This is my first, and most likely only, Memorial Day with my son on active duty in the Marine Corps. On June 21st, he graduates from his last training duty and returns to his civilian life and law career.
Richard left almost a year ago, June 1, 2015 to join the Marine Corps as a reserve officer. This past year has been tough! I've gotten a small glimpse into the incredible sacrifices are service men and women give for this country. Through every set back and challenge, I've been able to remind myself that Richard is going to be home soon and back to his "real" life. Most of the young people he was training with are heading out to a career in the military.
As I watched the parade on the day he commissioned, I was so impressed that these young college graduates....who could use that degree to do anything....were choosing to serve us and our country. They were giving up nice salaries and comfy lifestyles and choosing to live at the beck and call of command.
One story I want to share to illustrate what this means.
One of Richard's room mates at TBS (The Basic School) was the top of the class...very top. He came from a long line of infantry officers and planned to continue the tradition. Becoming and infantry officer is the cream of the crop of jobs in the Marine Corps...very hard to achieve.
This young man studies and worked very hard to stay at the top of the class, so that he would be in position to get his first choice of duty.
Several weeks before the end of the class, there was a hike scheduled. The platoon was given a list of items they had to bring. One the day of the hike, there was an inspection checking for these items. Turns out that the commander of his, and Richard's unit, did not use the correct list and they were missing items.
They all flunked the hike. No remediation, no opportunity to fix it! No excuses!
This was enough to lower his score...and he did not get his first choice of Infantry Officer.
Think about that! His entire life altered by an event out of his control!! Can you imagine that kind of thing in your own life?
And with all this...these young people chose this life! That's amazing!! Just amazing.
Today we are reminded that some of these choices lead to the grave. As I walked through this last year with my son, I realized that the Marine Corps makes this perfectly clear. They empress the need to really learn the skills they teach because they might save their lives, or those of their buddies. Death is a part of their training. They do know what they are walking into....and they do it anyway.
This past year has changed the way I view many things. I know that I will never take our military for granted again....not sure I really ever did, but I know I did not have a real understanding before.
As we honor those who never came home, I'm sure of one thing....they knew what they were risking, and did it any way.
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