Category: Recreation

Why Doesn’t God Love the Infantry Anymore?

Belonging. We long for it, we do many things, good and bad for it. It drives us to church, sports teams, civic groups, summer camps, bars, clubs and yes, the military. It drives us. The need to belong, a core part of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, makes us seek out similarly minded, similarly educated, similar in body type, race, religion, or creed, those with similar goals, etc. as we seek approval, camaraderie, to fit in, and a long-term other than self group.

In Chapter 1, we bounce from one group to another, trying to find the right fit. At first, our parents seek out those groups for us, hoping to find the right one for our success in education, church, sports, play groups, and daycare. The groups are likely more based on their need for us to belong to a group of their choosing based on socio-economic ties, what they belonged to as kids, or maybe something as simple as what they could afford. We don’t always like the groups they pick out for us, sometimes rebelling against our parents, projecting our anger on that group later, quitting the group or just caring little about participating. Some groups will be lifetime relationships that will bring us and our families joy.

As we near the end of Chapter 1, we start to make more of the decisions for ourselves, many times to the chagrin of our parents. Hanging out with the bad crowd or kids from the wrong side of the tracks brought stern warnings from our loved ones. But now, faced with the dissolution of most of our groups as we depart high school, friends going their own way, groups that don’t extend to adulthood, and our parent’s insistence to figure out what we are going to do with our lives, we look to belong again. Some group affiliations may be forced upon us due to opportunities or lack thereof such as college.

So, approximately five percent of us join the military. The reasons are many, from family affiliation, as my choice was, to stay out of jail, to wanting to belong to something larger and greater than self. The latter is often closely related to or referred to as serving my country. We believe that serving our country is serving the greater good, we will be like the person we idolized growing up, will be done with like-minded people, and will provide a better future for us.

So, in Chapter 2, we join the part of the military we think we will best fit in. I joined as an Army Legal Specialist, 71D. Spent a couple of years doing that and realized I didn’t fit in, wasn’t the type person I pictured myself as, so I joined the Infantry. I loved the law, in fact, I would have gone to college for it had I not been kicked off my high school hockey team and lost my opportunity for a scholarship. Well, I thought I did. But when I looked around at Infantrymen like Gooch, Gordy, Gray, and others, I knew my real place. So, I went back to AIT and became an Infantryman. During Infantry AIT, our Drill Sergeants did many things to get us to bond and become part of an elite brotherhood, to really belong. One was to guide us in our belief that the sun rises and sets on the asses of Infantrymen. WHY IS THE SKY BLUE PRIVATES? they would demand of us. BECAUSE GOD LOVES THE INFANTRY, DRILL SERGEANT we would proclaim, never loud enough for their satisfaction!

We believed. We belonged. We finally made it. We finally found THE group. It was no longer just a wish to belong. It was no longer only an ideal. We faked it long enough to make it. It was real. We lovingly snubbed the other MOS’s, the other Services, civilians, heck even family to some extent. Belonging gave us confidence, meaning, courage, trust, love, and faith in something higher. Wow, we believed, with the strength of a thousand less equal men. There was nothing we couldn’t do. Drink all night, train and hump a ruck all day, rinse, repeat.

Then, Chapter 3 came. The sky was no longer blue, God no longer loved the Infantry. Why? Why did He do this? He didn’t. We did it. We made such a big deal of our separation from this glorious world where all the women wanted us and all the men wanted to be like us. We proclaimed that this new life sucks, along with all the lazy tree huggers in it. New bosses had no clue. Friends weren’t loyal enough. Civilians just don’t understand. After all, we led men into battle, were accountable for state of the art expensive gear, and were finely tuned machines capable of great peace or extreme violence. And the sky was blue because of it.

The funny thing is, if you check, the sky IS still blue. The problem is the sunglasses you are wearing are tainted. They are tainted with anger, longing for something new seemingly impossible to attain, longing for the good old days, and the belief that Chapter 2 is actually all the chapters and is over now. Chapter 2 is over, Chapter 3 just beginning. We have to look around us and inside us to find a new sense of belonging. Not just at our old buddies but to new relationships. I recall being at a Toby Keith concert after an Afg deployment watching my brethren, only reunited with family members days before, all gathering together chatting. Not with family, but with those they long to be with. I see it everywhere.

It is time to work on new relationships, at work, at home, at church, at the bar, at a local softball league. Having that new sense of belonging will allow us to move into Chapter 3. The belonging will not be the same. It might be better, it might be less. But, it needs to be something. When I retired after 23 years, I thought I would never find the same sense of belonging, of meaning, of something greater than me with like-minded individuals. I couldn’t have been more wrong. I worked for the government developing combat equipment for my brethren for about 9 years. Very rewarding, very meaningful, surrounded by some like-minded people like Pack Man, Scooter, and Big Mike.

Then, when I left the government for warmer pastures, I thought it was over again. O for 2 Smadge! I work with like-minded people who help blind and disabled companies develop and field combat equipment. I also spent about 10 years with some awesome people running a nonprofit helping Veterans transition and thrive. 0 for 3 big guys! The point is, there is so much meaning to be had, like-minded people out there to help change the world, or at least your little part of it, and a lot of work left to be done using your greatness.

