Trailbrake, It can be a wonderful life if you want it.
I've learned a lot.
It has taught me:
How to get along with anybody, in all circumstances and sometimes great stress. Even and perhaps, especially when they are @ssholes.
That sometimes just doing your job means pissing people off.
How to find the humor in any situation. If you can laugh your ass off in the frozen mud in an ice storm, wet, cold, and miserable, you can survive anything.
How not to take youth for granted.
How to outrun at 26 an 18 year old with no conception of what heart is.
How to train that 18 year old to get and recognize heart.
How to seperate those 18 year olds and older who don't have heart and will never get it.
That knowing the previous does not make me smarter or a better person. It just makes me a Royal Marine.
How to argue my position forcefully and with respect with superiors and then salute and execute legal orders I don’t necessarily agree with to the best of my ability. “Sir, I think that’s ****ing stupid, and I reserve the right to tell you I told you so, but we will execute.”
That life ain’t fair.
That sometimes the enemy is smarter than you.
That sometimes I am smarter than the enemy.
That there is no way to tell the difference until it is too late.
That sometimes I am fighting the wrong enemy altogether and the greatest operational distracters can come from us
That life is at its best when it is at its most absurd.
That I can accomplish any given mission given a reasonable amount of like minded marines/soldiers who want to get the job done.
That life sucks sometimes and you still got to do the job. Like on the 3rd day of an operation at 0300 without any sleep and still making it happen. It isn’t pretty and it isn’t perfect but it better than what most could do.
That being cold sucks.
That being hot sucks.
The previous things are absolutely true but not as much as being cold and wet at the same time.
That you should appreciate chow of all kinds and sleep of all kinds whenever you get the chance to get some of them.
How to sleep in any kind of military vehicle or aircraft in any situation. Even in combat.
To always carry a map and know where the hell you are.
To always have a filled radio that I know works.
That the greatest military on the face of the earth can’t deliver fresh bread and eggs without KBR.
That I would not now be as well educated nor as world experienced.
How to wait on line for everything.
How to wait and like it.
That incompetence you can depend on is better than technology you can’t.
How to tell someone that he is full of **** while smiling in his face.
How to say "thank you, sir" when you really want to tell them to drop dead.
How it feels to show up at your 20th High School reunion in shape and fit (even after breaking an ankle on a night jump) and knowing for what your life has been lived. Knowing you did not wander through life and found yourself in a career you never envisioned at 19. Knowing you have seen and done things that most won’t or can’t understand. Knowing that you chose this life and this life chose you.
Good luck, mate.
