Why the Army, and why the Infantry?

I love this question. This one, even people I work with ask me sometimes.

Why not a different branch of service? And if I picked the Army, why not

choose military intelligence, or fix computers, or do something else?

Why the Infantry?

You see, I believe you cannot win a war flying overhead. When you fly overhead, you are there for a minute, and then you are gone. The people on the ground dig themselves out of their bunkers, they dust themselves off, they shake the fist at the sky and tell each other how they could beat you in a fair fight, and it is only because you are rich that you are powerful.

I do not believe you can win a war safe behind a computer screen, plotting information demographics, or calculating angles of trajectory on an artillery shell.

I do not believe you will ever even know who the enemy is until you take your weapon in hand and visit the villages on your map, and speak to the people there, and ask them.

I do not believe you can find that enemy until you walk the fields that are contested, putting yourself in harms way, waiting for them to feel brave enough to try to take you down.

And I do not believe you can conquer that enemy until you engage him, break him, chase him down, and make it utterly clear to him that continuing to fight will result in his utter extinction. Only when you are up close, in someones face, with their breath stinking, do you have the opportunity to absolutely convince them.

You cannot protect the innocent from a distance. It might be safe for you, but it is not safe for them. You cannot defeat the enemy from a distance. You can hurt him, but never defeat him. You cannot win a war from a distance. You have to get in close and dirty and actually do the job that needs to be done.

When you put your ass on the line, and step right up and say "No matter how dirty this job is, no matter how hard, I'm doing it, try and stop me", that's when your enemy will lose the will to fight.

I don't believe any soldier should ever lead unless he has been on the front line, in the trenches. I don't believe you can make an intelligence assessment, or tell me what things are like if you haven't been there. I don't believe you can tell another man to do a job you are afraid to do or are unwilling to do. I don't believe you can issue an order and expect to have it carried out if you are not willing to carry that order out yourself if need be.

That's why I'm in the Army and that's why I'm in the Infantry.