Why I Am Staying

The following Blog entry is written by 1SG Troy Steward

A while back I wrote a Blog entry for this site as part of the “Why I Serve” series. Now that I am a little over a month since my 20 year Anniversary in the Army I am going to write this one as a follow up as to why I am staying the Army past the minimum point of retirement eligibility.

I knew before I left for Afghanistan last year that I would be facing the decision of whether I would stay in or retire this year. Before I left and during my entire deployment friends, family, co-workers in my civilian job and fellow soldiers that served with me would all ask me whether or not I would retire when I got back stateside. I knew that making that decision prior to, or during my deployment would have the potential of not being a well thought our decision as I may allow the current events sway which was I would lean on retirement. Rather than flip-flop back and forth like a politician I figured it would be best to just wait and get home for a little while before I made that decision. When people would ask me what it would take for me to decide, I would simply tell them that it all depended on conversations between my wife and I, how my unit treated me after I returned and how I generally felt about the military after a 1 year deployment to war.

The support my wife gives me is unprecedented and I could not ask for any more than she already gives. She loves me being in the military and she loves being a military spouse. She knows I love being a soldier and she wants to support me in whatever I love, even if that were to mean another deployment. My Brigade has been great and has given me exactly what I was looking for as far as a new assignment. I am going into my 5th year as a diamond-holding 1SG and am about to take over a new company while I wait on a E9 slot to open up. I am staying with the Infantry and the drive is not that bad from where I live now to the new armory. As for how I feel about the military, well I love it of course. That does not mean I support every decision that is made or agree with the leadership all the time. I mean I love my wife too, but we don’t always agree. I love being a soldier and I love training and working with soldiers. I think that is one of the biggest reasons I have decided to stay in for now. I have had a huge void in my life since returning stateside and not being with the guys on my team that I spent the last year with. What I knew as my entire life 24/7 was sucked away from me the day I left Active Duty and went back into my normal National Guard drill status. I miss running for the truck, slamming down red bulls at the same time I am slamming forward the bold on a .50 Cal Machine Gun and of course living life on the edge. It is hard enough not being with my team every day, much less just trying to walk away from the Army cold-turkey.

So for now, I am going to still be pulling on the desert boots, ACUs, and Beret or PC and playing soldier for some unforeseen amount of time. I am not sure if this country needs me, my state needs me or if the Army as a whole does, but I know I need my soldiers and they need me.

**NOTE, Troy is a 1SG in the New York Army National Guard and writes several blogs on his website at http://www.bouhammer.com**