The year was 1963. A young man just out of high school and eager to begin college in
hopes of achieving his career goals came home to an unexpected letter from the
Department of Defense. Upon reading the letter, his first thoughts were, “ Why does it
have to be so soon? What is war even about? What if I have to kill someone? Or worse yet,
What if someone has to kill me?” Two days later, with no choice at hand and very little
time to say his good-byes, he hesitantly arrived at his assigned base. After several days of
being in his barracks amongst many others in his same situation, the young man began to
gain an understanding as to why he, and many men before him, were drafted into service
for their country. What he began to understand was serving in our military was all about
patriotism, courage, and loyalty which in turn, instills pride.
While everyone has different opinions on whether or not our military has pride and they
continuously question it, there are many examples demonstrating the pride in which our
soldiers hold. Going back in time to the Civil War is a great place to start when proving
our military’s pride. During the Civil War, the soldiers had a driving force of inner
motivation to fight for equality for all men pitting brother against brother and father
against son. This proves that the soldiers had so much pride in what they were fighting for
that they were willing to fight against their own relatives as long as it meant that they were
