Internal Conflict

Doc Russia apparently got a letter from the Navy, offering to help pay off his student loans in exchange for a service commitment.

Remember, Doc did his duty as a Marine already, but the Navy's still interested in having him back.

This would not be a fiscally responsible move, according to Doc. Not to mention the lack of say-so about his life, separation from his wife, and everything else that goes along with serving in the military.

But he finds himself still thinking about it:

And then I start to get mad. I have a beautiful and loving wife. I have a great future, with the assurances of a great income. I have already done my duty. I already had my butt out there on some godforsaken corner of dirt. I have all of these things, and I would have to be pretty stupid to want to push it all aside, and risk it all just for some misguided sense of honor or duty, or some other intangible that I cannot lay words upon. Yep, one would have to really be soft in the head to do that, I think to myself, as I try unconvincingly to laugh at it. But I am not laughing, and that's why I am mad; I must be the dumbest sunofabitch on the planet, because in the face of all of this overwhelming logic spelling out in fine detail why I should just toss it in the circular file, and never think about it again, I can't quite get myself to throw away a stupid piece of paper.

Doc, that's because you're A GOOD MAN. One of the best neighbors I've ever been priveliged to know was a retired Marine GSgt, and he said, with very much the same tone you have in your writing, "Once a Marine, always a Marine".

I thank God for you, and the men and women like you, who are so motivated to defend our Nation.

My hat's off to you, Doc.