The Discovery Guest Blog

I’d have to say the most important decision I’ve ever made was to enlist in the military during a war. Knowing you are choosing to potentially put your life at risk is a big and important decision. This is a decision that should be clearly understood from the beginning since it can’t be easily changed once made.

Unfortunately, decisions like this are not always well thought out, the risks not totally understood and can be based on emotion or the need to prove something to another person or yourself (i.e., I’m doing my patriotic duty, this will prove I’m worthy, etc.). In my case a friend had wanted to join the Army since his father and brothers had done so in the past and wanted someone to share the experience with. Valuing friendship and the need to prove my youthful invincibility, I joined with him.

As it turns out, he was discharged early due to a medical condition. I was fortunate to be sent to eastern europe instead of fighting in Vietnam for what turned out to be an unwinnable war. We both had close friends who died in that war.

Looking back, we were both very lucky because our decision to fight in a war didn’t cost us our lives. In our need to prove something to ourselves and our families, we ignored the critical nature of the risk involved instead of making an informed and justified choice. Can you think of good reasons why we should have made a different decision?