my wife and i were talking about this last night…she said the army didn’t change her that much, her job then is what we both do now…she was very responsible before, saved money and worked hard…she had somewhat of a nine to five job in electronics and could go home after a tough day…

i, on the other hand, being on a ship the majority of my time had a bit of a different time…my tolerance of stupid f’n people is ZERO…i, like another poster, hate people in general, especially “the dumbass drivers in prius’s in the hammer lane doing 55”…i couldn’t walk off the boat, it’s a long swim back to shore…i had a DUI while in and regrettably, can’t change what happened to me 17 yrs ago, it still follows me around(especially buying guns!!!)

i enjoyed my time, but wouldn’t go back for anything…my salary is over 10 times what i made in the service or more, depending on overtime…i look at my time as a great learning experience that made me who i am today…i don’t drink, i don’t smoke, i don’t waste my money like a drunken sailor, i am a great father to my boys, i am very confident not arrogant, i enjoy my family visits(for the most part), and try to make the best of any situation…

i also get aggitated easily, especially with dumbasses…politics seem to bother me more now that i have kids, a wife and a home…i cherish my time with my family and don’t worry so much about “me time” like others that i know…i had plenty of “me time” floating around the pacific and aeultian chain…i wouldn’t change a thing from the past, it made me into the person i am today…

2 posts is enough today, it’s the boys spring break and they are in need of lunch!!!:smiley:

20

To me it was a love-hate relationship. I both hated and loved it while I was in. A lot of my experience made me question my decision to join and why I gave up college to become a Soldier.

But I was glad that I did what I did and would not trade it for anything in the world. Military service can help you find yourself and you do get out what you put into it. IMHO, it is the best environment for someone to discover themselves and their limitations.

Only in the military can someone with Dyslexia, ADD, Claustrophobia, and an extreme fear of heights jump out of planes, rappel down helicopters, and become a Rotarywing Aviator.

The Military taught me never to quit in the face of extreme adversity and fear. It also ingrained in me the importance of taking responsibility for ones actions and taking care of others.

Despite the fact that I am having all sorts of (hereditary) health issues; I am still serving as an Army Reservist and plan on doing so until they decide to kick me out. YMMV.