What Things Were Difficult to Communicate to Family and Friends About Your Military Service? Login & Share to Win!

Being involved in something far bigger than myself.

Making friends and not seeing them for years and when you do met again, it's like no time has passed. Combat time makes you only trust a small group

It starts with going to "A" school out of boot camp because I did something no one else had done before; answer all the questions on the Standford-Binet IQ test correctly. Note; IQ is not intelligence.

The level of service and duty required by the Military. The overseas deployments and dependents restricted locations.

Situations and things I saw over there.

Explaining without being too graphic how blown to pieces our service men and women were that I cared for at beginning of OIF / OEF and the visual memories that I still deal with.

That leave can be denied for the good of the command and there is no recourse.

What my job actually is as a soldier. What I am trained to do if necessary.

Everything. I came from a pretty pacifist background, and everyone was kind of shocked. And maybe a little disdainful. They didn't understand the bigger sense of family and purpose I found. Then I learned my cousin, who'd been always been kind of lost, was inspired to follow me in, and had a really interesting career.

Definitely feeling like a family. That family that can joke, smack, laugh and scream and be even closer. the one you trust to keep you alive.