Military Life

Military life is multifaceted because it involves not just soldiers and their commanders, but families. Members of our Armed Services are forced to risk their lives daily to protect the freedom that we as American citizens enjoy. When politicians and military leaders make tough decisions that put soldiers in harm’s way, they risk not only the life of the soldier, but the livelihood of the soldier’s family. To capture this relationship is to capture the meaning of military life.

It is my attitude that materialistic items like uniforms and armaments alone cannot provide an adequate enough image of what military life today is like. Surely these items would serve good purpose by being included in a time capsule, but military life is as much a sentimental pursuit as it is a materialistic one. Sentiment is the factor which drives service members to reach deep inside for the strength to complete their mission. Material items like those listed above are only a means to an end. To include only such items in a time capsule is an injustice to those who serve our country today. This is because heroism and courage, important foundational qualities of military service, are examples of feelings and emotions which are immaterial. The most obvious reasons why the men and women of our Armed Forces try so hard at their mission, arguably, are country and family. What most commonly arises form this service is pride and family values. This apparent, wide range of immaterial feelings comprises the sentiment that is the spirit of military life. Such sentiment cannot be quantified or immortalized simply through the inclusion of certain physical items in a time capsule. These immaterial items, these feelings, are the bread and butter of military life. It is not right, therefore, to seal any time capsule without them inside.

Human emotion, by nature, is a force which can never truly be captured. In my opinion, the closest one can ever come to knowing what someone truly thinks or feels, is through listening. To get around the conflict that immaterialism presents, therefore, I suggest that personal interviews of service members and their families, captured on video, would make essential assets to a time capsule. Today’s technology permits mass data storage in such small amounts of space. First-hand accounts of military life today are as close as anyone is likely to come to understanding the true meaning of military life. To get inside the mind of a person, one must listen. I propose that volunteers from each of the services, along with their families, could give statements about their lives in military service. Service members could share war experiences and what it means to them to serve their county; their families could attest to the various challenges and joys that military life presents. I believe that a compilation of these interviews, preserved and unearthed at some time in the future, could provide an astoundingly accurate portrayal of military life today.