Fandom Snowflake Challenge, Day 5

[aadler]

 
Continuing the meme/challenge begun here and kept up to date here.

Fandom Snowflake Challenge, Day 5
In your own space, share something non-fannish you are passionate about with your fannish friends. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it (include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so).

That’s fairly easy. Outside of fannish activities (that is, reading, writing, or watching in someone else’s created fandom), the principal thing I’m passionate about is service in the U.S. Army. Active-duty service, when I can get on orders, but maintaining my status through the Army Reserve when I’m stuck between deployments.

I already had prior service through the Air National Guard, but the timing of that made it fairly non-productive for me. With one thing and another, for more than ten years I 1) never went anywhere, 2) never did anything, and 3) never accrued any experiences or achievements for which I had reason to feel any particular pride. When the Gulf War came up and I wasn’t allowed to volunteer, I was so mightily annoyed that I didn’t re-up when my second enlistment period expired.

(The accidental but welcome result of that was that there was never a single moment when I had to acknowledge Bill Clinton as my commander-in-chief. I could say a lot more on that subject, but it would require a rather lengthy essay to do it justice.)

I returned to service — opting for Army Reserve instead — in the aftermath of September 11th. Patriotism figured into my decision, as well as a certain restlessness and a desire to bump my life out of what I saw as a rut. I was in Kuwait within seven months of raising my hand for the oath, and crossed into Iraq a month later …

… and, in the process of going weeks without a shower, never stepping outside without a helmet and rifle, dealing with temperatures up to 150°F (66°C), having mortar rounds hit within uncomfortable distance as a regular 3 AM wake-up call, shaving my head daily because it was easier than trying to keep my hair clean, and living in a tent for seven months as a step up in lodging accommodations, I made the most amazing and unexpected discovery: I loved it. I loved the life, I loved the service, I loved the feeling that what I was doing mattered, I loved the pride I could take simply in having kept going under difficult circumstances.

I was the oldest member of my Reserve company the moment I walked in the door, and I keep getting older while my fellow soldiers (leaving and being replaced by newer recruits) keep getting younger. I’ve done four overseas tours now, and volunteered for all but the last (and only because they didn’t have to ask me on the fourth one, they could simply order me). I’m scrambling for some means of going overseas one more time before being forcibly retired (the age thing again).

Passionate? Yeah, you could say that. I’d have done it a lot sooner, if I had known how much I would love it. In fact, I’m actually grieving over the prospect of — all too soon — not being able to do it any more.

Ah, well. Those are the breaks.