CROOKS - 1001 Things To Love About Military Life

Copyright 2011 by Tara Crooks, Starlett Henderson, Kathie Hightower, and Holly Scherer

All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Center Street

Hachette Book Group

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First e-book edition: November 2011

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The publisher is not responsible for websites (or their content) that are not owned by the publisher.

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NKJV are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

The credits and permissions section, beginning , constitutes a continuation of this copyright page.

ISBN 978-1-4555-0584-5

We would like to dedicate this book to all military members and their families for their amazing strength and committed sacrifice.

Photo by Spc. Sharla Lewis

W hen we first told people we were writing this book, responses ranged from How can you talk about things to love with a war going on and military members being horribly wounded or killed? to Thank you for reminding us of all the good in the military and military life.

There are certainly a lot of things to not love right now about our military reality, as we continue into our tenth year at war. Military members and their families only make up one percent of the population but they are bearing one hundred percent of the sacrifice of war. The horrors of war, death, physical wounding, stress disorders and emotional suffering, and repeated separations, will impact our military families and society for a long time to come. War is hell. Even in peacetime, military life is constantly challenging.

However, research continues to show focusing only on the negatives can pull you into a downward spiral of despair and loss of hope. So, we decided to count the positives. The fact is, there are many things to love about military life. We really did not have trouble getting to 1001.

Our desire is that those of you who are or were in the military will read thiskeeping in mind families and children serve tooand find yourself nodding in agreement at many of the items. Of course we know every example wont apply to every military member. Our military experiences differ as much as we do as individuals. We trust the examples we include will trigger your own memories and encourage you to share your favorites with your family and friends.

For those of you who are not in the military, we are confident this book will give you some insight into this military life and help you see why we have such pride in our military and lifestyle. Why we have not lost hope.

There is no greater love than a love that is willing to sacrifice or die, paying the ultimate sacrifice, for another. Our Service members love their brothers-at-arms and they love their countryfreely and selflessly. Our aim is to help the country love back the same way, without reservations arising from the lack of an introduction to, knowledge of, or insight into our military way of life.

Ask any of us, Knowing what you know now, would you choose this lifestyle again?

ABSOLUTELY!

We are grateful for the amazing people weve come to know in our military family and for the people we ourselves have become as a result of this lifestyle.

There are indeed 1001 thingsand moreto love about military life.

When I joined the Army, even before the turn of the century, it was the fulfillment of all my boyish hopes and dreams.

GEN. DOUGLAS MACARTHUR

Photo by Laura Fleming Photography

BE ALL YOU CAN BE

THE FEW. THE PROUD.

DO SOMETHING AMAZING

ACCELERATE YOUR LIFE

AIM HIGH FLY-FIGHT-WIN

THERES STRONG AND THEN THERES ARMY STRONG

BE PART OF THE ACTION

ITS NOT JUST A JOB. ITS AN ADVENTURE!

GET AN EDGE ON LIFE

A GLOBAL FORCE FOR GOOD

ITS NOT SCIENCE FICTION. ITS WHAT WE DO EVERY DAY.

Recruiting slogans are created to show possible recruits things they can expect from a career in the military, but to us these slogans reflect the reality of military life.

STAFF SGT. DAN MCINTOSH, U.S. Army recruiter

Ask not what your country can do for you.

Ask what you can do for your country.

JOHN F. KENNEDY

It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.

THEODORE ROOSEVELT, Citizenship in a Republic

A good leader is one who causes or inspires others to do the job. His worth as a leader is measured by the achievements of the led. This is the ultimate test of his effectiveness.