Thanks for stopping by.
April 17, 2013
Nov. 20th, 2009 (Entry 4)
A year ago I was on my way to Iraq, but never went out the door. Two weeks before we were to depart they realized we were unneeded for the deployment. Let it be known that the public’s voice was heard about keeping troops home, but the four of us still wanted to go. Those two weeks passed, and I humbly accepted my second cancelled deployment, before they presented me with a five month training opportunity in Washington.
Within a few months, Joe and I were on the road to rewrite what we had been trained and preparing to do the last three or four years: we would go from being Arabic to Pashto linguists. By September, a little over four years into my Marine Corps career, I’ve trained, refreshed, and maintained a skill set that was quickly replaced, all in order to, you guessed it: deploy.
The outside often sees my attitude as a self-justifying situation. I am a Marine, therefore I want to deploy. They don’t understand it; it’s just one of those rare crazies which the American people are typically okay with. But when I was a senior in high school I didn’t say, “I want to go overseas with a rifle and make a difference one bullet at a time.”
While romantic, my attitude was entirely different. I simply wanted to grow up. I wanted some time and discipline to make better choices, be more confident and capable. I was willing to do whatever the Marine Corps wanted me to, because that was key to gaining the skills and experience I wanted: discipline and obedience. I didn’t care about deploying. I didn’t care about putting my life in danger. Why am I so eager to deploy?
Continue reading: (/blog/2013/04/18/3-the-nights-after-the-rain/)