Deployed
A whispered warning about a possible deployment crept through the unit like a bad rumor. As the tensions arose and the warning became a reality we saw the true colors of some soldiers. Some began to make excuses immediately. Some ran and hid. Other came up with mysterious illness’ that no one had ever heard of before.” I can’t go I’m in College”, some would say. “I can’t go I am an only child”. My question then becomes, “Why did you enlist in the first place?” Then it came, the word, the date and then we were gone. We have trained to do a specific job and that like many other things has changed too. We will go and do what it is that we are told too. Most did not want to go, but it is our Job. We arrived at the first stop of many and began to set a rhythm. The rhythm however took time to build. As a National Guard Unit, we must first relocate, taking us out of our element. We go where the training is. This causes us to look like we do not know what is going on…At First. As we grow and bond and welcome the fillers (personnel brought in to help fill our shortage of soldiers) we become a unit. Some leaders soon find that they are not cut out for the job at hand. Most Guard soldiers are civilians 29 days out of the month. They arrive questioning authority and some times lack the bearing required of a soldier. Slowly they begin to understand that we are training for war. As all of this comes together we become a proud force of Citizen Soldiers wanting to do the best that we can. The everyday stresses sometimes become quite overwhelming but we are starting to take them in stride. The life of a soldier is not easy but it is a life that many have come to love. The thought of dieing for my country does not strike me as pleasurable but the thought of defending her is a great honor.
