What Things Did You Learn About Yourself That Were Unexpected or Surprising During Your Military Service? Login & Share to Win!

So many things but perhaps the one that has lasted longest is working at as a team to achieve exceptional outcomes.

Following Infantry OCS I had leadership ability that was of use in Nam.

I learned a lot of little things, but the biggest was that I could not always take no for an answer. If I was given a problem but no support, the job was taken care of anyway. Even if I had to go around a supply Sargent to get the parts. He was furious to have 1400 line items to process after I repaired everything at an AFRTS TV station that Depot hadn't visited in years.
The funny thing was, I built a TV tuner to repair a piece of test equipment to replace one that could not be purchased. Rather than being satisfied that it was working again, I was threatened with a Court Martial for 'Destruction of Government Property'. I had saved an otherwise irreparable piece of equipment that would have cost $600 to $800 to replace, at no expense to the Army.
I learned to politely but firmly deal with incompetent 'leaders'. They may have outranked me, but they didn't have my MOS, or my skills so I refused to let them interfere with my duty.
I was E3, and at an Air Traffic Control Tower to swap out their video monitors for PM. A new lieutenant that had graduated only a few minutes earlier ordered me to drop a large monitor to salute him. He slammed the tower's door shut and blocked my way. I yelled at him to open the damned door and step aside, and that I wasn't going to destroy a $300+ piece of equipment just to give him his first salute from an enlisted.
I was so loud that the Colonel who had conduced his graduation ceremony came running. He yelled, "At Ease! What the hell is going on?" "Sir! This moron ordered me to destroy this monitor, just to give him his first salute. I only have nine minutes left to get this upstairs, or make a phone call to shut down the flight school and have him sent to Ft Leavenworth. Sir!" He turned to the Lieutenant, "Open that damn door and apologize to this man! If I ever find out that you try this again, I will make you swallow those butterbars without the backers." Then he turned to me, "Have a good day , soldier!" "Yes sir! Thank you, Sir" At that moment I learned that I would not be pushed around by self important people when I had a mission critical job to do. Get it done, and deal with it later. I learned to be confident and to deal with idiots.
I apologize if there are any typos. I am waiting for cataract surgery.

I CAN have confidence & accomplishment!

In spite of a previously poor academic career, I learned I could excel in the classroom at Hospital Corps School. At Field Medical Service School, Camp Pendleton, tough Marines taught me I could be strong enough to proudly serve in the FMF. And, in that service I learned I could use those skills taught me to keep Marines and sailors alive. All this prepared me well for my following civilian life. And I am grateful, most grateful for it all.

I learned that I don't panic in an emergency I just get really calm and logical instead. So I never worry about panicking in a new situation even when my husband got his hand caught in a running lawn mower I kept it together, wrapped his mangled hand in clean towels put the kids in their car seats and calmly drove to the base hospital at Travis AFB. The nurses thought I must be in shock and checked me over but I was fine.my husband not so much it took 18 hours of micro surgery,six weeks in the Oakland hospital, and 12 months of therapy before he could work again.

I learned I am Rh negative (O Negative, to be exact, the universal donor). Shocked the hell out of my O positive mother (nothing nefarious, it's just a recessive gene).

What I learned about myself is that I am not a quitter, I am determined, I am a fighter and I can do all things I truly put my mind to do. I also learned that loving on your family is so very important; after being away all that time.

I learned that I really did like Kids, And not all of them are the same.
Most kids that I dealt with in Afghanistan showed me that most kids in Afghanistan showed me the one's that I dealt with where vary great full of the attention we gave them. I know that some of them just tried to play us for anything they could get. Seeing how they lived and how they where treated changed I thought of them. And just how lucky most of us have it here.

Some of the skills I found that I learned that transferred into civilian life was being able to multi task and meet or beat deadlines. I also learned I had a talent for writing.