The "short" version? A kid from the hills of Tennessee dreamed of flying like the grandfather he never knew. He wore coke-bottle glasses, got made fun of, and struggled to get good grades...but ended up going to Annapolis. He got his dream to fly...but was too young and inexperienced to realize that "all that glitters is not gold". He quit flying...he didn't want to quit serving. War came, and he asked to go to it...he did. He went to a good ship with a good crew and captain. He tried to learn how to lead; maybe he did alright. He lost his career and dreams-he tried not to be angry with why. He tried being a civilian...but had forgotten how. He got to actually "work for a living" for awhile...best thing that ever could've happened to him as it turned out. He went broke, his heart broke...he begged and got a second chance. He went to Afghanistan, volunteering to go as far as they'd let him. Secretly, he hoped he'd never come back...but he ended up being "responsible" for others, and those others kept him alive. He came home having "earned" another shot...but it wasn't offered. He went down a different road, learned new skills, and became someone "else". He kept regrets and fears hidden, he drank and lived alone. Some nights, he regretted having lived...but more so, not ever really being sure he had done enough to have "earned the right" to have not. Then one day, he met a woman...and she saved him. He had a son...and finally became a man. That man finally realized the truth; that life is about today always, sometimes about tomorrow, and never about yesterday. He let the regret go where it belonged, and began fighting a different battle...maybe the only one that really makes any sense to begin with. He's proud of what he was, but not too proud-he knows what he wasn't. He's grateful for what he is, but knows it's not WHO he is.

Just like SGT David A. 'Cowboy' Groth , I will keep it short as I could be here all day with my story:

I am one more addition in a long line of folks in my family serving/have served in the Military. Signed up for stories, to better myself, and to serve others. And....to travel to far off exotic locations on the dime of Uncle Sam.

That would take a while, but in short, I joined the military to better myself, and to serve my country, like several of my relatives did before me.