The U.S. Army recruiter arrived just as we sat down to eat a quick meal. He was 15 minutes early.
He informed us that he had just re-enlisted and was going to be deployed in Iraq in April. He said that he originally joined to pad his criminal justice résumé and ended up finding his calling.
He was very straightforward in his presentation and did not try to sell us.
There was one touching moment.
As I was walking him to the door, my son asked him what the “kill rate” was. The recruiter grew very quiet and soberly said that he couldn’t really answer that because several of his friends have died in Iraq and he just couldn’t look at them as a statistic. He said, “I’m not going to lie to you. There are very real, very big risks in joining the military. You need to think about that.”
My son has much to think about.
My oldest son, Austin, 11 years old, can’t wait to be old enough to join the armed forces. Maybe it is just something God put in some boys/men. My closest friend here, who is also a teacher, is applying to be commissioned in the Air Force and leave behind his lucrative teaching career here in Germany. I suppose when our great nation needs young men to defend her, God will provide.