While having my teeth cleaned today, my dental hygienist asked me if I’d recommend to a recent high graduate that they join the military. Where we live in SW Virginia, far more graduates enter the military than go on to college. My answer to her was “definitely yes.” She asked me to sum up in a few sentences why I felt that way (after she removed all the junk in my mouth so I could talk).
In short, I told her there is no place like the military to build character, confidence, and a positive outlook toward the future. I explained my experience training initial entry Soldiers, and how time after time parents would come up to me at graduation, telling me how much improved their child had become, and how much they appreciated what we (the Army) had done. I told her that in a way the Army is in the “transformation” business.
It was a nice exchange—much more enjoyable (for me at least) than the “picking and grinding” that had just gone on in my mouth.
