The Army Family

Recently, Jim, a lifelong Army friend, got in touch with me and sent some pictures from the good old days. After the initial shock of “wow, I am getting old”, I immediately smiled and remembered how young I was back then and how great those seemingly tough times were. After receiving his pictures, I dug through some of my old pictures and found this one that he had a crew chief take of us or that was taken with the camera on a tripod.

Looking back, I find it harder to believe that the Army let youngsters (some of us under 21 years old) not only fly its helicopters, but be pilots-in-command. Amazingly, we were extremely skilled and proficient doing tasks and missions that had little margin for error and major consequences for mistakes. As I recall, our philosophies were fairly simple and included principles like, “Big Sky, Little Bullet”, or “Takeoffs are Optional, Landings Mandatory.” We had many more phrases to live by, some printable and others better left unsaid. Yet, it really wasn’t these simple sayings that got us through, it was more the camaraderie, sense of being, sharing of information, caring, and knowledge that each of us had the other’s back.

I know from being in the Army, talking with friends that are still in the Army, or talking with those who have recently retired, that the bond described above still exists and, in my opinion, remains the core of how and why our Army operates so well from the platoon level up. I know from being in the Army and growing up as an Army “Brat” that this special relationship also permeates military families.

Rarely have I seen a similar bond in the civilian community, nor have I seen a good understanding by most civilians of the military community. This was recently demonstrated after the Fort Hood tragedy when many reporters showed a complete lack of insight into how the Army lives stateside. Their reporting refreshed my memory of a comment I heard many years ago from a television program where a reporter asked a young wife at Fort Stewart, Georgia (whose husband was being redeployed) about the war. Her reply, as I still vividly recall, “We are at war, America is at the mall.” Unfortunately, she was right on the money and some of that “at the mall” obliviousness was demonstrated after the Fort Hood shootings.

Fortunately, though, I know in my heart, although unfair and hard (more so since they were betrayed by a family member), each of those soldiers and families will have each others’ backs and their bond will continue to hold strong. Hopefully, the attention from this tragedy will cause the media and individuals without connection to the military to work harder to understand the difficulties, sacrifices and lives of those actually fighting and their families back home.