My Time in the Army: Lessons Learned and Unlearned

I would like to take a moment for a bit of serious reflection about the time I spent as a member of the United States Army. Those of you who have been following my writing for a while may remember the various humorous anecdotes, regarding army life, that I wrote about earlier in the "My Career as" series. For those who may be unaware of those articles or wish to reread them, they are noted in the Supporting Links, for your convenience.

Let me begin by saying that, had there been no draft afoot, I never would have gone into the military. For all the experience and knowledge I got from my hitch, it was a big bloc of time that I will never get back. Still, the fact remains that there was a draft, and it was not just because of the Viet Nam War. The military had been conscripting young men, in peace or war, continuously since 1940. Naturally, they called up a good many more people in time of war than they did in time of peace, but many got called, year after year. That was principally because, overlaying the three shooting wars, was the Cold War against the forces of Communism, chiefly the Soviet Union.

In any case, I did have to go into the military, and I was quite fortunate to have been given a "Cold War," rather than a "shooting war" assignment. I served my time, chiefly in Europe, rather than Viet Nam. While that circumstance may have spared me from a great deal of danger, it accentuated to a greater extent the stresses of being an employee of the United States Army, where, in the absence of combat, military discipline was placed at a higher premium.

In the Army, I learned how to work under the best and the worst of bosses. In the latter part of my hitch, I learned, on a small scale, what it was like to be the boss. These were very useful experiences for my forthcoming life as a civilian; there can be no denying that. There can also be no denying that I learned, not only discipline, but self-discipline as well, but not entirely. On the downside, I learned I enjoyed marijuana, as many people in the Army of that era did. It took me quite a while to unlearn that one.

One very important thing I developed from my time overseas was the ability to get along well with people who came from an entirely different background than I. I don't just mean my fellow GIs, I mean the people of the country where I was stationed: Italy. Yes, I am half Italian myself, on my mother's side, but third generation. Even my mother hardly knew a word of the language.

Another thing I learned was that, my reward for making myself the number-one guy among our Italian counterparts consisted of my squad being requested (and "volunteered") for a disproportionately large share of the work that required coordination between the two forces, which meant a disproportionately large share of the work, period.

This, by extension, was a lesson I learned in the Army, which I had to force myself to unlearn, to an extent, once I got out: when you do your job better than the others, your reward will be that you're given a greater share of the work to do. By contrast, when you slack off, your reward is less work. Of course, that was somewhat understandable in the Army. The draft cut both ways, and it was not as though they could fire the incompetents.

Today, we have an all-volunteer Army, and their standards are certainly higher than they were in the days of the draft. Today, for example, you must have a high-school diploma to join. When I was finishing up my basic training, our company had to take a day-long final exam, most of which required physical activity. There was a small written portion, however. I remember, at the start of that part, one of the examiners announcing, "All those of you who can't read, go with Sergeant Donnelly to take the test verbally." About a quarter of the company went with Sgt. Donnelly.

Source

Own experience