The Choices we make

I found this some where in the Internet and thought I'd share it with you. Perfect example that what we do for this country sometimes goes over-looked, even by our own family.



"One day my brother and I were looking through pictures at my mom & dad's house. I was looking through my old deployment pictures and my brother was looking at highschool and his "college day" pictures. I ran across a copy of my DD214 and he asked me what it was. I told him that it was Uncle Sam's thanks to me for serving my country, and protecting the freedoms and rights that we have in life. He wasn't impressed at all and ran in to get his framed degree from college. He was so proud of his accomplishments and didn't even have a clue of what my DD214 meant to me. I didn't say anything to him but kept looking at our pictures. Pictures of me in different parts of the world training and the occasional picture of me holding up a bottle of the locals favorite "Gut rot" crossed eyed and drueling. He had many pictures of college parties including him & his friends power puking, dancing, toking away brain cells, naked frolics at frat parties, and pics at riots held on campus. I was somewhat disgusted and let him know so. He didn't understand so I explained it to him, it went something like this:

While you did study very hard to get your degree that you don't even use (he's an electrician but has a degree in business, go figure). Seems to me that your biggest worry was waking up by 1000 hours to make sure you made it to your 1100 hour class, planning on what party you wanted to attend, what "rights" you have were being violated by the government, and hoping you got at least a D on your exam so you can graduate (or what ever it takes), and then look down on me because I went into the military, and literaly feel that I pissed away 6 years of my life. What you don't see in my pictures is the sweat, tears, blood, time away from my family (deployed 21 of the 29 months that I was married), days on end with no sleep or hot chow, always wondering if someone might die in the next training mission or combat zone because I forgot something or didn't react correctly when the time came as their leader, and the close friends that I lost in "training accidents" and combat zones. I told him that I'm not looking for pitty or feelings of sorrow, I chose that life and I wouldn't change a thing about it. But don't ever think that you have the right to judge me until you have humped in my black cadillacs with a 60 lb. pack and had to take another humans life without blinking an eye and immediately look for the next target before it targets you. All so you could sleep until 1000 and then feel that you have the "Right" to go protest what I do and wave your little peice of paper in my face like you saved the world!

He just looked at me with tears in his eyes and said that he was sorry. I told him that he didn't have to be sorry, in fact I didn't want him to say anything to me, it was my pleasure. I just wanted him to understand that the men and women in the military are there to protect the rights and priviledges of the American citizens and should never be judged or criticized for what they do."



* A DD214 are a Military Member proof of his/her Disccharge from the Armed Forces.

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