What keeps you going when you start to lose hope in the military?

The always Ain't what it used to be.

When I joined in 98 it was a hard Army. You had to run a 11:54 two mile, 82 Pushups and 92 sit-ups to max the 17-21 age category, which was the hardest category. I would get smoked for hours just for being alive, so that my body would be strong. Promotions weren't called STEP, you just didn't promote till you finished your NCOES.

When I went to Ranger school in 99 you couldn't have camelbacks, or knee pads, or non issue boots, but the RI's griped that it was so much easier because we got two MREs a day and they only got one. Our entire leadership failed a patrol because the company commander called a safety index and recycled everyone. We graduated looking like cancer survival patients

When I returned to deploy with the Guard in 04 people said it wasn't the Pre-millenial Army it used to be because now the APFT standards were easier.

When I joined Active Duty and was in The Surge people said it wasn't the Army it used to be because it was impossible to kick dirt bags out. We had AWOLS, people who were so fat they stayed E2s for years, people with criminal records, etc. But everyone deployed like clockwork every two years. NCOES requirements were rolled back and suddenly you had 21 year old SSGs who didn't know how to lead and everyone said it wasn't like the old Army where leaders were actually experienced.

Then I went to work at Ranger School in 2009 and the RI's griped it wasn't as hard as it used to be. Students could wear elbow pads and kneed pads, they had camelbacks, they had 240s that actually fired instead of the old M60s. They had the new lightweight tripods, not the old 35 pound clunkers. We gave the students Hooah bars and Cera sport electrolyte drinks. RI's needed more justification to fail someone on their patrols and a student needed less Go's to graduate and students didn't look like they left a concentration camp when they graduated.

Then we started reducing the force in 2013. Some idiots ended up killing some Soldiers during promotion and suddenly it was hazing to punch someone's rank into their chest. Somehow that started to become all physical corrective training equals hazing, and everyone said the Army is getting soft. The Army re-implemented QMP and booting leaders who had messed up and had not been separated before. People said it's not like the old Army, but QMP was a decades old program.

Then NCOES requirements get re-implemented and everyone thinks it's new, even though it's been the standard for decades, and they say it's not like the Old Army.

The Army will always continue to change, when you are no longer able to adapt to it and change with it, you are no longer relevant. The people who gripe that it's not what it used to be are choosing to be irrelevant rather than adapt. In my personal opinion this is one of the greatest issues that hold some vets back, stuck in the glory days of their service, but that's just a personal observation.

What keeps most of us going is the people we work with. But for everyone there comes a time when you say enough is enough and you move on. If you ask most retirees they'll tell you that most of them hit a point where they just knew it was time. If you haven't hit that point, just remember that you are helping someone else, growing the next generation, teaching them how to lead so they can make the organization better for the people that follow them in the distant future

The main thing that keeps me going, if nothing else, is the fact that I'm 10 years in. One way or another I'll push throw the second half and hit that retirement mark.

Other than that, being able to lead and teach troops gives me a moral boost when I'm feeling low. Knowing I'm doing what I can to make an impact in the lives and careers of fellow soldiers.

A drill sergeant or maybe my CO in basic told me during our final ruck March that the reason you stay in may not be the reason you joined. And that's definitely true in my case.

I try and hunt the good stuff and all that jazz they teach in MRT.

For me it was always simple, it was just as easy to explain to my peers and Soldiers. When changes in regulation and policy change you have to ask yourself two simple questions; can I follow the orders of those appointed over me, and can I do that while ensuring my Soldiers and their Families are being taken care of in executing those orders.

If not, get out.

Don't get me wrong, there is a lot of soul-searching that comes as part of answering these question, but it is relatively simple.