Cutting Ties and Train-up

Cutting Ties
Long before a soldier ever leaves home he slowly fades from the day-to-day activities of the family. Is this some kind of defensive tactic or just a tactic to help with the pain of departure? The daily family activities seem to mean nothing. It is as if the soldier leaves before he is ever gone. It is not to say that he does not love his family or care anymore but I believe it to be a defense set up to protect the emotions that he knows will swell when he does finally leave.

Train-up
As we train in various locations on different military installations (posts), we learn to deal with what we are dealt. The conditions that we find ourselves in are all too often unfavorable. The chow is most times something that cannot be recognized but some how we manage to eat it. The barracks are run down, as we are visitors to their post, so we get what they have left. Even though we are classified as active duty we are often times treated as Guard soldiers. But as they say,” we have a mission.” I enlisted in the military some 16 years ago, not knowing if this day would ever come. Being a new recruit I felt the same feeling as others feel today “how do I get out of going if it happens.” As I worked my way up through the ranks as an Active duty Army soldier I came to the realization that one-day it would happen. Then in my third year of service it did. Iraq Part I ………The military was called to do its job and this was the first time that I felt as if I would miss something if I did not go. Our unit was on stand-by but never got the call. The closest I got to combat was loading baggage for soldiers who were deploying. They had the somber look of kids whose parents were late to pick them up from school. I felt a sense of sadness because I had missed what it was that I was trained for. But every evening when I returned home to my wife and kid I was glad that I did not go.
The years spent on Active Duty seemed to fly by, but when it came time to get out I decided that my uniform did not have enough rank or awards on it to hang it up. I could not help but think that it would not be impressive to my grandkids the way it was. So after 3 and a half years on active duty I called it quits and joined the National Guard. I remember while stationed at Ft Lewis saying,” look at those hippies they must be guard soldiers. “ Now I found myself as one of them. After working a dead end job for some ten years (and being a week end warrior) I decided to return to an Active duty position. Active Duty National Guard (AGR). I always thought that AGR soldiers did nothing all day. I thought the job would be easy, that I would sit and drink coffee all day and do nothing. Man was I wrong. An AGR soldier does more by far than an active Army soldier. After ten years It happened. The rumor, the reality the training. Oh my God we are going to War.