Things I Like About the Military

Over the last 6 weeks, I've had more interaction with the military than I ever thought I would (and this is still all pre-KAF!) through meetings, briefings, presentations, trainings, and friendships. At first it kind of felt like an anthropological undertaking, then I was surprised by how much I didn't hate it. Now, as I take time to reflect a little more seriously about what it is I've liked and appreciated about the military interactions I've had, it almost surprises me that I was surprised I didn't hate it. These are just first, nascent impressions - and I understand that my interactions thus far are not necessarily representative of what it will be like living with thousands of 20-year-old enlisted guys. But I realized there is actually quite a lot about the military that fits well with my natural personality and preferences. I'm sure by the end of the year I'll be able to make an equally long list of things about military culture that decidedly do NOT fit with my personality, but for the sake of maintaining a positive outlook, at least at the beginning :)...

Things I Like about the Military that Surprised Me, but Shouldn't Have:

1. Someone in one of my trainings said that working with other agencies will be like learning new cultures, and she encouraged us to approach these cultures with open minds. This has been a great perspective for me to have and I find learning military culture to be fascinating! The symbols, patches, rules, etiquette, acronyms, hierarchy - it's a whole new world, but for some reason, I just love soaking all this stuff up!
2. Soldiers are on time. They arrive on time, start on time, and finish on time. My Meyers-Briggs INTJ LOVES this. I HATE it when people are not on time, or think they are so important that they can give a 45-minute presentation when they were only given 30 minutes to talk. Who do you think you are? After 32 minutes, I will completely shut you out and start getting angry at you for disrespecting me and my time (a big reason sermons drive me batty!). I always loved seeing a uniform at my trainings because I knew s/he was going to end on time!
3. Military people know how to give effective, organized presentations. Every military PowerPoint I've seen starts with a slide listing the agenda. THANK YOU! Not only do you actually KNOW what you're going to say, but you're telling me! I hate presenters who ramble on and don't give me an indication of where they're going or when they're going to finish. Give me a bullet-point list, please!
4. Officers - at least - think strategically. Today I sat down with a Lieutenant Colonel who talked to me for an hour about the military strategy in Afghanistan - what we've done, what we're doing now, what we plan to do in the future, why we're doing it that way, what we expect to happen. Regardless of what I may think about the strategy itself, I was quite impressed by the strategic planning and thinking that went into it!
5. Most of the military guys I've met (aside from the occasional Captain America wannabe) have no-bullshit attitudes. They aren't about sugar-coating things, or putting something in flowery language, or saying something in 5 sentences when you could say it in one. Diplomats and development wonks can talk in circles about things for ages, but I appreciate military-style brevity and straightforwardness in communication.
6. Soldiers will go places no one else is willing to go. In short, they're just plain badass. The fact that this is appealing to me causes a bit of cognitive dissonance considering peacebuilders probably aren't supposed to think the guys with the guns are cool. But, at the risk of deeply offending all the military people I know by comparing them to Peace Corps volunteers, I'm going to do it. PCVs may be granola-eating hippies, but they are willing to go to a lot of places no one else is willing to go, and live under conditions (rural villages, sparse electricity, no running water, no internet) most people wouldn't come close to with a 10,000-foot pole. In the same way, and even more hard core, soldiers willingly go to acutely dangerous places and don't complain. This in itself is commendable.

Who knew? Here's to continuing to be open to unlikely partners!