Defenition of a Soldier. Before I joined the Army I imagined millions of highly trained professionals in combat doing their specific jobs while simultaneously destroying all enemies foreign or domestic

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Depner, J 1

Jerome Depner

Instructor Dougherty

English 090-56I

3 May 2011

Definition of a Soldier

        It still surprises me every time I receive a standing ovation while wearing my uniform in the airport, or whenever someone offers to pick up the check because were simply put “soldiers” I use to feel proud, in fact on my first tour to Iraq I was moved to tears when walking through the airport terminal to begin my tour. The sad truth is that a larger portion of the United States Army deserves no such special treatment. As I’ve served a tour in both Iraq and Afghanistan, and three years in America I have come to realize that American Soldiers are not as the army puts it “Army Strong”. The definition of a soldier according to Merriam-Webster is “one engaged in military service and especially in the army” while the dictionary definition has remained unchanged a majority of the unspoken qualities have begun to vanish, that is why the definition of a soldier has been changed for me since my enlistment in the U.S. Army in many ways.

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Before I joined the Army I imagined millions of highly trained professionals in combat doing their specific jobs while simultaneously destroying all enemies foreign or domestic. Now I see lazy men, women, and young adults who have figured out how to do just enough in the Army to live comfortably without doing any real work. It seems now that soldiers are even coming

Depner, J 2

from Basic Training undertrained, less willing to follow orders, and softer than any before them.  Which to me is no big surprise because of the new nicer Army’s training standards. As Mockenhaupt ...

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