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The Military Culture
by James Glaser April 28, 2009 This weekend I was in Clarksville, Tennessee, which is right next door to Fort Campbell Army Base. Fort Campbell is the home of "the only Air Assault Division in the world." Of course, that would be the 101st Airborne. It had been a long time since I had been to a military town, but it was just the same—pawn shops, payday loan stores, tattoo parlors, fast food, bars, jewelry stores, used car lots, and neighborhoods filled with cheap housing. You can't hide a young man in the military no matter what his clothes are like. It's easy to spot the "high white sidewall" haircuts, hard bodies, and a look on their face like they are out of place. Career military men have their own look. The "high white" hair cut is replaced by a "high tan" sidewall. Also flattops are still in style on them. Military men, new and those with years of service, have a hard time talking to civilians. They feel they don't fit in, and if a civilian steps into their town, they get a bit uncomfortable. Men in the military never do grow up. Yes, they get older, but their minds and bodies stay about 18, until they retire. Then they spend the rest of their life trying to fit into a civilian population they have never been a part of. We ask a lot of our troops. Some of them give their lives to their country on the battlefield. Others give their lives to their country with their years of service. Those are years of service they can never get back, and years of service they can never leave. There is a saying, "Once a Marine, always a Marine." I believe that saying is true for any career military man. Stop in at any military town around the country, and you will see it in our troops as they try to fit into a country they have never been a part of. |
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