Military Mindset

I’m often asked by well meaning friends how I’m adjusting to civilian life. It’s not something I think about a lot.  I am very proud of the time I spent in the Army; it has, more or less, defined my adult life – so far.  I was ready to leave when I finally decided to take the uniform off.  My next assignments would keep me behind a desk until I reached mandatory retirement age – that’s slow death for an infantry officer.  If I was going to sit behind a desk, I was going to do it on my own terms back where I considered home (see earlier post).  The odd thing about “adjusting” is that soldiers are not some brainwashed automatons that some liberal and conservative writers would like to pigeon hole us as.  We are you – Americans who decided, for a variety of reasons to serve their country.  I have hundreds of military friends and we run the gamut of political, personal, and individual beliefs and attitudes.  I’m pretty much the same guy I went into the Army as, except I have a lot more self-discipline.  There are codes that the military lives by that do become ingrained – a sense of personal honor and truthfulness.  Honesty is the coin of the realm for most in the military because telling lies to each other can get someone killed in a combat situation. I think that is what separates us from “civilians”.  So, in terms of “adjusting” – I haven’t. I continue to try to live my life by the same codes.  The union leaders that I am required to deal with in my current job have learned that the very worst thing they can do when dealing with me is to lie.  This was a very difficult adjustment for them but in the long run I think they appreciate that they can expect the same honesty from me.