The Community
i’m not talking about some weird cult or compound or religion. i’m talking about the military community and why i think i feel differently than most other people when six fighter jets soar over the city as a part of fleet week.
living where i do, there’s always a significant amount of protest and discourse over anything military related, and fleet week means guarenteed controversy. in spite of that, there’s still a huge turn out, and to me it means a surge of patriotism.
i can’t explain it - it’s a sense of awe, a sense of pride in the idea of America. but i think what sets it apart for me is the first hand sense of sacrifice the people in those planes have had to make. i don’t think i’m a better American or a better person - or even that i know exactly what those pilots and their families have been thru (they weren’t always just performing for fun and entertainment). as a military family, we’ve been relatively lucky. dad’s never been on the front lines. there’s been a sense of insecurity and danger at times, but as a family we’ve never been seperated because of a deployment for longer than four months or so.
i’m a member of the civilian world now - no longer my dad’s dependant, ryan’s only attachment is to the ready reserves - but i will always be military at heart. i will always have a place in my heart and my life for good ol’ fashioned american pride. for individuals and families who serve us in ways we often can’t see.
i don’t think i’m above anyone because six jets flying on the city skyline brings tears to my eyes - or because i’m getting a little misty as i write this now. i’m not more patriotic because when i stand with my family and sing the national anthem, i’m usually standing next to my dad in uniform. i’m not saying i’m a better american because i moved from base to base every two years.
but i am a part of a community that relatively few belong to and relatively few understand - a community that will always be there for me. i don’t have a hometown, or a place that i’m “from.” i don’t have many “friends from my childhood” and i don’t have roots. but i have a community.