Random military thoughts

A lot of people, when I've spoken about my long time desire to leave the states and go to Itsly, have often suggested to me that I should have , or still shpuld, join some branch of the military, to achieve the desire. The US military, after all, has numerous bases not just all over the world, but many specifically in Italy. If I joined, there's probably a fairly decent chance that, the longer I was in, the more likely I would be to eventually see Italy, or maybe even live there, for quite awhile. Therefore, the logic goes, joining would probably be the best bet, for someone poor like me, with so few options.

My opinion on this, however, has always been pretty straight forward: As far as I'm concerned, the writing should really be “on the wall”, as they say, when it comes to someone considering joining the military , mostly for reasons of travel, like I would. After all, there's something more than a bit ironic , at least to me, about joining a nations actual military, in order to leave and travel outside of said nation.

To me, it all sounds a little bit too much like, say, joining the most popular and successful street gang in the hood, in the hopes that said street gang will help you escape that hood. Sure, the gang might give you some travel assignments, and hey, maybe you’ll even be “stationed” as a spy or something, in some other enemy (or ally hood) for 10 years time; but ultimately, you’ll always be traveling with that hood in the back of your head now--- on your resume, for example-- in a way you wouldn’t have been, previously, had you gotten lucky and found some way to escape, by yourself. In some sense, especially as a military member, you’re essentially becoming the actual embodiment of the nation you wanted to leave. And though I’m sure its not the case for everyone, I personally think it would take a very strong willed person to be around all of that for even just 4 years time, and not walk away a much different person than they began. I find it hard to imagine someone doing 4 years in the military and not being at least somewhat inundated with it all.

Basically, I can’t help but feel you’d begin to feel more American than you ever felt before, not just once you put the uniform on and enlisted--but especially once you were stationed in a foreign place, daily surrounded by numerous other enlistees, and then too often approached by residents of said country, and seen as this Ameriacn military character. As a military member, you probably have to see that old American flag every place you go. You have to salute it. You have to beneath it, in a way you would not have to -- ironically--if you just worked stateside, at a bowling alley. You also have to be in a job which, inevitably, is going to be literally brimming over with people who are wildly passionate about the country you, as a hopeful traveler, were originally trying to leave. Conversations about politics that you wold have never encountered as a lone traveler or a gas station attendant back home, are now going to surround you, and probably be apart of the daily life of your colleagues.

I have often gotten the impression that many people who join the military, join it under the impression that “they” are the different ones, who will not be effected by all the “hullabaloo” that surrounds it. In other words, they walk into the militray room, with the same civilian eyes that many of us have, which see the military as rather cultish, and certainly extreme, but at the same time, they also don’t think they will be effected, as others have been in the past. They’re too smart for it...so what will happen is that they, unlike the others, will cleverly “use” the military to get what they want (colleg education, overseas travel, some money in the bank) and then they’ll walk awy, unscathed, the same person they always were beforehand. But this, again, sounds an awful lot like someone whose planning to join a street gang -- but not face any of the negative, long term effects of joining it. Most people who join a street gang are young and not often planning to be apart of it for life. They, just like military enlistees, think they’re going to cleverly outsmart the gang, get rich off of it, and then get a chance to escape the hood. For a rare, exceptionally rare few, maybe it does happen, with many scars left behind. For most, its the exact opposite, as I write: they become more hood than ever before. They become the literal embodiment of the hood. They throw up that hoods gang signs and rep that hood no matter where they go.

There is that old saying about how the emotions of love and hate are often remarkably intertwined. How often, after all, have you known someone who goes from a long term loving relationship, to then being in a very hateful relationship, the very next day? Most divorced people literally hate each other; some would like to see each other dead. Once upon a time, of course, they loved each other deeply. Well, in a way, this is all the same for the militray and the street gang: Most people who join these extreme types of things, are actually people who, whether they admit it to themselves or not, sort of hated where they were originaly, in their own country or their own town. This hate (or “distaste” and “dissatisfaction”) that they had, was so severe, that it eventually pushed them to join a big group that offered escape from what they hated, be it family, town, or themselves. But then what happens is that this hate gets quickly twisted and molded, by the group, into a love for the group, for having helped you escape. Get it? A lot of military people, for example, might explain to you how they came from a crappy family that they sort of hated, so they joined to escape them.

They see the family as utterly disconnected from the country they went on to serve. In my opinion, they’re all connected: Crappy countries create crappy families. So when someone tells me they hated the famiyl they were originally in, I basically hear them telling me they hated the country or town/ city they were in. Families, after all, are generally a result of the culture theyre living in. In the USA, a sizeable majority of new recruits have been coming from the Deep South for a long time now. Not coincidentally, the Deep South is a deeply troubled place, that many want to escape and leave.

Of course, the hope of travel and escape isn’t the only emotion that the military or a street gang preys on. Theres also the hope of achievement that a young person has, and behind it, the almost crippling fear that, alone, they’ll never be able to really stand on their own two feet, or achieve anything. I have often tried to describe the decision to join the military as almost being akin to a type of personal suicide, in the sense that, just like suicide, its a type of “one size fits all” solution to a problem that could probably work itself out in other ways. The military, as we all know, is a very uniformed organization, and so it shouldn’t come as too surprising that the decision itself to join the military, is  very uniformed as well. Beyond the idea that you might be able to one day see places you could have “Never otherwise seen”, te military also offers you immediate respect that, you might tell yourself, you could have “never otherwise gotten”. From the person who just enlisted one day ago to the 50 year veteran, everyone in the military tends to get a certain amount of instant respect , from those who aren’t in the military. Its quite rare that anyone will gang up on someone in the military, and openly and publicly insult their decision to join , just like most people won’t really publicly insult people who are in a street gang, for fear they’ll be killed by other members of the gang. The military commands an instant respect, because its a gang, that being a gas station attendant or a bowling alley employee won’t. Even if you’re the lowliest member of the military, people will never belittle you like they would the gas station attendant. They might even clap for you as you board an airplane, or give you a free hamburger at a restauraunt on a certain day.

Alas, they aren’t really holding back on your account. They’re instead holding back on the gangs account. There is thus the appearance of standing on two feet, but that appearance is an illusion. So it might be the case that everyone outside of the military don’t break yur balls, but what about the people inside of it?

At this point, of course, al ot of people might make the comment that joining the military isn’t a lifelong decision. It’s only 4 years, they’ll tell you, and 4 years ain’t all that much. People like me, writing as I am, are making far too much of a big deal out of a measly few years, they’ll explain.

My response to them? Don’t let the illusion trick you. There is a reason that the recruit must enlist for 4 years, and its been the same reason since literally the time of the ancient Romans: 4 years is a long time, contrary to popular belief, it does not pass quickly, and beyon that, its the perfect amount of time to shape and mold someone, in all the ways that, upon joining, they don’t think they’ll be shaped and molded. In those 4 years, your circle of friends will change, many of the old faces of your life will be forgotten, you will become acustomed to wearing a uniform, and you will see that flag more than you’v ever seen it before. And then by the time the 5th year arrives, you might just be ready to ...what? Enlist for another 4 years. With perhaps the same ridiculous tale in your head, of how its not shaping you….