To Kam,
There is one thing that all members of the military hold in common in their careers...sacrifice. And one sacrifice common to all soldiers, sailors, and airmen, in all branches of our nations forces, is separation.
Sometime,often many times, in the military experience, deployment takes one hundreds, thousands, even ten thousand miles or more from home. It could be training, a new duty station, or war, but the hard task of leaving family behind to serve your country is a sacrifice common to all who wear the uniform.Tomorrow your sacrifice, your journey, begins.
When you go wheels up tomorrow and leave that air strip behind, you'll be leaving other things behind as well. High school days, football glory days, your friends, the ones you love, and the ones who love you. You're off to new adventures and the ones you love, by necessity, will all be here.
The high school days are gone, but your friends and family will wait for you to return. Your loved ones will watch you from the ground as you soar off to a new life of regimen and service to your country. You will feel it. We will feel it.There will be a few tears.
There will be tears of sadness because you'll be missed these next seven months.There will be tears because a new era of manhood has begun; it seems only yesterday you wore an old Army helmet like a little bobble-head, and hid in the flower beds in search of the "enemy"...your brothers.There will be tears of joy because you are in the midst of doing what you've wanted to do since you were five years old... become a soldier.
There will be also be eyes that are moist with pride. Pride in your dedication to your country, pride in your sense of honor, pride in the soldier that you are...and the soldier you will become.
I know that you, however, are also anxious and "gung ho" to move forward and to "be all you can be". It's a mixed bag of joy and sorrow interwoven...feelings that will all eventually gel into honor and pride when you've completed your duties.
You'll return home more self assured, self reliant, self disciplined, and self aware, than you are even now. The thing about separation is that it makes you draw from within. Aside from all you will learn and accomplish in your larger military experience, you'll learn an awful lot about yourself, about who you are as a man.This perhaps is the best education of all, for it will last you all of your life.
I have no great words of wisdom to impart to you, Kam, other than that I've been where you are now, and I'm somehow a better man for the experience. Just remember the mantra, "For God and Country", and never forget that God comes first in that mantra. Hold Him in your heart. You never lose when you let God choose.
I love you, grandson...and I could not be more proud.
Grandad. June 4, 2018
