by Neil Dalson

Created on: September 11, 2008

I'll start by stating this: I am not a recruiter or a career counselor. I am simply a soldier.

That having been placed out of the way, I now feel free to provide some reasons for joining the U.S. Army. As with all opinion pieces this may be a little subjective, so please bare with me.

When I joined, I was failing out of college and dropping out of the ROTC program for fear of the embarrassment of being kicked out. I took a shot in the dark to apply for a place as a flying warrant officer. In the process of having that rejected, I learned a great deal from my recruiter and from the soldiers who reviewed my application. It had occurred to me that I knew nothing about what it was like to be a soldier. That was my reason. To learn what it meant. I didn't need money. I was capable of getting job and fixing my failing grades. I had places to go and options in the civilian world. What I did not have was a sense of what it means to serve.

Since that point over three years ago, I've heard a lot of good reasons for joining the Army. And a whole mess of terrible ones.

Don't join for the uniform or the status, or the pay. The way the world is today, none of them really go that far. Besides that, a good soldier shouldn't be that superficial.

Join for the chance to see the world. I had already seen a good portion of the globe before joining, but other soldiers with me had never left their hometowns. I took for granted my pre-service global explorations. These soldiers were seeing the rest of the world for the first time, and it really is a major growth experience.

Join for the discipline and the training. Soldiers often return home to find the lives they thought were standard and orderly are actually entropic. They'll have more to offer their community in terms of work ethic, problem solving, and basic life organization. The Army can help to build leadership skills to those soldiers who are paying attention.

Join for pride of knowing you can. For many, their abilities are only hampered by their insecurities about utilizing them. If basic doesn't kick that right out of your mind, a combat deployment certainly will.

For some, it may be the best way to give you the helping hand you need to get back on your feet. Medical care and education is of course free for active duty, but don't let that be the only reason. Join because you want to, not because you think you need to.

I'm not going to lie. The Army will be the toughest easy job anyone will ever have. You'll complain, and sometimes beat yourself for coming up with such a dumb idea as joining. Other times, you'll realize you're doing the right thing. There is honor and pride in this job. There are good people to meet and incredible things to do. There are stories that no one will ever understand if they were'nt in the service. There are days where you will wake up, and make the trip to work, with helicopters that you fixed flying over you. Days where you'll sit at your radar terminal and watch the blips move over a map that spans 400 miles knowing that you're helping those soldiers on the ground coordinate their manuevers. There will be days when you walk out of the back of your track and look at the horizon, patting yourself on the back for making the best worst decision of your life.

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