How Serving In The Military Can Change You

This question originally appeared on Quora. Answer by Guy D McCardle, Jr.

The first, and one of the most important changes that military service made in me, was teaching me to be accountable for my actions. As an 18–19 year old, one has a tendency to make a lot of excuses for just about everything. Cadre member: “Why were you late for formation today cadet?”. Irresponsible new cadet: “Ummm….ahhh, I did’t hear my alarm clock go off” or “I couldn’t find my one boot” or…..it could be literally any answer. Cadre would immediately interrupt mid-sentence with a rapid, “Hey, hey…I don’t want to hear it cadet…doesn’t matter…just be here on time”. Anytime you tried to give an excuse, you were immediately cut off. You soon learned no excuses were acceptable, only performance to standard. You soon quit giving excuses and you just did what was expected of you. You became a responsible person. People could take you at your word. Once people learn you are responsible, you begin to earn their trust. In the corporate world, this can mean you are tapped for more important assignments and eventually, promotions.

The Army also made me realize that paying attention to details is extremely important. If you are one digit off in calculating where your rounds are supposed to land (this was in the old days when you had to do things by hand) you might be bombing a church instead of the bad guys. Even today with all of our high tech equipment, stuff like that unfortunately still happens.

In my civilian life, I worked as an Infection Control Practitioner. This job is only for the most anal of the anal. I worked in one of the busiest hospital systems in the Southeastern United States. The sheer volume of microbiological reports and data from medical records that I had to speed read, process, interpret, then report back out to appropriate personnel without making a single mistake was mind numbing. There were a million Federal and State regulations that had to be followed to the letter, or patients would be at great risk and the facility could be fined large sums of money. Error of any sort would not be tolerated. Without the discipline and extreme ability to pay attention to detail that I learned in the military, I would have never been able to have succeeded in my civilian career.

How else have I been changed? I’ve learned to appreciate my life (all life actually) and never, ever take it for granted. We all know on an academic level that life is fragile and can be gone at any moment. We also probably have experienced an acquaintance or family member that died in a tragedy such as an automobile accident or the like. Most likely we were not around to see it happen. It is a very different experience to be talking to a fellow soldier (and close friend) one second, and the next be splattered with his blood and bits of flesh as he slumps down lifelessly next to you in his seat in your Humvee.

My military experiences have made me painfully aware of the fragility of human life. You can get up in the morning, have breakfast, put on your gear, go out on a patrol and end up dead in the blink of an eye.

Even though my deployment left me 100% disabled, it changed me for the better in that I cherish every day now (even the ones where I feel miserable), where otherwise I know I would not. I’m getting to watch my son grow up, many others were denied that opportunity. I don’t take that for granted.

I’m an all around better man for being in the military, and I’m proud to have had the opportunity to have served our great nation.