Remembering the caliber of the man and the soldier that he was--from my own brief memories and from the myriad testimonials of others, I would like to offer a few reasons for one to take the leap and become a soldier:
1) To grow intellectually. Since the military draws disproportionately from the urban and rural poor, people get the perception that most soldiers are all brawn and no brain. There have been numerous studies showing that, educationally, this just isn't true. The reason why many soldiers join the military is for the sake of education, and a result, they combine a budding intellect with a well-honed work ethic.
But this about more than education. As much as our society deifies education, true learning does not start on the blackboard but in channeling intellectual curiosity through the ravines of the real world. While Ivy League academics will wall themselves off in fluorescent-illuminated rooms for years to theorize about whether evil truly exists, the soldiers learns through inescapable realities that it does, and seeks to understand why.
2) To grow mentally. It's sad to say, but Millenials (a generation of which I'm a part) are remarkably soft. Many grow up in broken families and as a result, tend to abide by more of a social Darwinist-survivalist impulse than striving for great and noble causes beyond themselves. For the hippie generation, this selfish mentality was cool and counter-cultural--now it is simple conformity. Coinciding with the survivalist impulse is a general obsession with self-esteem. Many parents become best friends rather than authority figures, condone bad behavior and neglect discipline, and convey the myth that if you pursue your dreams, you can achieve anything.
The military serves as a conduit back to reality. There are rules and discipline. There are higher causes worth fighting forth, values worth pursuing, and battle buddies worth dying for. Failure in these respects is not an option. These things captivate you and make your resilient--unwilling to accept defeat and always persevering. In the end, you have a more fully developed character--less soft and more steel.
3) To grow morally. This seems ironic, seeing that soldiers are at least as promiscuous and noncommittal in their relationships as their peers in regular society. But in many respects, certain moral virtues are so deeply impressed upon the soldier that he has no choice but to live by them.
A soldier learns patience through a variety of unexpected obstacles. The bureaucracy and administrative mayhem that comes with a government agency means that soldiers might have to wait an extra couple of months for a paycheck or get passed over for a promotion due to a superior forgetting to submit a form. There is also the patience required in the months leading up to a deployment, or the hours leading up to a particularly dangerous convoy, or in the minutes that slowly tick away until you finally grieve at home, away from the constant missions.
A soldier learns discipline. You want it? You might not get it. If a higher-ranking soldier you don't like tells you to get in the front-learning rest position (for push-ups), you get into position and get ready to push. If a commanding officer tells you to charge a hill under fire, you run forward and try to be the first one there. Civilization persists, from a human point of view, because people exercise the discipline to abide by moral norms, rules, and authority. The soldier gets that.
A soldier learns sacrifice. Greater love hath no man than this... To paraphrase Calvin, it is a sad thing when man's obsession with life outweighs his purpose in life. There are things so great and meaningful, that they are worth dying for. These things include one's wife, children, the helpless, and if rooted in noble ideals, one's country. A soldier learns to leave behind the survivalist impulses in favor of sacrifice. A man will rescue his injured battle buddy under fire. He will jump on a grenade tossed into his vehicle. He remembers, even at the last, that his life is wasted on him alone.
In the vein of that last point, there is no sacrifice that can remotely approximately that of Christ. He didn't die for good people, though they are helpless. He died for the enemy. He died for those who not only murdered Him, but did so with malice forethought and intentionality throughout. At just the right time, Christ died for sinners. Not only did He die for the enemy, but His death and resurrection did more than simply preserve life. It brought forth eternal life for all those who believe in His name. A soldier's life and death may grip our hearts and minds for a time, but King Jesus saves and secures them for eternity, by faith in Him and in His atoning work.
Ultimately, I am His soldier, by His grace and for His glory alone.
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