Why Did I Re-Enlist?

I'm 36 years old. I joined the US Army almost 3 years ago. I've been in Iraq for over a year and stop-lossed almost as long. I signed my reenlistment papers today, for four more years. Tomorrow I will raise my right hand and take the oath again.

Most of my fellow soldiers here are much younger than I am. Almost never is this any kind of issue. Only on occasion do I hear a joke or two made about this isolated difference that has so far, never been mean spirited. This is in part because I can out run and out score people half my age on PT tests and have since basic. I usually pass as a man in his mid to late twenties until asked. This has been to my advantage but may be somewhat due to all the years I spent in denial of the fact that time was passing me by as I stretched behaving like I was 21 into my early thirties.

Day after day, one thing that the chronological separation from younger soldiers has made clear to me is that my view of reality has changed drastically over the years. This is something I didn't notice as it happened, yet would still be no surprise but for the unexpected manifestations of this fact. The comments I hear daily about how everything "sucks" is something I understand but don't feel myself. I have no doubt that if I came to Iraq after joining the army with less than 21 years of life experience like most of these kids have, I would be saying the same thing.

Before I joined I had been behind the title of many jobs:

College Student,
Grocery Bagger,
Subway Sandwich Artist,
A Pizza Hut Cook,
Beach Club Assistant Manager,
Author (one self published book),
Cab Driver,
Lawn Care/Maintenance,
Golf Course Maintenance,
Waiter,
Police Officer,
Food and Beverage Manager,
Rock Star Wannabe,
Pool Maintenance,
Lifeguard,
Ocean Rescue Lieutenant,
Delivery Driver,
A Rural Carrier for the Post Office,
Bartender,
Hotel Banquet Server/Room Service,
Air Conditioning and Duct Installation,
and more.

In fact, I was a drug dealer for one night - on the night after a hooker and her pimp left a bag of smaller cocaine bags in the back of my cab. I simply saw it as an opportunity at the time, and made a couple hundred bucks.

Many of these jobs "sucked" some more than others. Being a medic in the army has been, so far, one of the easiest jobs I've ever had. Basic training was horrible, but it was my two month period of sobering up, in more ways than one, that was difficult.

I imagine some of these army privates are in for a rude awakening when they get out and get a job in the private sector. Starting a job that operates on and for a poor economy, one where you don't get "smoked" but can get fired or laid off. One where your boss expects you to come to the table with some knowledge or skills and won't take you by the hand and teach you EVERYTHING like the army does. A boss or owner who has to show or make a profit like the army doesn't (not to say profiteers don't exist but they are sourced in the private sector). A career where meals, health care, and even paychecks are not free and guaranteed (for the most part) like in the US Army.

Iraq is often no fun. It's hot, the recreation is limited, family is far away, and hedonism is minimized. Sometimes it is fun. There is an camaraderie that is non-existent in the civilian world. Cops, firefighters, or even team sports members have something fairly similar, but they don't live with each other day in and out on the constant level that soldiers have to. This was perhaps the hardest part of all for me as I adjusted to the military. I am a big fan of personal time and space, and I have never had a "battle buddy," as I have both chosen and been forced to walk alone during most periods of my pre-army life.

But the hardships of Iraq, war, and combat are part of my point too. The current situation has to be a cake walk compared to what life was like for soldiers a few years ago. Even now, as the June 30 deadline approaches, soldiers throughout Iraq are being relocated to non-urban installations and being stacked upon each other in tents with little left to do that will occupy their time and energy. Our unit's 4 to 6 hour missions continue as we return to our FOB with 2 man air-conditioned Internet ready rooms and one of the nicest dining facilities in theater. And to think of the lives of hardship lived by the Iraqi locals who toil day in and day out in the rural areas harvesting and herding in the harsh desert conditions with little in the way of options or change to look forward to.

I'm being retrospective and counting my blessings here. Tomorrow is a new day, and something awful could still happen. But I'm thankful things aren't worse and hope things stay that way, for all of us, till we get back to the states. Also, I am not trying to diminish the sacrifices and service of fellow soldiers. I'm just offering my perspective.