Now Hiring

There comes a point in everyone’s Army career were the must decide; “Should I stay in?” or “Should I get out?” I came to this point back when I was in Korea and I decided to stay with the Army for a few more years. I decided to stay in because the main reason I came in to the Army in the first place was to come over here [Iraq], fight the fight, see what I was made of and see just how I would react when bullets start ripping past my head.

So here I am today, 23 years old, a Sergeant in the United States Army, a Abrams Tank Gunner, a dismounted squad leader, and responsible for the lives of the soldiers that action on my commands. And on September 17th I will have completed four years of service to this great Army. I have now seen what I all I can do at the absolute worst of times. I know what its like to be shot at and blown up. I have seen rockets and RPG fired at me, mortars explode around me, I have seen hand grenades thrown in the streets as our patrols move through. I have been pinned down by machine gun fine and I seen fellow soldiers take their last breathes. I have done and seen everything I wanted to and much more than I ever dreamed I would.

The question now is; “Do I want to get out?” I don’t really remember what it is like to be out in the civilian world. It seems so odd and kind of scary. Can I adjust to it? Can Holly and I spend that much time together and not go crazy? The main thing is that both Holly and I really want to go back to school and get our degrees. She wants to be settled in a place where she can go to school and not have to worry about moving or about me leaving and coming back over here for another 14 months. I want to get out and just start a new life free of the Army. I have “checked all the blocks” on my list of things to do in the Army and when I came into this I never intended it to become a career. But then again I never thought I would be this good at it.

After hours and hours and days and days of discussing all this I think I have come to a decision. I am getting out. I am hanging it up. I am going back to school, and I am going to become a normal member or society.

As it stands right now, our plan will be to move back to the great state of Oklahoma, and start taking classes. We are both going to try to scrap by and work our asses off not only in school but at our part-time jobs as well. I think that will be the hardest thing for us. Granted the Army pay isn't exactly great, but going from a full time salary with full medical and dental benefits and life insurance to well, very little will be quite the wallet shock. But I believe if we work hard enough for the next few years then we can get through school pretty quickly and be better off in the long run.

So I guess that’s it. Come July 26th, 2008 I will no longer be a part of the Army. However, if for some reason, if civilian life just isn’t working out, the Army will always be hiring.