I think
@Viet should try out military life.
The camaraderie in military life is incomparable.
When I had my 1st dig in.
The brigade commander came to inspect our battalion and was shocked that nothing was being done.
On asking what happened, we said we were waiting for the crawler to come and dig for us.
We didn't laugh for the next few days.
Its not a joke, this really happened.
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Soldiering is not a lifestyle that suit everyone, yes, it's good fun when you are up in your barrack and talking or joking with your mate, or go to the range and pop out a few round, or chuck a few grenade and watch it roll back down the hill...It's all good when you experience military service in peacetime, but I can tell you this, War ain't no fun.
I have been to real war twice, been shooting at people. being shot at, I have even once bombed by our own guy, because my platoon made exceptional progress and the CO of my company refused to believe it and he drop arty danger close around me. I have seen people, confident people snap at an instant, people that aren't adapt to the pressure crumble real quick. Combat stress is going to get to most people, and small, mundane everyday task become impossible to do. Hot Meal, Toilet and even down to tissue paper all of a sudden become luxury item, I meant, I was born in a farm, I growth up doing number 2 just about everywhere, but in war? Finding a place you can sit for 10 minutes or so in peace so you can do you thing is hard to come by, and eventually you just don't care, you let it rip in your pants.
Adrenaline run wild when you are in combat. You don't sleep for 1,2 or 3 days straight, not that you don't want to, but you can't, you need to know what happened every moment and every second when you are in combat, you want to know what happened every second, even if it's your turn to get shut eye, you do sleep with 1 eye open, when you are in your crib, you keep eyeing on the doorway/hallway with at least one eye open, thinking about people are going to rush in any minute, if's you are lucky, it's your men, rush in and tell you we are under attack, if you are not, it's the Taliban or the insurgent, they broke thru and come and kill you with your pants up around your ankle...You can do all that during combat, because you run on adrenaline, but when you are airlifted back to your COP or FSB, your adrenaline will be gone, and you are going to be hit with a massive headache
However, if you can stand all that, then you will be awarded by the lifestyle, nothing more accomplishing when you take an objective and to some extend, you may call me a psychopath, but nothing felt better than you kill a man before he kills you, you felt superior, you felt alive. And usually the most amazing thing happened during the worst of a battle, well, otherwise I wouldn't be here talking about it. I was once being bombarded by mortar for 12 hours and when we finally find the guy who is spotting for the Mortar and saw the Apache ahead rocketing the whole hill, we all come out of hiding and cheer the Apache lol, even if mortar still dropping left and right of us.
I wouldn't felt much about camaraderie amongst my men, I was an Officer so, I am not allow to mix with my men, there are an arbitrary boundary I need to set otherwise they will not respect my order, so I wouldn't know much about Combat jab and something like that. In the army, officer are segregated with the man, so most of the time, it may sounded strange to you but you actually felt lonely even when you are with 40 of your men, because, they just can't felt what you feel, you are the one that make all the decision, and the responsibility is you and you alone, and that is what my men does not understand me. Well, it's hard to tell you about it...
But yeah, Military Service is a once in a life time experience, it's adventure for some, redemption for other, then there are always people see that as a responsibility for a nation.
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