Those of us that served, had very little in say in the grander circumstances of our service.
I chose my job (MOS) but I didn't choose my first language. I didn't choose my first unit. And I didn't choose my deployments, and I didn't choose all of my team members for those deployments.
Most service members end their time in service before hitting tenure limits.
There's always another deployment, another conflict, another operation on the horizon for which your brothers and sisters in the service will undertake without you.
When I chose to PCS back to language school to pursue a different language after my first two deployments, my old unit went back to Iraq before I think I had my first real exam. It tore me up, I spoke to a SNCO in my class about wanting to leave language school to go back to Iraq with my unit. I felt like I was betraying them because I chose other career options.
He walked me through the flaws in that logic. The Marine Corps, the military, the DoD, is larger than any single unit's deployment. If they couldn't do it without me, they wouldn't have let me PCS. I was valuable, but I was not indispensable. And by getting another language, I was making myself more valuable. By imparting my learnings to those young Marines at the language school, I was raising their value.
Fast forward a year, and I chose a joint-service assignment rather than go back to a Marine Corps unit. My roommate went to MARSOC (I wasn't MARSOC material), many of the young Marines I served as a Platoon Sergeant at language school went on to fleet units, most of them went to Afghanistan. The first Marine Corps KIA in our MOS in generations (may he rest in peace), came out of that group of Marines.
This time, I was a SNCO, feeling those same feelings of regret, of failure. This time, my MasterGuns (may he rest in peace) walked me back through a similar conversation.
I never begrudged those Marines who got out, whether they left for school, family, politics, to become a tattoo artist in Cost Rica, didn't want to go back to war, or were just tired of the military. They're all reasonable.
Lastly, how much did my First Sergeant, Sergeant Major, or Battalion Commander impact me while I was deployed? Very little. Even when our BN CO was removed, I was more annoyed that I had to take time away from operations, and shave for the first time in weeks, because the incoming BN CO felt he needed to come tell us.
Leaving after 24 years of service is in no way a betrayal.
#marinecorps #veteran #radbn #oif #mcsb #usmc #votevets
Last thing I plan to say on this topic, but:
There is a 0% chance that all of the veterans who are attacking other veterans' military careers would still be doing so if they were on "your team"
Which means that you feel like political divisions are more important than the sanctity of the brotherhood.
Which says more about you than the person you're attacking.
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1 周Very nice video! Nice job Bryan and thank you for your service!