Wealth Does Not Measure Success

If a series of people were asked who do they think are successful people in today’s society many would answer with various celebrities, actors, and sports stars. But what would I say? For me that’s easy because all of these people have one thing in common, Marcus Luttrel, Kyle Carpenter, Chris Kyle, Nick Irving, Pat Tilman, there are several others I could name and even more that I cannot name. If this list of names was given to a classroom full of high school students many of them would not know a single name on the list. But why are these people successful? The answer is simple they all rose their right hand and swore to defend their country even if it meant losing their own life, they all earned the right to wear an American flag on their shoulder. Why do I consider a soldier to be successful? They don’t make a large amount of money, they are not popular, no soldier has a million followers on twitter, the general public doesn’t really say much to them besides an occasional thank you. But to me and a select few others these are the people who defend our nation and that in itself is more wealth than any amount of money on the planet.

As far back I can remember I have wanted to be in the United States Military, the branch and job constantly changed but I always wanted to be a soldier. The first real memory I have as a child was the Boeing commercial airliner crashing into the south tower on September 11, 2001. At the time I didn’t understand how much this would effect me or my life, but now it is all starting to make sense. From that day on I was constantly watching the news, especially stories involving soldiers fighting in Iraq. My parents always thought I would grow out of it and that it was a phase, but at age 17 I was already visiting various recruiting offices. I rose my right hand and swore to defend my country even if it meant losing my own life, like so many have before me, as a soldier in the United States Army. But after joining I expected many thank yous or congratulations but I was mistaken. Many people often asked why I would ever join the Army or why I would not go to college, many of these questions took me back and shocked me. When anyone I knew left for the military I was often as excited as them to hear all the stories they would have when they return, but I learned not everyone is like that. Every soldier I have met had a thousand different stories of where they had been and the people they met weather it was a combat deployment or not. Its not about how many people know you or how much money you make that makes you successful, it’s about going above and beyond to help people you may not even know. As I sit back and enjoy my last two months of civilian life I remember that all the people I looked up to started in the same place as me. I look forward to earning the right to wear that flag on my shoulder. Everything worth doing in life is earned, never given.