I Suck At Veteran's Day

today is veteran's day. happy veteran's day!

to any and all of those who have served our country with honor, thank you. the dedication of this country's armed forces are very much appreciated. after all, this country would not be where it is today without its veterans.

outside of karen's father, both grandfathers and some of her other relatives, i do not think i know too many veterans. i guess you can say that i suck at veteran's day.

for anyone curious, i actually had an opportunity to serve my country long awhile ago. that is also one of those lesser known facts about me. had i actually enlisted into the armed forces... i possibly could have been a veteran by now.

coming out of high school, i did not know what i wanted to do with my life. many of my friends all knew that they wanted to go to a certain college or do certain things. not me. i really had no direction in life. i may have had a little too much fun in high school as well because i was on a "dartmouth or bust" kick at the time.... dartmouth being my dream school of choice.

if i had taken things a little more seriously, i probably would have applied to more colleges than just dartmouth. well, i never got into dartmouth. i blame my guidance counselor who provided absolutely no guidance whatsoever. i do, however, remember how my guidance counselor took all of my essay questions that i had printed out... cut them into small blocks of text... and pasted them onto the application... creating a frankenstein-ish application. i thought that was the oddest thing at the time. again needless to say, i did not get into my dream school. oh well.

having busted on my original dream school, i considered joining the armed forces. growing up, i enjoyed watching military movies. the movies made serving the country seem so glorified and so patriotic. my brother also had considered it as an option once. i was told by him, however, that he was denied because he did not pass the physical examination. he apparently had a heart murmur. so naturally, i too thought the military was a viable option after high school.

although i really wanted to join the marines... because they are generally considered the best of the best... (semper fi!) i ended up being recruited by the army. the first thing the army recruiters had me do was take a test.

when i was done, the recruiters graded the test. apparently, i scored pretty high on the test because the recruiters seemed pretty impressed. they started their schpiel about how i would be perfect for military intelligence. (even if i had been in military intelligence... i'm sure i still could not find weapons of mass destruction in iraq.)

at the time, i wanted to be a grunt. i wanted to hang out with my fellow soldiers in the trenches like in the movies. and... whether it was due to my exposure to video games or not, i wanted to serve my country with glory and pride... and shoot the enemy... also like in the movies. (perhaps i may have watched too much television growing up and played too many video games.)

needless to say, the recruiters tried to show me the error of my ways. they really wanted me in military intelligence. they even showed me their pay stubs as demonstration about how much i could be making while in the military. truth be told, the salary would not have mattered to me because any salary would have seemed like a lot at the time.

unfortunately (or fortunately depending on how you look at it), i never took the recruiters up on their offer because i really wanted to be a grunt (like in the movies). had i enlisted, my life would obviously be so different now: my circle of friends would probably be smaller; i'd probably have an army wife instead of karen; i wouldn't have such great in-laws; quite possibly... i could even be deceased (although if i were in military intelligence, the chances of seeing fieldwork are probably very slim).

not that i have anything against the military, but i am happy with my decision to remain a civilian. i have a great wife, great family, and great friends. what else can one ask for? so, i enjoy serving my country in other ways... like voting. but that is beside the point.

today we honor all of those who have served our great country with glory and pride. thanks again!