“Why do you serve?”

The reasons that Americans decide to enlist in the armed forces are diverse and often complex, and have changed drastically in the last twenty years of armed conflict. You’ll still hear the typical patriotic answers about defending American ideals and serving the community at large, while others do it for the free college and to learn a trade. I’ve even come across a noncom who claimed that the Army is the greatest social welfare experiment in the world, and that for the effort he put in, it was well worth the pay. For some, the answer to the question of “why” isn’t easy to explain, except to those who have worn the uniform.

As for me, my answer is dependent on who’s asking. If it is another service member, maybe one who has lost their motivation in the midst of a bad unit, or a Command Sergeant Major asking at a board, it’s easy to summarize in two words: the boys. Instantly, they understand, and nothing more needs to be said, because those two words bring back a particular memory of those brothers they served with who will always be their reminder of what the military is. To the average civilian who has maybe a Hollywood-esque understanding of the bonds of service with comrades in arms, I have to dive deeper.

I am not an overly patriotic person. My personal philosophy is that the ideals framed in our Constitution are nearly perfect, and the spirit with which our country was founded is probably the only time in our history that we had the right idea. That said, we have often failed to live up to our ideals, when slavery was legal, and women had essentially no right to own property or vote, and our treatment of the tribes that were here before us come to mind. More recently, the mass endorsement of the surveillance state, the active campaign to keep homosexuals from marrying, the drug war, and restriction of firearms have led me to believe we have fallen far from what we as a nation has professed to be. Those freedoms we have so easily sacrificed in the name of security, comfort, and pleasure are not so easily taken back, and I truly don’t see how we can ever live up to what our founding fathers saw this nation being.

When Colin Kaepernick knelt during the National Anthem, I honestly didn’t care. Freedom of speech is all encompassing to me. When people protested police brutality, I supported it because of the belief that police have too much power. The cannabis debate has long been ridiculous, anyone with a half a brain cell has already determined that the issue of marijuana was not about protecting citizens, it was about controlling a unregulatable cash crop. The partisan debate over these issues and firearms, private property, and many others has convinced me that the majority of Americans are so braindead, not only the spirit of our founding but also their unwillingness to accept that which is different than them has soured me to any notion of patriotism as some see it to be today.

What has left a mark on me is those who believe that this country is at its core a righteous concept of freedom and liberty, and that they love it so much they are willing to die for it. There aren’t many true believers in the military today, they are rare and often very special people who do very special things at the behest of our nations leaders. They see our faults, and despite our faults see what we can and should be, and embody that beyond just wearing star spangled boots and getting piss drunk at a rodeo every 4th of July while raging about anyone who dares to so much as criticize whatever Republican is in office. They serve, not to feed their own ego or because the idea of going to college right out of high school scares them, but to make this country and world a better place. They are the true patriots, who do more than talk, they act.

These people are the reason I enlisted in the first place. I always wanted to, as a kid I wanted to be a fighter pilot and then a Marine Infantryman. When my lack of mathematical astuteness made the former impossible and poor choices made the latter improbable, I joined the Army hoping to be around people who are what makes this country the beacon of light to the rest of the world. I hoped that being around real Americans like that might help me kindle some form of real patriotism like that.

What I found was not what I expected. Like the civilian sector, the Army is rife with poor leaders looking to advance their own careers before they build better soldiers, and by extension better Americans. The Army is often like a behemoth recently awaken from slumber, slow to do what it should and too dimwitted to learn the lessons it must in order to be successful. Don’t get me wrong, there are glimmers and flashes of brilliance, where things happen just as they should and every arm of the octopus is acting in tandem with the others to accomplish an objective, but those instances are rare and it often seems if we are simply stumbling forward at the whims of whatever commander is in charge this week.

While I did find those true patriots, I also found others who see the world much differently than I, yet in many ways the same. We bonded over our similarities, learned to live with our differences, and acted as one in order to accomplish whatever mission out commanders intent had for us. The Army is a microcosm of what America is, diverse in so many beautiful ways yet so similar is many others. This is the glue that hold us together and enables us to function as one. The military requires all service members to pass branch specific basic training, giving everyone a shared experience that we can find common ground with one another.

To be around other Americans, working for the common good, standing up for the real ideals our nation was founded upon, is an honor and a privilege. When it comes right down to it, that is why I serve. More than just “The Boys”, it’s everything that the boys and the uniform represents. There is nothing in the world that can take that away; not even poor leaders or bad experiences. Every time my contract comes close to it’s end, I find a thousand reasons to leave. They’re all selfish, but sometimes you have to look out for number one before considering whether or not leaving is best for the military. As long as I still have something to offer, and the military still represents all that is good about this country,  I will serve.

I just recently reenlisted for six years with the Oregon Army National Guard. I’m in a battalion with a proud history and some quality, experienced leaders. While there are the stereotypical National Guard shitbags, there are some really good people and soldiers that I am proud to work with. To me, staying in is a no brainer. If you find yourself wondering why you should reenlist, look for all the reasons you have to stay in with the soldiers around you. At the end of the day, you might find that it is worth it.