IJCH - Inside JaiChai's Head (meaning: My warped, personal opinions and musings.)

From the Author

Salutations.

I am JaiChai.

And if I haven't had the pleasure to make your acquaintance, I'm delighted to meet you now.

Those Crazy F*cks!

Many people idolized the kind of servicemen that were in "those special little units filled with crazy f*cks". I was one of those loonies serving in those kind of units.

To other, "normal" military personnel, it seemed like all we did was to spend our workdays doing wildly fun and extremely hazardous training day in and day out, just to cheat death on every op.

Consequently, everyone assumed that we possessed superhuman abilities and bulletproof confidence, god-like courage, etc., etc., etc.

They would watch with envy as we spent our time on duty just "playing" - jumping out of airplanes, scuba diving, staying familiar with our weapons and equipment, and making things go boom.

The real truth is not so glamorous, nor exciting.

In order to maintain any kind of proficiency to survive real world ops required untold sacrifices - time away from loved ones, training to the point of exhaustion or injury, enduring miserable working environments, witnessing heartbreaking events around the world and watching buddies die; or if they are broken past the point of rehabilitation, observe helplessly as they physically and mentally waste away.

I became another statistic; another multiple-marriages-multiple-divorces soldier. Twenty-four years past quickly and soon I was just another obsolete, government-paid psychopath.

Naturally, my first two children are complete strangers to me. That's why I'm so grateful to be a real Dad now that I'm retired.

If you have forgotten everything I've written up to now, I truly hope you remember this:

There are many kinds of courage.

The most important ones are not portrayed in action movies or always mentioned in global magazines and newspapers.

And I'm here to say that, although I've survived many dangerous situations in my life, the scariest thing I've ever faced was the thought of anything bad happening to my daughter.

(Just below that fear factor level is a 30-year mortgage and college tuition! Lol!)

So, please ponder this for a moment:

"The Greatest Acts of Courage are not flashy, they are the unrewarded, invisible and silent acts of love performed selflessly everyday by all responsible fathers, mothers, and loved ones. It's these genuine, caring and responsible people that are the real life heroes and my true idols."

I am no longer required by military protocol to render a salute to others simply because they possessed a higher rank. But if you fall in the ranks of those silent heroes and should our paths ever cross, I would willingly salute you.

This one's for you...

By JaiChai

About the Author

He is a retired U.S. Military veteran. Believing that school was too boring, he dropped out of High School early; only to earn an AA, BS and MBA in less than 4 years much later in life – while working full-time as a Navy/Marine Corps Medic. In spite of a fear of heights and deep water, he freefall parachuted out of airplanes and performed diving ops in very deep, open ocean water.

He spends his days on an island paradise with his teenage daughter, longtime girlfriend and three dogs.

Parting Shot -