re: Beautiful Moment: A Little Kid Opens The Door & Finds His Father Standing

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Are they sacrificing though? I have family in the military and as far as I know they all signed up to be there so maybe it’s more like their job that they chose? Correct me if I’m wrong.

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So signing up to be there doesn't still mean you are sacrificing? It really just depends upon your priorities I imagine. That's not to say other professions don't make sacrifices. This is more about a respect thing for being willing to put their body and life on the line.

I imagine they sacrifice relationships, any where from intimate to friends and family.

I understand other jobs require your time, but most situations still allow you to come "home" every night/morning. It's certainly not a job I envy. I appreciate all those willing to serve so I don't have to.

I'd imagine during war time they sacrifice their mental and physical health.. possibly for the rest of their lives with things such as PTSD to losing limbs.

I also imagine for a number of them that this is all they ever have, because they invested so much time into serving our country.. so when they do return to try and live a regular life.. many might not have much to return to. This is why it doesn't bother me to see former service members talk about their time in the service all the time.

Many fathers miss their child's birth, or miss family funerals, or miss other important functions in life because they stationed elsewhere.

You don't have to classify it as sacrifice though, but I still admire the profession and appreciate that they put their life on the line to protect us.

Here's a quote from someone else

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The food sucks. The housing sucks. The hours blow chunks. Hardcore. You give up normal legal means to resolve differences with your employer, and are subject to not only military regulations, but Laws. Soldiers and sailers give up normal familial relations. Emotional relations get hairy real fast when one possibly has PSTD, long deployments, or simply long stations where spouses can't follow. Soldiers are unable to promote political views without the added burden questioning their right to do so under DOD and US ARMY/NAVY regs & rules. Senators and Rep's called to active duty must be excused from Recall prior to remaining in office. Soldiers/Sailors/Airmen/Marines also have a high likelihood of other folks shooting at them, with the chance they will die. Some of the above folks have chances to save their buddies at the cost of their own lives. Jumping on a grenade, assaulting a machine gun nest as a distraction, shooting AA flack into an airship taking a bead on your position/ship, or even the friggin kamikaze. You roll the dice, ya take yer chances. Sometimes its purely theoretical (peacetime, rare nowadays), but mostly it means sticking yer own quite fragile body & one's own will (variable) in between bad fockers & good folk. Civilians cannot "get it". Military wives & "Brats" see firsthand the effect it has on the folks who swear to uphold your rights & freedoms. They (family) get a firsthand view of what happens to someone who has been through BASIC. Even if their loved one never saw combat, the training one gets in military induction will have an affect for the rest of their lives. Toss combat or a hardship tour on top of it...

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Someone has to do it, and I sure wouldn't want to deal with ANY of that type of stress. Especially being a target.

That's not to say it doesn't have its own great perks! I respect it and it's beautiful to see these reaction videos.

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Tactical Insertion

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Congrats on being “that guy” in the thread.

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Are they sacrificing though?

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I get the sentiment and believe the marketing behind these things is over saturated, while the coverage of troops still in combat 17 years later is hardly a blip on the radar.

Should be more of the latter and less of the former.

To your point though, yes, yes it is a sacrifice. However, it is a sacrifice they volunteered to endure selflessly per our Army core values. That does not make it any less difficult to endure, as a one with 38 months deployment.

My longest continuous deployment was 15 mos in very austere conditions that afforded opportunity for 3 phone calls and a half dozen emails to momma and the kids.

All that said, the families did not take the same oath. So, from a personal perspective, the hardships they endure and time lost from a parent are much more touching to me in these videos and staged events. But, I'm getting old and sentimental.