How the Military Has Shaped My Life and Prepared Me for the Future

How the Military has Shaped My Life and Prepared Me for the Future
Barry Coleman
PSY 202
Dr. Moore
December 19, 2010

How the Military has Shaped My Life and Prepared Me for the Future
For me the decision to join the military provided me with discipline and taught me leadership skills that will forever have an impact on who I am as a person. Many young people in United States decide to join the military after high school each year. Although military life can be challenging it can be rewarding and beneficial as well.
I grew up in Virginia the second oldest of four children. Both my parents were hard working people. My father often worked multiple jobs and my mother worked out of the home as well as prepared all family meals and doing most of the household chores, with the help of my brother and sisters. My parents believed in honest work and obeying the rules and this message was delivered to my siblings and me on a regular basis.
I was shy and introverted during my childhood. My family believed that children should be seen but not heard and that certainly fit my personality. I was a very good student throughout my school years and although small in stature was also athletic. I played basketball and ran track in junior high and high school.
Although I was a good student, I didn’t know what I wanted to do after high school. I had an interest in government and politics however I knew I didn’t want to be a politician. I applied to college and was accepted as a political science major. My family could afford to send me to college however it would have to be close to home so that I could stay at home and commute, thereby saving the cost of room and board. However, I was not completely comfortable with that choice. What I really wanted to do was to go away to college and gain some independence. I believed that once young people graduated high school they were supposed to leave home and be more responsible for their lives. As a result of this belief I decided to join the military.
I contacted a recruiter for the U.S. Army and met with him on several occasions. We discussed a wide range of Army career fields, including working with missiles, the communications field, and administrative positions. I was not sure that the Army was the branch I wanted to serve in. One day a friend of mine with whom I attended high school with told me that he had talked to a recruiter for the U.S. Air Force and that the recruiter was meeting with him at his home. He invited me to come over and hear what the recruiter had to say. He and I met with the Air Force recruiter and the rest is history, my friend and I both enlisted and left for basic training later that year.
Arriving at basic training I quickly learned that discipline was to be the cornerstone of military life. It was easy for me to obey the rules because my parents taught me that obeying the rules was important in life. Early in my military career I learned that discipline was much more than just obeying the rules. During basic training we were taught a variety of tasks and specific ways for performing those tasks. The tasks included folding our clothes, shining our shoes, and making our bunks among others. Usually we were not given much time to perform these daily tasks. As a matter of fact most of my fellow Airmen believed that we were not given nearly enough time to perform these tasks. I later realized that what they were teaching was discipline and time management. In order to accomplish our daily tasks successfully within the allotted amount of time we needed to be disciplined and we needed to manage our time effectively. Whenever we failed to successfully perform our daily tasks in the allotted time we were forced to repeat the tasks over and over until we met the standard. This is a clear example of behaviorism learning theory that John Watson and others believed. In our text it stated that Watson “proved that the basic component of both learning and behavior is the association between a stimulus and a response.” It was found by Watson that these associations were built through repetition (cited Witt & Mossler, 2010, P.21). In this situation it appeared to work. I clearly remember one day not getting out of bed, dressed, and in formation in the allotted two minutes. That afternoon we were all forced to practice that routine over and over until we were successful. We never had a problem with that requirement again and I never forget that lesson. This was due in large part to the repetitious practice we had that day and that fact that we did not want to have to go through that exercise ever again.
I remained in the active duty Air Force for about 5 years and after my discharge, joined the Air National Guard because I missed the military lifestyle and wanted to continue servicing closer to my hometown. In the Air National Guard I served an additional 27 years and moved through the ranks. I was able to achieve the rank of E-9 or Chief Master Sergeant. I complete my military career last week and most recently served as the State Command Chief Master Sergeant the highest-ranking enlisted person in the Air National Guard in the State of Virginia. This is something that I am truly proud of.
My service in the Air Force and Air National Guard has aided me in my civilian career. The discipline and leadership that I have learned has helped prepare me for the challenges of my current position. My job involves working on multiple projects simultaneously and meeting very rigorous deadlines. Undoubtedly the discipline skills gained from military service help me in these areas. This is one of the primary reasons that many employers value military experience when recruiting for positions within their companies. In the article, “Recruiting America’s Military Elite to Lead Your Organization, the author James D. Murphy states, “Major organizations across the U.S. have focused on recruiting former military leaders for years, well aware of their unique abilities to lead a company to success.” (“Recruiting America’s Military Elite to Lead Your Organization”, July 15, 2010). I know that the discipline and leadership skills that I have learned in the military are the cornerstones to being successful. The military has also taught me that it is important to continuously strive for excellence. I learned that positive outcomes were associated with working hard and striving to achieve a specific goal. I also learned that I could avoid negative outcomes if I did what I was required to do and obeyed the rules. This is an example of B.F. Skinner’s theory of operant conditioning we learned in our text. According to the text and based on Edward Thorndike’s law of effect, “reinforced behaviors tend to be repeated and those that are not reinforced tend to die out.” (Witt & Mossler, 2010, p.23). I have learned what works for me and if I prepare myself then I am usually successful. This is one of the reasons I have made a decision to continue my education at Ashford University. In order to be the best at what you do you need to be prepared and education is a key to preparation.
In addition, I want to use the knowledge and experience that I have and will gain to better contribute to leadership roles in my church and my community. I am a ministry leader and Cub Scout leader in my church. The tools that I have gained from my military experience have helped me be successful in those roles.
In conclusion, deciding to enter military service is a personal decision that may not be right for everyone. However, it was definitely the right decision for me. I am and always will be a person who believes in taking advantage of opportunities that come my way. I saw the military as a vehicle that would provide me with training and experience in a very structured environment. I believed in service and dedication to a cause and these factors encouraged me to join.
My life is better because of what I gained from being part of the U.S. military. For me the decision to join the military provided me with discipline and taught me leadership skills that will forever have an impact on me as a person. References
J.D. Murphy, July 15, 2010, Recruiting America’s Military Elite to Lead Your Organization
Retrieved from http:// Bestmanagementarticles.com
Witt, G.A., & Mossler, R.A. (2010). Adult development and life assessment

Retrieved from https://content.ashford.edu/books/AUPSY201.10.1

References: J.D. Murphy, July 15, 2010, Recruiting America’s Military Elite to Lead Your Organization Retrieved from http:// Bestmanagementarticles.com Witt, G.A., & Mossler, R.A. (2010). Adult development and life assessment Retrieved from https://content.ashford.edu/books/AUPSY201.10.1