Comrades-in-arms

The military is family, it's a way of life. And nothing gets you thinking about life more than death. I came up to Vermont because the headstone was laid for my mom just this week. And, I am at a point in my life where my friends are dying. It will be my turn someday, too. This past year, I went to the funeral of my best man, Mike Malovic, Master Sargent in the US Army Chorus, and I accompanied my dad's friend, Lt Commander, USN, to bury his friend, Captain Jim Mathews, USN, both at the Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, D.C. with full military honors. 

I didn't know Jim, but, he was family, because of a friend of my dad in the military. But I got to know Jim in how his son and daughter honored him, Irish wake-style, and through the stories his comrades-in-arms told about him as they served together through the Vietnam era.

And I wonder: how will we be remembered? Family. For some of us, our closest friends are in the military, and they, and you, hold the stories of our lives in those moments of hard work, hardship, and comradery. For us in the military, how we live is important, but also, how we are honored and remembered when we die. I saw so many young people in attendance at both those funerals, seeing, perhaps for the first time how the military honors its own, with dignity and respect. 

Are our young people today honored with dignity and respect? Some young people have to be asking themselves that question. Were we treated with dignity and respect in the military?

Hell no! We were worked hard, then, pulled out of the rack after two hours of sleep, and worked hard, again. Were we thanked? Hell no! We did our job and were upbraided if we didn't do it right, and were rewarded with even more work if we did.

But where else do you get that hard line? I had 300 fellow shipmates' lives in my hands every day as the engineering duty officer, and I had the US border to protect, laws to enforce, and lives to save. And I did all that. Where else in the world can you have a job where what you do matters? In the USA, there are less and less places that people can contribute in a meaningful way. In the military, you can drive a desk or clean the latrine, sure, but you can also put your life on the line, or you can support the warfighter or peacekeeper who does put their lives on the line. Their lives directly depend on you doing your job.

Where else can you say that? And, where else can you do that with your shipmates that will build friendships that will last the rest of your lives?