So, don’t forget to smile at the blue sky, have faith there is more out there for you, and do your work to get there. Maybe next week we will discuss WHAT MAKES THE GRASS GROW? Until then, be kind to yourself.

—SGM DTB—

Transitional Fitness

The whole of fitness is underdescribed in its entirety when we transition from Chapter 2 to Chapter 3. We are told to stay in shape; use it or lose it. A lot of us stay in shape. Pear is a shape, right? But are we doing everything we can to maintain our health? We don’t need to be able to pass the new Army Combat Fitness Test (ACFT) or start up a Combat Fitness Gym, but we do need to take care of our whole health.

An article in Medical News Today describes health as “… physical, mental, and social wellbeing, and as a resource for living a full life.” Nutrition, exercise, proper medical screenings, hydration, proper use of prescribed medicines and supplements, mental health, hygiene, and social engagement are all part of this. In Chapter 1 and Chapter 2, we are taught all these things so it should be easy to maintain them in Chapter 3. If we don’t, why?

In Chapter 1, our parents, teachers, coaches, and clergy teach us the basics of what we need to know. Parents teach us about proper hygiene and health. Shower every day, brush your teeth after every meal, clean under your fingernails, wash your clothes, pick up your room, put on a hat and coat if it’s cold outside, etc. All these things, which we ignore, until they yell at us, form the basis which gets built upon by others in this and Chapter 2.

Coaches teach us how to build muscle and endurance through instruction and competitive sports. They reinforce hygiene making us change our clothes before and after the gym and have us shower so we dont funkify the hallways. Clergy help us with our mental health, teaching us about faith, calm, love thy neighbor but not his wife, be honest, have integrity, be good, help others. Teachers tell us about biology, the health of the human body, what food and water does for us and about illness and disease.

What do we learn in Chapter 2? Get off my grass! That’s what you should have learned Warrior breed. We take the basics we learned in Chapter 1 and fine-tune them, make them all mesh together to make us a high-speed, low-drag, MRE-fueled, beer-cooled, lover of two(men) and killer of commies. We learn that to be a good Warrior we must apply all these things with vigor or jeopardize the mission. Don’t shower and the enemy will smell you. Don’t pick up after yourself and the enemy will track you. Don’t maintain your endurance and the enemy will catch you. Don’t maintain your strength and the enemy will kill you. Don’t love thy neighbor and your troops won’t follow you. Take a knee, face out, drink water, change your socks.

Phew, that’s done. No more early morning PT. I love PT but the military sure has a way to suck the joy out of fun things. So, we work out a bunch less, celebrate with adult beverages while swapping war stories with fellow Warriors and think we are in the clear, maybe with some bumps and bruises. But hey, we are still young…right now. Eventually, we are in damage control mode wondering how we got this beer belly, can only do 20 painful pushups, creek and moan when we get out of the chair, and wonder why people at the bar laugh at us before we tell the funny story. Ouch, MEDIC!

What we haven’t done is use all of our skills, maybe at a slower pace, to maintain our health. So, what to do? Keep moving the day we get out, set up and maintain regular medical appointments, understand we won’t burn as many calories as before and can eat less, continue to help others, be kind and find something that occupies our mind when not working or with family. Let’s break each one down.

Keep moving. You don’t need to be Ranger Joe anymore, doing 2 PT sessions every day lifting massive weights and running so hard you blow snot bubbles down to your knees. But you need to work your cardio and keep your muscles working. Walk your dog a couple of miles every day. If you don’t have one, rescue one. Doing a good thing, saving money by rescuing vs buying, and is great for your mental health. Bam, 3 dead birds. Buy a used treadmill on Craigslist. It doesn’t have to be the top of the line and neither do you. Walk the neighbor’s dog, being kind and fit all at once. Work your muscles by doing your own landscaping. It will save money and use muscles that are more than just pushing weights in a gym. Volunteer at a food shelf. Moving cases of food around while helping thy neighbor who really needs it, win-win.

Medical screening. Don’t start on how the VA sucks, I get it. Comp and Pen sucks and so do some clinics. But some are good, too. The point…document your health, get screening for your ailments, referrals for specialist stuff. Seek a job with health benefits so you don’t have to rely on VA. Use TRICARE if you can. I know, the Marine Corps broke me, they should fix me. But going down the road of righteousness at the expense of your health may be a plan worth re-thinking. Don’t give up, but don’t throw the big fat baby out with the bathwater.

Mental health. This needs an entire subdivision (installment). Treat it like physical health if it is broken. Stop thinking civilian Doctors can’t help you. They can and will; trust my crazy and counseled brain. But it is more than treating PTSD etc. It is about being positively, socially engaged with other humans, having a job to motivate us and challenge our brains, loving another human or dog or stupid cat, helping our fellow man to give us faith in ourselves and others. It is so many things, easily done. It is not ruminating that Chapter 3 sucks, non-Warriors don’t understand, Chapter 3 is meaningless, I am meaningless. Sounds kind of dumb when you see it written down, doesnt it.

So, let’s maintain our health, wholly. It’s not just pushups, situps, and a 2-mile run. It is maintaining the whole of our self.

Sergeant Major is done talking now. You can open your soup cooler and help your fellow Warriors with examples of what you do.

—SGM DTB—