How the military actually works

A post-drill weekend reflection on the good, bad, and how things get done

king kong, wearing a united states army military uniform, he is carrying a tank

“Sir, my computer will not work, can you email it to my gmail please?”

Death, Taxes, Military technology not working

There’s a famous quote by a German General during World War II about the US military:

“War is chaos, and the US military practices chaos on a daily basis”

I am in the Army National Guard. I drill once a month for two days, have an annual two week training, and occasionally have a three-four day drill, or have to go somewhere and do something for someone…plus the email checking. It can be a lot for a “one weekend a month” job (which is a lie unless you are newly enlisted).

Here is a summary of this past drill weekend, as well as my theory on how the military is scary to other countries when most of us have no idea how anything actually gets done:

Saturday, 5 am

I have a 90 minute commute to drill, I try to get there 15-30 minutes early. There’s no purpose to being early other than not being late due to traffic. I show up, we have first formation (i.e. everyone gets together, we get the orders for the day and weekend). This is mostly pointless for me, as I’m a lawyer and we mostly do our own thing. We get our “battle tasks” and then on we go!

I made sure to first wake up and look at the stars and full moon. It was nice to look up and see the constellations that I never memorized. A few moments of bliss and wonder before the shit show begins.