Glad I'm Not There

I've been officially out of the Marine Corps for 3 years (4 years from end of active service). Every time I see a video clip of the fighting going on in Iraq it makes me so very thankful to be out of the service. I couldn't imagine the stress of being in a combat zone. Being in a combat situation (real or exercise) is similar to being in jail. You're told what to do and when to do it. There's hardly any free time, and there's no excuses of why you can't get something done. It's tough, both mentally and physically.


Army Live Footage From Iraq - Watch more free videos
Watching this video really makes me glad I was lucky enough to dodge the "activation" bullet. The whole time during the troop build-up for Operation Iraqi Freedom I was in a state of purgatory. I had no clue if I was going or not. Every time my phone rang I thought it my be my unit telling me to "pack my trash and report for duty".
The worst part was not knowing what's going to happen. Being unable to plan your future leaves you feeling anxious and scared. Luckily I never received the call to active duty. I was able to get out about six months later when they ended "Stop-Loss". I was even luckier to get completely discharged, honorably, about a year later, which removed my name completely from any lists for possible call-up.
My unit ended up being called-up for deployment three months after I was out of the Inactive Ready Reserve (IRR).
I'm not sure if my unit suffered any causalities. All I know is my close friends made it home safely, but not before having there whole view of life and the World changed drastically.
So when I see videos like the one above I am thankful. Thankful to be home, and thankful to be able to do what I want when I want. This mindset helps me get out the door on hard training days. Whenever I'm feeling lazy or in a funk I think to myself how I could be in some foreign country acting as a bullet sponge for our Politicians, with no idea when I will be able to come home or if I will ever make it home. This usually gets my ass out the door and on my bike.