Right out of high school, many of my peers were called up for service, and, barring service connected injuries, to a man they came back much better people than when they had gone in. Many of them went in as boys and came out as men with a sense of purpose, discipline, ethics and self-esteem. Perhaps this is what is wrong with so many of our aimless youth, is that they lack that experience.
I was a military wife, and loved the life. I've never been part of a group so tight knit, caring, and willing to help one another. That sense of purpose and pride rubs off on families, too. When my father died while we were stationed in Heidleberg, within a half hour, folks had stepped in to help me get packed to come home, make arrangements for my children to stay with another family (my husband was in the field) and were working to find me an airplane seat home and get me travel papers. Command was working to get my husband out of the field, but I needed to get home as soon as I could. It may seem corny, but it was like loving arms just reached around me while I sat stunned by the awful news.