What do our Army Brats have to do with the second Amendment? Well, did you know that our constant shuffling of American troops is unique among militaries across the globe? Yep, we have THE Army Brats. In most countries, their military units are geographically cohesive. In other countries, when you go to enlist and your buddy from down the street goes with you, you will be assigned together, to the unit from your area. You won’t need to leave home while you are in the service unless you are deployed. Once again, together, with your buddy and you will stay with that unit for the duration of your career. As a U. S. Army wife of nearly 15 years and mother of three Army Brats, that sounds positively DREAMY. My children would live a normal life (minus deployments) without wondering who they were going to say goodbye to next and whether their new school would have a spot for them on the soccer team. I wouldn’t live with minimalistic modular furniture, just in case we have to go back overseas and our next living room is once again the size of a shoebox. My garage wouldn’t be stacked to the ceiling with labeled footlockers and rubbermaid totes that can be put on a truck at a moment’s notice with the least amount of breakage. I wouldn’t begin to know what it was LIKE to walk into a PTO meeting alone and feel like my strange voice would never be heard by these parents who have adorable kindergarten memories of the other parents’ children in the room. I wouldn’t trip over myself unpacking my house to perfection in 2 weeks because taking 6 months like a normal human would be a quarter of our time at every duty station spent in boxes! HEAVEN!! My husband wouldn’t deploy with a different group of battle buddies every time he went down range and his 15 years in, would have helped him to personally get to know each of the people he serves with and their families. MAN! That life sounds AMAZING! Sigh.
Instead, we do the Army tango. We switch to a new unit every 2 years (three if you are lucky and get stationed overseas). Not only are we switching, but so is everyone around us. There are constant “Hail and Farewells” to take part in (the traditional Army ‘hello-and-goodbye’ party). We try to do one every other month or so to welcome and say “see you later” to troops and families going in and out of the unit. So this makes sure that EVERY army unit is made up of people from all walks of life from all over the country and in some cases the world. This gives our troops a brotherhood based on their patriotism, not their hometown pride. GENIUS. That patriotism binds them on the battlefield against foreign enemies. But what does it do in the case of, God-forbid, Martial Law and domestic unrest and what does all of this have to do with our constitution?
The 2A (Second Amendment) to our constitution states:
A well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.
The Army my husband serves in is IMHO the greatest and most well-trained fighting force the world has ever known. Yet, it intentionally yields it’s power to our right to a well-regulated militia by forfeiting the home field advantage! Armies are the windows to the soul of a nation. If you were going to form a militia, it would naturally be made of local concerned citizens coming together to defend their family and friends against a bloated and tyrannical government. They would have a solid sense of community and cohesive hometown pride that the incoming federal troops could not muster no matter how well-trained they are. THIS is what the 2A (Second Amendment) is about, allowing the little guy to stand as the last line of defense for our precious American exceptionalism that is our FREEDOM. The very fact that you are thinking in your head that a militia isn’t necessary in modern America is proof of that exceptionalism and our need to protect that privilege. The framers didn’t make it unconstitutional to ban U.S. citizens from access to firearms for use in hunting, nor in home defense, nor even in self-defense. The 2A is ONLY and fiercely worded to assure that our right to protect our liberty from tyranny by whatever means necessary SHALL NOT be infringed. This much we’ve heard a million times. The eloquent part that makes me so damn proud to be an American Army wife are these lesser-known humble painstaking steps that our country goes to in intricate honor of our liberty.
So, thank an Army Brat today for sacrificing for your right to keep and bear arms. If you need me I’ll be in the garage adding second amendment labels to our bins to remind me in my brink-of-insanity-moments of Army wife-ing that it’s all worth it. Please share this with someone who may need some of my 2A bin labels.
BoujAche Chronicles 