Should Have Been A Marine

I have regrets about my life like most people, wether they care to admit it or not. Mostly small stuff. Things to do with how I lived my life when younger and some bad choices I've made. I've done a lot of things I'm not proud of. Done some things I'm not proud of since becoming a christian as well. I'm aware of forgiveness, grace and the Cross and live my life daily with the realization of my sin nature and the importance of refraining from it. Jesus paid for my sin, all I have to do is believe on Him. After that my sins are remembered no more. Any new sin is washed away as well when I ask for forgiveness and turn away from that sin. Pretty simple, believe and accept Him, live according to His word and say your sorry when you mess up.

There's an umbrella of protection placed over you and your family when you live by Gods word but that's a discussion for another time. My intention at the start of this post was to talk about a certain regret that has been on my mind lately. That being, I should have been a Marine.

My dad was a Marine and I think a couple of his brother's were also. I believe he had maybe two other brothers that were in the Army but this happens to be a Marine story, no offense to them or the Army.

Growing up I loved the military type stuff. Like most boys I was drawn to it. I watched war movies, read books about the military and spent many a day outside playing army with the neighborhood kids or by myself.

I remember though my dad always saying he didn't want any of us to join the military. His reason was always that he put enough time in to cover his entire family.

Jump ahead to just out of high school. Everything had been about sports up to this point. I was a very gifted athlete and was expected to continue my education into college by way of a scholarship playing ball. Because of this the military had not really been considered though I still read and was fascinated by it not to mention on career days I would bypass all the booths set up and go straight to the Marine Corps table. Still my future was set and all the cool looking military pamphlets in the world couldn't change it.

Stuff happens. It's a life thing I guess. One could even see it as a God thing if your inclined to do so. I'll just say it happened that things didn't turn out as expected with my great college career playing ball. In hindsight I am inclined to believe that it may have been a God thing. I do believe in destiny and all. I was destined to marry my wife and be a father and role model to my kids and all that jazz but again, whole other story.

So what to do when all your dreams have fallen through? The most looking to the future that I did at that time was for the next party, beer or girl. Then one day while feeling sorry for myself it hit me. The Marine Corps had always floated around in the back of my mind. Even when my future seemed sure in another area the military had always held a fascination for me. That was it, I was in. Only thing was my dads strong, persistent no, no, no to the military kept echoing in my head. The years of him being so persistent in not wanting my brother and I to join had me leary.

I decided to move forward with the plan anyway. Met with a recruiter a few times. He even came to the house to sale me on the corps. I took that watcha call it test and was ready to sign up. Had my mind pretty well made up but when my dad realized I was serious he started in with the ranting. Ended up all but begging me not to join.

Well this recruiter had been on me pretty hard also. Kept telling him I hadn't made up my mind. Finally he called me and got to cussing me on the phone. Then said he was coming over to find out what my problem was. I tried to warn him but he hung up on me. When he arrived the only conversation was my dad telling him to leave or he would bust his head good for him. That was it. The whole thing just kinda blew over after that. Kinda got swept under the rug and I went looking for my next party, beer or girl. My dad didn't like a lot of the things I was doing but he was glad, at the time to have dodged that bullet.

I realize now that in his mind, by dodging that bullet he was pushing me out of the way of one. It was fear on his part that caused him to be so against me going into the military. Fear for a sons safety, I can appreciate that. I have five children, two of them sons. I understand having fear for your childs safety but sometimes that fear can hinder a young person. There comes a time when you need to cut the strings and let a person find their own way.

I do have some hard feelings about this but I also realize that I was old enough to make my own decision. That said, I have to acknowledge the fact that my desire to enter into the military was not strong enough at that time and in writing this post it does sound like kind of a last option, whim type decision. That may be but I still believe I would have made a fine Marine and have regretted my decision ever since.

I'm not a jealous person. I don't much care if you have a nicer car than me. Don't care if your house is bigger or you make more money than I do. My wife will tell you that I'm not a jealous type husband either. Says it's a pride thing. Claims I'm over confident or vain. I think jealousy is about the most unattractive thing there is. I also have never felt the need to join any kinda group. Like a club, fraternity, union or any other organization in order to feel like I belong or fit in to something. Don't need any of that nonsense to define who I am or what I'm about. But lately I've experienced a hint of what jealousy feels like. When I hear someone talk about proudly serving our country, especially in the Marine Corps. I should have noticed more when I was younger the pride that my dad had from serving in the Marines. I talked about destiny and it being a God thing earlier and maybe my military service, or lack there of is part of the grand scheme of things. Hope so, at this point I would hate to have missed my destiny as a Marine
. Gods churh is my group now and I'm a proud member. The only other organization that I regret not having joined and yes I'm a little jealous of is the United States Marine
Corps.
Live it all -