When I entered the military, I had a single goal in mind.

I’d like to say I joined up out of love for my country, an irresistible desire to serve, a drive to help right wrongs and bring peace to troubled times, and a sense of obligation to give back to our free society for all the incredible things it had put in my life. Except none of that would be true.

To be clear, all those things did develop over time. I have a hell of a lot more appreciation today for this noble, generous-minded, and at times bizarre experiment called the United States than I did when I was a 19-year-old kid. Righting wrongs, serving the greater good, a sense of gratitude for the freedoms and opportunities so many of us take for granted? I’m in. But back then? No. Back then there was one and only one gravitational

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