InnerTeub

There’s a quote I want to share from a book I read years ago, but I’m in the middle of moving hell and I can barely find my dog among the boxes let along a singular book, so I’ll just have to paraphrase.  It’s from “Black Hawk Down,” and in the epilogue, the author discusses what it must be like for the Army Rangers in the book, what prompted them to enlist, train, stay in the military. He says: “They have to trust their government will not risk their lives for too little”

That’s a helluva lot of trust, and yet I see it everyday; apparently I actually have this trust, because I trust that the government won’t risk Mike’s life for too little, or the lives of our friends who serve, or any of the number of people I know who have joined up, and continue to join, again and again.

I don’t think anyone joins the military without first considering if it is right for them personally, without thinking “what can the military do for me“; serving in the military is not an exclusively selfless activity. But it is service, and regardless of the benefits one may experience personally, and the job by it’s nature is done to benefit something other than yourself, and I guess you just have to trust that the cost of that service is worth it.

This past spring I got the chance to work with wounded veterans, and I found myself wondering if the horror of losing a limb is made better or worse if that loss is done in service to a cause. What a horrible question; I don’t think the gradients of “better” or “worse” really apply when you lose a leg, but the reality is I spent a week with a huge group of men and women, most under the age of 23, whose lives had been irrevocably altered as a result of their choosing to serve their country, and I have to wonder if they felt that the cost of service was worth it. I hope they do; I hope they don’t think their loss is in vain.

Mike going back into active duty  has changed our life a lot, but it was the right thing to do, for him, and for us. The work he does means something to him, and just as importantly, the community he works with means something to him. As far as picking a job goes, this is the right job for him. But it does come at a cost, (see also: 2008 deployment and results thereof) and I’m glad there is a day like today, where we can pause and say “Thank You.”