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I can't ignore it any longer. The call to duty has not gone away. It has only gotten louder and more annoying. So, here it is:

I aim to enlist in the Colorado National Guard.

Now, this sounds easy, right? Well, for someone who has not allowed cilivian life to seduce him into a life of beer and nachos it would be. But I'm 41, used to the soft life, and have put on some weight. The good news is I can do more pushups now than I could during my first enlistment. Situps will come soon. Not up there yet, but I can do more than 20, which is good. It's the run that will take some time. At my age, I need to be somewhere around a 7.5 minute mile. I was doing ten minute miles for a time, and could sustain that for three or more miles. I've not run regularly for a while, but I can get back to the ten minute mile pretty quickly. The 7.5 minute mile will take longer.

In some ways the delay is a blessing, because my wife does not want me to re-up before the boys have graduated.  Two years is when my younger boy graduates. That gives me time.

So, why do this? Primary is the call to duty that anyone who served honorably can relate to on some level. I have a strong feeling of something left undone. Along with that is a devotion to my comrades. My baby brother was a paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne, and has two combat tours in Iraq. It killed me to know he was over there without me beside him, at least figuratively.

The Army haunts my dreams. Literally. People have recurring dreams, usually based on some kind of shrink related hangup. Mine is that. But the emotions I feel when dreaing these dreams are longing, anger, regret, sadness. I hate not being in the Army, despite having only served for four years. That's a blip in my life, all things considered, but it remains among the most important things that I've done. Even the creation of my famly happened in the Army. I met my wife at Fort Sam Houston. Both sons were born overseas in Germany while we were stationed in Aschaffenburg. It's far too big a thing to ignore.

Some might say the war will end before I get back in. A) that would be fine with me. B) I highly doubt it. Only the battlefront will change. We will need to occupy Iraq for years, and I see an escalaton in Afghanistan. And there are threats all over the globe. I doubt I would be bored.

As for the Guard over the regular Army? It seems to be a good compromise between my desire to enjoy the empty nest years with my wife and my cal lto duty. Look, it's not like the Guard is some kind of plush gig. My brother's second delpoyment was with the Montana Guard. He was activated for nearly two years. Nearly every Guard division has gone to Iraq or Afghanistan. This is not the mythical draft dodge ploy.

And so, having made my intentions know to the one or two people who may accidentally stumble across this site, I am now officially on my quest.

Hold me to it.

Posted by: mikey at 07:30 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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