Why We Serve

[Axis SS]

Hoot": When I get home people 'll ask me, "Hey Hoot, why do ya do it man? Why? Just some war junkie?" Ya know what I'll say? I won't say a goddamn word. Why? They won't understand. They won't understand why we do it. They won't understand that it's about the men next to you, and that's it. That's all it is.

that is a quote from Black Hawk Down

When I first was the movie that stuck in my head for months because I feel that the feeling in the statement is true for most people who serve. I know not all people sign in for that reason but I would hope that it reflects the feelings of most of the men/women who fight and serve.

I have live on Army bases my whole life and have been around the army life my whole life and for me the quote is exactly why I want to join

[Bill Farnie]

Axis SS,
That quote hits the nail on the head. There maybe hundreds of reasons why someone joins the military and just as many reasons why there are wars but covering your brothers six transcends everything when it comes to combat and why the soldier fights.

[Bombardier]

When I first was the movie that stuck in my head for months because I feel that the feeling in the statement is true for most people who serve. I know not all people sign in for that reason but I would hope that it reflects the feelings of most of the men/women who fight and serve.

Axis, I think I know what you mean, however this was not the reason I joined, it was something I felt while I was serving. I dont really know why I joined the British Army, I cant remember having any burning feelings to go to war or to feel proud about being a soldier and serving my country, all these feelings came when i was a soldier and I couldnt believe for once in my life I had done something I was truly proud of. :roll:
And I still have that proud feeling too

[drywall]

I'm kinda like Andy. I had no really deep seated conviction to join up either. But we had the draft and I had quit college and applied to a trade school. In the meantime I got my draft notice. So I went to the recruiter and they said they had the same school I was looking at. Mechanical Drafting. And it was 48 weeks long as opposed to most that were eight weeks long. So, in my devious mind, I thought what the hell after the school I'll only have two years left to go. The day I signed on the line for 3 years they said "oops that school is full, we put you in Artillery Survey, its almost the same thing." .......................NOT
But there was the fact that back in those days everybody kinda expected to go in if ya weren't married or in school. It's just the way it was back then. And then too, my dad, his brothers and my uncles had all done their time during WWII. I guess it was just my turn.

[Zofo]

I signed up because, as a young boy, my gran took me to a recruiting office in town. The sergeant there was very friendly adn gave me stacks of handouts showing chieftan tanks and such like. From then on I knew what I wanted to be. Later I wanted to be a para but the army it was. When I eventually signed on and went to the training depot (I joined with the Prince of Wales' Division based in Lichfield - Whittington Barracks) the atmosphere was really no different to public school, where I'd been educated (in fact, no more than an hour from Lichfield).
Having mucked about and changed regiments (twice) I ended up in Germany with a unique British regiment, the only one of its kind. We were out training, on operations and emergency deployments all the time and it was fun. We got to know our mates very well, better perhaps than their families knew them. We certainly knew the girlfriends, mothers, fathers, siblings as if we lived with them all. We could recognise each others' footfalls and of course, everyones likes and dislikes. It was this overbearing familiarity with each other that made us feel the way we did. Sitting in a trench at 4 in the morning watching the woods and the dark with nothing else to do but mutter to each other we soon "bonded". In Kuwait/Iraq it was no different than being on the Lunberg Heath in terms of what we were doing. Above all, a respect for each other and what each person stood for kept everyone together no matter what happened. The ability to laugh at ones situation always came in handy tho'!