Volunteered or Voluntold?
More than 500 Navy reservists board a jet bound for Iraq and Kuwait to fulfill a seven-month deployment. They served a customs and cargo handling mission in 2008 with the Navy Expeditionary Logistics Support Group, based in Williamsburg, Va. All of them volunteered for the mission.
So we’re sending 21,000 more troops to Afghanistan. Does that mean another round of arm-twisting and groans to get boots on the ground? My guess is that a good portion of those troops already have their hands raised to volunteer.
Here’s why: More than a few of our warriors actually thrive on the excitement of a combat zone. Yes, they leave their families, and yes, that is hard. But I’ve been told more than once that the minute they hit the sand in some foreign land, they’ve already formed another kind of family with their comrades in arms. It’s tight, it’s important, they have a purpose bigger than all of them together.
The pay ain’t so bad, either, since everything else is taken care of — clothes, bullets, grub , bedroll, transportation, haircuts — you get the idea.
Top that off with tax-free income, hazardous pay, great chow (the dining halls in the war zones serve a round-the-clock buffet extraordinaire, including free Baskin-Robbins ice cream).
Forget mowing the lawn or finding a babysitter or any other mundane chore. Heck, you don’t even have to decide what to wear.
Then there are those who have been to combat zones a few times. Guess what? That sort of becomes reality for them. In a weird way, i’s actually more comfortable than the trivial day-in, day-out occurrences of life back home. And there;s often a bump in status. A soldier might be a car rental salesman at home, but over there he’s actually in charge of a battalion.
Another thing: I hate to say it, but some raise their hands because their personal lives are a wreck. Or, they don’t have a job. Or they relish the immediate ”hero” status that comes with being deployed.
No doubt it’s appealing to be a part of something bigger than yourself. Duty, honor, country – they do mean something
But the reasons some are so willing to go aren’t always that simple.
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