To serve in any nation’s military is always an exciting experience although it can be very demanding. However, there are measures that you can take to ensure that your service in the military is not boring and cold. What you need to do is make friends with other officers. But, you must note that this may not be as easy as it sounds, especially if you are the intensely private type. One unique feature with the military is that either as combatant or non-combatant, you can transferred to any base either within or outside the shores of your country without any prior notice. Therefore, in such an environment, you may find it quite difficult to cope as you keep meeting new faces, some of which you have never seen before and some of which you may never see again. All these experiences can cause emotional instability on the part of the officer, not so many people can adapt quickly to new environment, as human beings, we crave for comfort and warmthof familiar faces and environment. In this regard, military life can be boring and very monotonous.

But you can make it interesting by relating well with other officers. To do this with the least of efforts, you need to maintain a good disposition towards others, do not keep malice with any one and always see the good in people. Because some of your colleagues may be responsible for saving your life in the heat of battle, there is every reason for you to stick together, just like comrade in arms, perhaps this explains the concept of espirit de corps among military officers. You have to be your brother’s keeper. To relate with others can be facilitated by sticking to the following principles: be genuinely interested in the welfare of others, learn to avoid criticizing others and work towards the good of all.

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As a military officer, one of the things that you must never forget is the fact that you have made a solemn promise and sworn to a binding oath to always protect your nation even at the expense of your own life. As an officer, this is a principle that must guide and direct all your actions. If you can stick to this simple but important principle, then being a fine and professional officer will not be a dream that cannot be achieved. Apart from remembering these solemn vows, there are some other things that can assist you in carrying out your duties as effectively and efficiently as possible. Although some of these are values that have been inculcated in many of us right from when we were young, it will cause no harm if they are repeated here. One of such values is punctuality. One of the hallmarks of a fine officer is punctuality at the place of work, as an officer, you must value and respect time. This is especially important when you know that a second may be the only difference between life and death for that colleague of yours.

Another thing that you must carry like a badge is a disciplined and refined behavior. If there is any thing that the military is known for, it is the impeccable manners that soldiers are known to display at all times. Never abuse the uniform or use it to get undue advantage from a colleague or civilian. Apart from this, another value that you must develop and cherish as a soldier or officer is love for your fellow colleague. Serving in the military simply means that there will be times when you will encounter death face-to-face. In such circumstances, never abandon your colleague. This is very important especially when you know that what goes around comes around.

Ever since our country first went off to war a few years ago, a lot of people have been clamoring for the entire thing to end. Not to seem impatient, but it has been most of a decade, and this one does look to be in for a long road ahead. Of course, one of the most major concerns on most people’s minds is for the troops, who have had to endure harsh conditions (including being very far away from their families) for a long time. One might even wonder if they have a clear vision of why they are fighting in the first place. To “stop terrorism,” while a very concise goal, is not the clearest of intentions, after all.

Of course, everyone who has any concern for other people wants our troops to come back home at some point, preferably as soon as is humanly possible. And when that happens, the natural assumption is that those troops would merge right back into their family and civilian lives just as easily as if they had merely been gone for a long weekend. The problem is, in wars past we have seen that there is not always such a simple transition from being in the thick of combat on a normal basis to being back in the civilian world.

For one thing, finding work in the civilian world can sometimes prove to be challenging for the returning soldier. While they may have learned valuable skills, sometimes there is simply no demand. Also among the problems a returning vet faces is PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) from their time in combat. The effects can often appear out of nowhere, and be emotionally devastating to a person in that situation. Not to mention the fact that often times, parents return to find that their babies are now toddlers, and their children are looking substantially more grown up than they had before. It has to feel very strange.