Nine Life Lessons You Can Learn From The Army!
Dedicated To My Cousin and Mentor: Commanding Officer Anil Dev Swami, Indian Army, A Man I Can’t Help Appreciating
Be it either an army soldier or a naval officer, by the time they retire, they have grown up a lot and learned some pretty hard and important truths along the way, lessons about themselves and about other people, lessons that applied as much at home as they did in combat — and perhaps why our grandfathers were right all along.
Nine Life Lessons You Can Learn From The Army!
Appearance Matters:
A soldier spends the first few months of his training learning how to iron his new uniform and polish his boots, not to mention having a standard hair cut (shorter than it ever had been) and shaving twice a day. The military’s apparent obsession with appearance is something that baffles outsiders, but it’s not as silly as it sometimes seems.
In most of the civilian jobs, you wouldn’t believe how inappropriately some people dressed. It’s not a question of fashion, but of self-respect and situational awareness — what you’d wear in the desert, you wouldn’t wear at home. Across different armies, good and bad, and there’s truth to the old saying that a smart soldier is a good soldier and that when you look the part, you act the part.
Nine Life Lessons You Can Learn From The Army!
You Are What You Eat (And Drink):
Soldiers have a complex relationship with food and drink; as Napoleon knew, an army marches on its stomach. While training, soldiers eat more than ever in their life and still lose weight. Out in the desert, they would drink liters and liters of water a day and still lose guys to dehydration. On operations, a decent meal in a mobile mess might be the only thing a squad can look forward to in weeks.
Soldiers learn great respect for food as fuel and how your body responds to what you put in it. Those who have ever spent months on end eating cardboard-tasting rations value good cooking and real food with real flavors as well. Guys at home eating trash have no excuses — cook well, eat well, live well.
Nine Life Lessons You Can Learn From The Army!
You Have To Depend On Others:
More of us live on our own and work for ourselves than at any other time in history, but all soldiers know that there are just some things you can’t do on your own. At the most basic level, the “buddy system” keeps you alive in a fight, but understanding that there are times when the individual is less than the team is an important life lesson.
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As a soldier, you’re always a small cog in a bigger machine, trusting invisible comrades to your flanks, in the air, even back in base watching over you on GPS and drone live-feeds. I’ve seen civilian mates get frustrated when there’s a specific problem they can’t solve themselves or get uncomfortable trusting others with important stuff — learn to be a team player and everything runs more smoothly.
Nine Life Lessons You Can Learn From The Army!
Value Your Sleep:
In training, it sometimes felt like you’d barely closed your eyes after an exhausting day before you were being woken at 4:00 a.m. by a screaming sergeant for a room inspection. Out on operations the tempo is high and the enemy is no respecter of fatigue, and months can pass when more than four uninterrupted hours of sleep can seem a distant and luxurious memory. However, anyone who’s worked in the army has seen firsthand how sleep deprivation degrades performance, how quickly tired soldiers make the wrong choices, and lose their edge.
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Lately, a macho culture among civilians is being observed, particularly in high-powered office jobs, boasting about working 36 hours straight on a deal as if it’s a good thing; however, someone that tired, or jittery on caffeine, can’t perform and is no good to anyone. Soldiers know sleep is the ultimate restorative, which is why they try to get their heads down whenever they can — we should all try to do the same more often.
Nine Life Lessons You Can Learn From The Army!
Be Decisive:
There’s as fine a line between arrogance and confidence as there is between stupidity and bravery, but there’s no place for uncertainty or hesitancy on the battlefield. Individuals and teams get in trouble when they get caught in the middle ground; out in the open in a vulnerable position or not exactly certain of their objectives or location.
As a leader at any level, having confidence in your decisions is crucial and at any level, once you’ve decided on a course of action, carrying it out to the best of your abilities is invariably the way to get it done.
Nine Life Lessons You Can Learn From The Army!
Learn From The Experience Of Others:
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Seniors often say there’s nothing new in war, just stuff you haven’t yet learned. When you’re young and ambitious, your higher-ups telling you how he did it may seem ancient, but he’s seen and knows a lot more than you. In the army, you quickly learn to listen to and respect the opinions of senior guys — those opinions often save your life.
Nine Life Lessons You Can Learn From The Army!
There Are Worse Things Than Being Bored:
We live in a society relentlessly chasing the next thrill, where being bored is the ultimate sin. Soldiers coming back off a hard tour will tell you that just sitting around and relaxing is actually a luxury to be enjoyed from time to time — the alternative could always be a lot worse.
Many fellows join the military for a bit of excitement, and nothing gets the adrenaline pumping like being in “action”. However, an adrenaline high has a bad come down and after a while soldiers who were keen to get out and see some “boom” would be quiet and happy back in a peace posting.
Nine Life Lessons You Can Learn From The Army!
You Always Have Something More:
Before having joined the army, the soldier doesn’t really know his limits. These days, very few of us have ever been really uncomfortable, really tired or really in pain. The mind starts to play tricks on you when you get to extremes — it tells you that you can’t go faster, can’t keep running, can’t push through the barrier, but you almost always can. Knowing that you have that capacity somewhere inside you not only gives you the trust in whatever it is you’re doing, it’s the difference between success and failure and, for soldiers, often life and death. Dig deeper into your reserves, you’ll be surprised what you have in there.
Nine Life Lessons You Can Learn From The Army!
Appreciate Your Friends:
Most servicemen are patriots, a few may be religious, but none of them die and get injured for their country or their God; they do it for the men on either side of them. We live in an age when “buddy movies” suggest the height of male friendship is getting a friend out of trouble with a suspicious wife.
History has seen men dead on their feet with exhaustion and knowing the threat outside the gate, stand up and volunteer to go straight back out on patrol because their mates were in trouble — that’s true “friendship” and it’s a precious thing.
While all along the other institutions of the country are tainted with irregularities and lack of responsible behavior, our Armed Forces shine forth. The sacrifices of the numerous soldiers and the management of various civilian rescue operations have left in our hearts nothing short of awe and admiration for them. The least we can do for them is to learn how to inculcate some of their values and life lessons in our daily life. That would be an apt salute.
Nine Life Lessons You Can Learn From The Army!
Disclaimer: Pics and information are from various sources available on the internet. They are meant for the pictorial depiction of the situation and not the actual situation per se. Creative liberty has been exercised.
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