Why I Served

I thought that I'd take half a second on this Veteran's Day to acknowledge the men and women who sacrifice so much in the service of their country. Thank you and my God bless and keep you!

I've never really articulated why I served this great land of ours or what I gained from that service. In this time of national division, I think that I need the reminder.

To begin with, I have always enjoyed being an American. I don't know if I'm so nationalistic as to shout that I live in the best country in the world but, I will say this, it is the one that I know and love! I understand and appreciate our freedoms and know that, for many reasons, I am privileged.

In high school I participated in student government, was an officer in VICA, and a Letterman in track and cross country. Academically, depending on my mood, I ranged from National Honor Society to just enough to get by. By the time my Senior year rolled around in 1983, I had determined that I wanted to go to college. Had I made that decision a couple of years earlier, I may have applied myself a bit more to my studies. So without the grades, and coming from a working class family, the only way that I was going to be able to pursue higher education was to join the military. Both my father and my grandfather had been in the Army, but being the grandiose, egocentric person that I was, only one branch of service would due for me. In August of that year I attended my basic training at MCRD San Diego. I HAD to be one of "The Few. The Proud. The Marines!"

To gain a deeper understanding of what shaped me, I think that you need to know what was happening in the world at that time. The cold war was alive and well. The Soviets admitted to shooting down a North Korean civilian airline when it crossed into their airspace and Able Archer 83 (a NATO exercise): is misinterpreted by Soviet officials as a nuclear first strike , causing the last nuclear scare of the Cold War. South Korea's Foreign Minister and Benigno Aquino Jr. (the opposition leader in the Philippines) are assassinated. Both the French and US Embassies in Beirut are bombed killing more than 300 servicemen. Granada was underway and the Syrians were holding one of our servicemen. On top of all of this, our country had a no bullshit, straight shooting cowboy in the Whitehouse. They were interesting times.

When I spoke this oath...

I, Gary Winterholler, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.

...I meant it. Over the next three years, as my understanding of both the Constitution and the USMJ increased, so did my resolve to defend it. I would fight for the right to dissent, I would fight for the right to voice both our approval or disapproval of U.S. policy, I would fight for our freedom and civil liberties, I would stand for the weak and disenfranchised. After all, I was taught that "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." and I still hold "these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."

Semper Fidelis