I admire those young men and women who answer the call of Uncle Sam to enlist in the armed forces and give at least four years of their life protecting the freedom of our country.
My nephew, Jonathan, is one of those young people who had it all planned out. He’s like that. He’s a high school graduate and attended Appalachian State University earning a bachelor’s degree. He did this while working for Sherwin Williams and then enlisting in the United States Coast Guard with goals to go further his career and education in law enforcement and search and rescue.
When Jon started talking about joining the military, I encouraged him to do so. What a great career move for a young person. He’d get the opportunity to travel and the benefits would be great. I knew he’d excel. He’s just an all-around great kid! His aunt, Barbara, has always been proud of him and never missed the chance to tell him so.
This is the same kid that taught himself to play the guitar and sing and performed in small venues to crowds of people. In other words, he’s got talent!
After much contemplating, Jon signed the dotted line and joined the USCG. He completed his basic training, packed up his belongings and moved to his first assignment in Oswego, New York, on Lake Ontario. He loved it. His superior officers liked him. He was in the field he chose to be in and all was going according to the plan.
Now fast forward eight years to the year 2020 and the first days of the COVID-19 pandemic. The country came to a standstill. Schools and businesses were closed and we wore those silly paper masks that made our glasses fog up. We were told that a deadly virus in China was causing people all over the world to die. There was panic, and rightly so.
So, when the vaccine became available many rushed to get the jab. And then there were those who had questions before injecting an unknown substance into their bodies. The vaccine was still in its early stages of trial and a group of people decided they weren’t going to be a guinea pig. I was hesitant to take the jab but eventually did when my granddaughter asked me, “Gramma, are you fully vaxxed?”
Employers were demanding employees be vaccinated and the U.S. military was giving their recruits an option to take the shot or be discharged of their duties. People went nuts! Friendships wavered and the pro-vaxxed declared war on the anti-vaxxed.
My nephew, along with thousands of others, was threatened and told to get the shot or get out. He made the difficult decision to leave his search and rescue post after an eight-year military enlistment. The United States Coast Guard lost a good man that day. The Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines lost good men and women on a decision made by the Biden administration and his Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. My sweet Jonathan was labeled a domestic terrorist because he questioned their authority. How preposterous!
For a few months after Jon’s decision, it was tough. But as usual he came out standing on his own two feet and is now employed with the U.S. Postal Service in his town in upstate New York where he decided to stay. He’s now married and has a young son. He and his wife, Lauren, are doing well after the ordeal and threats that were made.
Back in November, the Coast Guard contacted him and asked him to come back. It was too late.
I’ve been recently reading that the recruiting offices have seen a large decline in 2022. The numbers are down across all branches of the military. The Army alone is down by 25% and has had to lower cut its projection by 10,000. The numbers don’t look good.
Now I’m no brain surgeon, but even I can figure out that when our military is strong, we are in a safer position on the big chess board. It kind of makes you feel like the grand board game chess, has been reduced to a poor hand of poker.
My nephew had done well in the Coast Guard and was an exceptional “Coastie.” He was going to be a lifer.
The sweet boy who always closes his phone calls with “I love you, Aunt Barbara,” made it through a life-changing bump in the road. I’m proud of him for sticking by his convictions and for standing by his beliefs with the courage he did.
Uncle Sam had a lot of good men who they discarded because of a poor choice in judgement made by the powers that be. It wasn’t the first poor choice, but this one was right up there on the top shelf. Our military is suffering and weakened because of it. In a conversation recently with Jon, I told him I missed him and hope to see him soon. The little boy with the head full of curls is a man now making choices and decisions that good men have to make in life. I’ve always been on Team Jonathan because he’s just that kind of kid.
He’s a winner and he’s going to make it just fine wherever he goes!
