The Lie.

The lie that recruiters tell you is that your nation needs you. When I was young, I was so desperate to be needed by anyone that the lie seemed just believable enough. Although I couldn’t help but notice that if I was so important to them, they would have at least put someone important on the phone. But they didn’t. Because my nation didn’t need specifically me. They needed numbers. Whatever amount that number was in total, my recruiter was only responsible for three of them every year. My recruiter didn’t need me. He needed a number. Sure, I liked my recruiter, he was kind and helpful, and I think he liked me too. But at the end of the day, a decade after I started believing the lie, I learned that I was deceived. If my nation needed me, they’d be trying harder to keep me to stay. If my nation needed me, why would they send me into danger so recklessly? If my nation needed me, why are the deaths of my brothers and sisters in arms considered tolerable losses? Clearly they don't need us. They need numbers. Meat-shields. Someone else to put in harms way for their selfish desires while they stay safe. I suppose there is some honor in volunteering my life so that someone else might live. I think I’d rather question why it is that my life is valued so cheaply, while the lives of the men who send me are not.