Being a War Veteran
Participation in war changes a person, but participation in two wars extremely changes a person that only a few will fully understand. People who have never been there ask me what it was like. Did you get shot at or shoot anyone? Others will share stories about a sibling, cousin, friend, or someone they knew who went to fight in a war. Even though they know someone who fought in a war, they themselves don’t fully understand what I went through on a daily basis. Only your brothers in arms who were there with me understand the hardships that are brought on by being in a conflict zone and for that they will always be closer than those who have never been in a war.
It was April 2009 when I shipped out to my first war, Operation Iraqi Freedom, I was eager to finally go do what I joined the Marines to do which was go to Iraq. Nearly 24 hours of flights and layovers later, I was there in the hot arid desert of Iraq on Camp Al Asad when it hit me. It was no longer a game at any point in time you can die or get seriously hurt. Weekly convoys of sitting in a truck, riding in a …show more content…
The day I stopped working in the military was the day I started growing a beard because in the military you don’t get to, because we are different we have grooming standards that we have to follow. Now some people in the world there jobs have standards too, but not with the consequences like those in the military do. I have had to shave a few fellow Marines faces because it was deemed “they can’t shave their own face so you guys will shave it for them.” The real world has very few rules just take a look around people kind of get to do what they want as long as there is no law against it. I’m different, because I was regimented for so long to do things the military way I have a hard time trying something
Participation in war changes a person, but participation in two wars extremely changes a person that only a few will fully understand. People who have never been there ask me what it was like. Did you get shot at or shoot anyone? Others will share stories about a sibling, cousin, friend, or someone they knew who went to fight in a war. Even though they know someone who fought in a war, they themselves don’t fully understand what I went through on a daily basis. Only your brothers in arms who were there with me understand the hardships that are brought on by being in a conflict zone and for that they will always be closer than those who have never been in a war.
It was April 2009 when I shipped out to my first war, Operation Iraqi Freedom, I was eager to finally go do what I joined the Marines to do which was go to Iraq. Nearly 24 hours of flights and layovers later, I was there in the hot arid desert of Iraq on Camp Al Asad when it hit me. It was no longer a game at any point in time you can die or get seriously hurt. Weekly convoys of sitting in a truck, riding in a …show more content…
The day I stopped working in the military was the day I started growing a beard because in the military you don’t get to, because we are different we have grooming standards that we have to follow. Now some people in the world there jobs have standards too, but not with the consequences like those in the military do. I have had to shave a few fellow Marines faces because it was deemed “they can’t shave their own face so you guys will shave it for them.” The real world has very few rules just take a look around people kind of get to do what they want as long as there is no law against it. I’m different, because I was regimented for so long to do things the military way I have a hard time trying something