I have been fascinated with the military and had immense respect for it since I was a wee little baby. And whenever I get interested in something, really interested in something, I research it and try to find out what it is really like, ya know? Because I wanted to be an FBI agent for so long, I'm sure I could tell you more about the Bureau than many of the agents. But back to the military, because that's what I'm talking about. Now, from my research, I've gathered that basic training is basically a lot of marching, learning military customs, learning to shoot an M-16, and early morning workouts.

My question is this: what exactly is it about those activities and having drill sergeants berate you that forge lifelong bonds between soldiers and totally change them?

My best friend is doing Army ROTC, and sometimes it hits me that shes really changed. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying she's changed for the worse or anything. I still love her to death, she's still a wonderful person. But she has just completely fallen under the military's spell. And sometimes, like when she has to do stuff for the program that prevents her from hanging out with us icky civilian friends, or when she is constantly talking about her friends from ROTC and the private jokes they have and for obvious reasons I just don't get it, I miss the old her.

Here is my impression of a conversation between us.

Her:

"andthenweran54milesonnosleep andthenweshotoutacountry andthenregwasatthetopofthekey andthenwesmamtheamazonwithjohnsononastretcheronourbacks andthensargsaidsheepbustersandwealllaughedlikecrazy andthenwemarchedfromantarticatotampaanditwasAWESOME. HOOAH!"

(This is what that says when I am not trying to indicate her being excited and talking fast: "And then we ran 54 miles on no sleep and then we shot out a country and then Reg was at the top of the key and then we swam the Amazon with Johnson on a stretcher on our backs and then Sarg said 'sheepbusters' and we all laughed like crazy and then we marched from Antartica to Tampa and it was AWESOME. HOOAH!")

Me:

"I...like...pancakes."

I know the military is great. I know my friend was kinda unhappy in high school because even if she had found something she loved as much as this back then, she wouldn't have had time to do it because she was basically taking care of her family. I know she wouldn't be as happy at college if it wasn't for ROTC. Like I said earlier, it's not a change for the worse and I don't get annoyed by it(it does kinda make me feel stupid sometimes when she'll just throw out some random military term and I don't know what it means, but that is just me being hard on myself because how could I know it when I'm NOT IN THE MILITARY?). So I don't know what exactly I'm trying to convey in this rant except that I hope soldiers know that us civilians? Just don't get it. And sometimes, we miss the pre-military you.

And to the friend that this was about: please don't take offense, because I didn't mean any.

Thank you to those that have sent me more questions. As for the rest of you,please send some.

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