5 Months Left

I completed October drill last weekend. 5 more months left in the military. I'm so excited, but here's the nutty thing...

I'm also NOT excited.

How could this be?
I want to leave the military, but I will also very much miss the military.

I am excited:

• to never have to take a PT test again
• to never have to salute anyone again
• to never have to sit in on a spontaneous three hour lecture about "force escalation"
• to never have to learn another acronym to replace an acronym that we'd been using for the last 2 decades
• to never have to wonder if the water in the buffalo was tested for purity by a Private or a Captain
• to never have to wonder if toilet paper and food will be provided when we get there or if we should pack it...

I am not excited:

• to never get to take a PT test again
• to never get to salute anyone again
• to never get ordered to spontaneously give a three hour lecture, to a captive audience, about something I've never heard of before
• to never get the chance to razz the "management" about their insistence that we use a nine letter acronym instead of the word, "car"
• to never get to sit around with a group of people that I'd never met before and am now suddenly best friends with, and wonder if the water is going to make us all ill or not, and how the previously mentioned lack of supplies will impact this situation...

Because, as much as the military has become a hardship and a chore, it is also something special. The very same things that make it difficult are also what make it rewarding. The things that you've shared with strangers, who immediately became your friends make it worthwhile. There are things that you get to experience in the military that you would never have the chance to experience on the civilian side. I worry that I'll miss out on all those future military experiences.

Plus the recruiters have already started hounding me with promises of bonuses and other lovely things.

The thing I'll have to keep in mind for the next 5 months, as they tantalize me with dollar signs, and I reminisce about "That one hilarious time that...", is that there are things in the civilian side too, that you would never get to experience in the military. And I don't want to miss out on those future civilian experiences:

I wouldn't want to miss out on any of their experiences.

And because of them, these will be my last 5 months, no matter how high the bonus numbers get.