With the Iraq war done - what about those who served? Unlike your humble blogg'r - not everyone makes a career out of it.
What now?
A nice overview from the West Coast about a few making the transition to the civilian world from being a warrior;
As a side note; Alex is 29. From one perspective - especially the civilian perspective - that is young. In the military, nosomuch.
29 is an age an officer starts to hit his stride. I've recently become aware of a few other guys and what they did in the late-20s. In the book I am listening to right now, Valkyrie
, Georg & Philipp Freiherr von Boeselager were leading Regiments on the Eastern Front and were critical members of the plot to kill Hitler. They were in their late 20s too.
Perhaps that is part of the civilian-military divide. We put our lives in the hands of 18-19 yr old "kids" all the time, and put people in their late 20s in charge of hundreds to thousands of lives without thinking about it.
Think about Alex and thousands of others like him who have spent their 20s at war. Then read what is going on the civilian side. Just search for random 29-yr olds ..... and here you go.
A nice overview from the West Coast about a few making the transition to the civilian world from being a warrior;
So here he is. Single — because who can date when deployed four times in seven years? — and eschewing the safer graduate school route to gamble on a startup company.OK regulars - name sound familiar? CPT Alex Martin, USMC? Yep - you've read his name here in FEB - and we interviewed him on Midrats the month before.
No regrets, he says. His Marine Corps experience taught him to be humble, like when he was a green 2nd lieutenant facing a battle-toughened platoon. It also taught him to go with his feelings.
“It’s safer to go to business school, to go work at a bank. This is scary. There’s no net. The partners could fire me any day,” Martin said.
As a side note; Alex is 29. From one perspective - especially the civilian perspective - that is young. In the military, nosomuch.
29 is an age an officer starts to hit his stride. I've recently become aware of a few other guys and what they did in the late-20s. In the book I am listening to right now, Valkyrie
, Georg & Philipp Freiherr von Boeselager were leading Regiments on the Eastern Front and were critical members of the plot to kill Hitler. They were in their late 20s too.Perhaps that is part of the civilian-military divide. We put our lives in the hands of 18-19 yr old "kids" all the time, and put people in their late 20s in charge of hundreds to thousands of lives without thinking about it.
Think about Alex and thousands of others like him who have spent their 20s at war. Then read what is going on the civilian side. Just search for random 29-yr olds ..... and here you go.
That was the case for C.J. Dulberger. The Bolles School grad studied history at the University of Florida in preparation for law school. He worked for a private law firm and the State Attorney’s Office while studying for the law school entrance exam.
That cured him of the profession.Yes, he is 29 and is in his first actual job outside of pre-law busy work. Don't get me wrong - I'm happy for the guy and wish him a great adulthood.
So he went back and began a bachelor’s program in information technology management at Florida State College at Jacksonville. He’s still two semesters shy of getting that degree, but he’s already bucked trends that have kept many of his contemporaries underemployed: At 29, he’s in his first year as an account executive at Robert Half Technology, placing IT professionals in jobs.
Good grief. There isn't a divide in life experience; a chasm.
Why do we prefer each others company inside and out of uniform? Well - review Alex vs. C.J. and there's a start.
Why do we prefer each others company inside and out of uniform? Well - review Alex vs. C.J. and there's a start.
