When I was in the Reserves, I used to occasionally take the bus to the meetings on the weekends. Seeing a man in a sailor suit, the other passengers used to - of course - take this as an invitation to start a conversation with me. A lot of times these conversations would be comments by tired middle-aged men that if they had stayed in the service they would have gotten their retirement and presumably they wouldn't be tired midde-aged men on a bus in the very early morning hours of the weekend on their way to a job.
Not to give away my age, but now that's me. I wonder now what it would be like be collecting that wonderful retirement for the rest of my life and never have to work very hard again. Because you do still have to work since the retirement doesn't really cover all of your living expenses for the rest of your life anymore. It would probably cover my living expenses, but I'm really, really cheap.
Looking back on it is certainly a whole bunch different than the other side of looking forward to it when I was in my twenties. I tell you, one year in the service was a very long year and at the end of the first four of those long years sixteen was thoroughly unimaginable. Somehow I let myself get talked into six years of the reserves - for the money - and then when those years were up I didn't re-enlist. Since they must have figured that nobody with a dozen years in would not re-enlist the Navy didn't send anybody to try and persuade me to, or offer me any money or anything else.
The next weekend that I was out of the Navy I didn't show up at the Reserve Center. On Monday they called me and asked why I hadn't showed up for my meetings and I told them it was because I wasn't in the Navy, which truly puzzled them.
I was stilled owed my last yearly installment on my re-enlistment bonus from six years back, so I called up the Reserve center and asked for the commander of the unit, but got the executive officer instead and I asked when the Navy was going to pay me the money it owed me. He kept trying to tell me that what I had to do was go to my unit and work through them. To which I replied that I didn't have a unit and I wasn't in the Navy and what I had was someone who owed me money and when did they intend to pay? I got that check in three days. I think it was because I just plain embarassed that guy.
The second alternate reality that I envision is if I hadn't joined the service at all. To that, I believe that I would have ended up with a boring life without any adventure in it. It just might have been a happier life, but it sure wouldn't have the same color as the one I led and I wouldn't have about half of the stories I love to bore people with.
Back when I was in, the military had switched to an all volunteer force. That's been awhile now so it's safe to say that the result of the all volunteer force is that many Americans are shirking their responsibility to their country to give back what it's given them. The people with the most to gain and keep from living and doing business in America are the last ones to send their own sons and daughters out to defend it and the policies that they support.
That's right. I'm talking about all you rich guys. Not that I want to engage in blatant retro-snobbery or class warfare, but its rare that somebody not motivated by economic need joins these days, which has made service to our country a lower and working-class exploit, except I suppose for the officers. Otherwise, risking death and dismemberment is for the other guys. But you'll put your flag out on Veteran's day, won't you? Or slap a magnetic yellow ribbon (made in China, by the way) on your car to show your patriotism. The one thing you won't do, though, is put on a uniform. Will you?
But thanks, anyways, for thanking me for my service. It means something that you'll patriotically take this day off to honor the service of others who did it in your place. Insincere gratitude is still gratitude. And that's all we veterans are likely to get.
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