Military recruiters are having a hard time meeting their goals. And they are blaming all the bad PR caused by the loads of challenges faced by the current force -- things like PTSD and the VA backlog scandal. There's not enough light shed on the good stuff that comes from serving, they say.
I think that skipping the story of the struggles service brings -- especially when those struggles are created by the inadequacy of our systems -- is ludicrous. I think the recruiting problem is caused by Americans failing to teach the value of service.
Most of the military families I know serve because they value the sacrifice. They don't serve because doing so lines their pockets with cash or because it's a sweet gig.
Service has a price whether you want to acknowledge it or not. And so this whole thing got me thinking: if my service member and I had known about the cost of service -- I mean the real, long term, hangs around forever stuff -- would he have still chosen to make the sacrifice?
I want to think the answer is "yes." I want to think that we knew that service equals sacrifice, even if we didn't know at the time what that sacrifice would be. I want to say that I know that serving is an honor even if it the price is your forever mental and emotional health ... even if the price is that they come home draped in a flag.
But I don't know. If I was to be really, truly honest, what would I say? What would you say? Take our poll and let us know.
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Here's what you said:
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