Do you believe that joining the military made you look at your mortality differently than your civilian counterparts?

Before I was military, I was a nurses aide. In hospitals, especially ICU/CCU, I'd see death but mostly in older people who lived a mostly full life. That changed when I started working the ER. Stupid kids doing stupid things. Since I never felt the urge to do that kind of stupid, I still felt detached. Taking care of movie stars at Motion Picture Hospital was something else. I remember seeing movies of two Tarzan's, a Stooge, Bud Abbott, and Tonto growing up and then seeing them pass on. They weren't the same as I remembered. The vitality was gone. Then it all fell apart when I just finished a meal with some of my ST buddies when we went to GQ and had to do an in close fire mission because our 5/38s didn't have much range. We got hammered with 122 counter battery and they were just gone and I was beat up. Packing out their lockers, getting their laundry washed, etc. was numbing. My DO and Chief let me have an extended liberty to wind down in Subic. It got tough as a JO having one of mine disappear only to find he went out on the ice, took off his boots, and just went to sleep. He didn't want to go on after his wife "Dear Johned" him. I almost got cashed in a few times after over the years so yes, it got personal. BTW REMFs never got it either.

I never really thought about it while I was in the military. Too busy and honestly, truth be told too excited. Wanted to see if my training worked. When I shipped out for Desert Storm, I didn't think about it at all though my mother was worried as hell. The time mortality really struck me was when I had my son. I'd hate not being there for him. I did volunteer Search and Rescue after the military here in CO and even then, never thought about it until my first fatality involving a child after he was born. Then is struck me about the loss I'd feel for him and also made me worry about my mortality for him. Part of getting old and having kids I guess.

Entering Viet Nam was sobering at first, but after a while it became normal and you just had a job to do. Clearly my civilian counterparts in my home town did not have a clue.

I think that some in the inner cities probably can relate to a war zone though, from what I read.