What It Takes

I want to apologize to those who read my blog that are not and have never been in the military. I think at times I have made it seem that the only way to make a difference in this world is to be in the military. If I did make it seem that way then I apologize. I have been thinking lately about all that goes into winning a war and I have come up with the best analogy that I could think of: NASCAR. Now I am not a NASCAR fan but I want to make a point so lets look at what it takes to win a race.

In NASCAR there is only one driver on race day but a whole team behind that driver. He has a pit crew, a team of designers, engineers, sponsors, owners, and millions of fans. Of course the driver gets all of the attention because he is out on the road but without his team he wouldn’t even make it to the track on race day. If the mechanics didn’t do their job then the car wouldn’t be ready to race. If the pit crew didn’t do their job then it would be up to the driver to change his own tires and fill up his own gas. If the sponsors didn’t provide financial support then there would be no money to pay all of the supporting characters that it takes to keep a car on the track. And finally without the fans there would be no NASCAR because if there is no one to watch the sport and buy the merchandise then the sport wouldn’t last.

The same is true with the military. Of course there are those in the military who are on the front lines and in the news. We are the drivers but without support we would fall apart. We need designers to make our equipment so we can stay alive and kill our enemy at the same time. We need journalists (I mean bloggers) to tell our story so that the average American can hear what is going on. We need family and friends to write us letters to keep our morale up. We need sports players to keep playing so that we have something to look forward to when we get back to our bases. We need actors to keep making movies because only God knows what soldiers would do if they couldn’t watch movies. We need the everyday average American to support us so that our government doesn’t get cold feet and give into pressure and do the wrong thing.

The short and skinny of it is that the military needs all the people in America in order to accomplish its goals. Not everyone is cut out for or should even be in the military. Lots of people can better serve their country by staying in the states and working an important job no matter what it is. America still needs to function as a society even when it’s military is deployed overseas. This means teachers need to teach, workers need to work, and kids need to be kids. What would I have to look forward too if kids quit being kids, athletes quit playing, and girls quit smelling good and being pretty.

No matter what function you serve your country in you are doing a service that supports the military. You don’t have to be a soldier to do your part but what you need to do is be thankful for those who make the ultimate sacrifice for freedom and cognizant of the fact that without a military we wouldn’t have the country that we do now. I can even find a role for people like L.A. Times columnist Joel Stein who don’t support the troops or their country. Because of people like them I become more determined each day to do the right thing and live an upright life.

So thank all you non-military types for doing what you do, you don’t get enough credit and sometimes it can be tough to do a job that no one appreciates. Keep doing what you do and lets all try to be content with being just another cog in the wheel.