A letter to my cousin on entering the military

I would like to share a letter written by my nephew, 2nd Lt. Colin Crawford (age 24, U.S. Army, home town — Houston, Texas) to his cousin, Alec Lockhart (age 20, U.S. Navy, home town — Newtown, Conn.) who just recently began his military career in October 2015 in Great Lakes, Ill. Many family members wrote letters of encouragement and support during Alec’s boot camp experience but none could top what 2nd Lt. Colin Crawford had to share with his new recruit cousin. I hope you find it a worthwhile and inspirational read. It speaks on many levels: growth, maturity, persistence and perseverance, attitude, and above all, commitment no matter what path one embarks on — some very wise words. 

We in their family are very proud of these two and wholeheartedly thank all the men and women serving to protect this country and others in such nefarious times. (Note: Alec excelled in his basic training and is now stationed in South Carolina. Congratulations, Alec!) 

Peace and Happy New Year! 

— Lee Crawford, Lakeville

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Part 1 of 2

Alec, 

Forgive me for typing this. I would usually want to hand write a letter to a fresh recruit going through camp, but I have grown lazy. Apologies. I just wanted to say how proud I am of you. You have decided to join the few. You make up 1 percent of our country’s population who is willing to drop everything and fight. No matter the cause, no matter the enemy, no matter the mission, we will answer the call without hesitation. You have adopted the warrior spirit. I honor your strength and selflessness. 

It’s a shame we don’t see each other as much. I still remember you as a silly little kid running around the lake house in Vermont with that crazy father of yours. We have such a great family and good times were always a constant when everyone came together. I hear about you through my dad mostly and occasional emails from your mom. I hate to say it, but I see a lot of myself in you. We both took relatively similar paths in our journey to join the service. I’m not too sure about your dad’s side, but as far as I’m concerned we don’t come from a long lineage of military men in our families. 

We’re not like Lieutenant Dan in Forrest Gump where his Papi and his Grandpapi’s Papi fought and died in every major American conflict. No one told us to do this. We just did. We were always told by our families to go to college, get a degree, find a respectable job with decent pay, and then raise a family. Military service was never considered an option, yet we felt this burning desire to serve that we could never accurately explain to anyone. 

I felt it coming out of high school and into my first year of college. I thought I wanted to go to Marine Officer Candidate School. I did my research and when I sought advice from friends and family I always got the same answer. “Why would you do that? That’s a waste of time. Would you be ready to kill people? You’ll regret it. It’ll change you.” Simply put, everyone told me, no. All the negativity altered my thinking and I gave up on the idea. I proceeded throughout my second year of college with no direction. I partied too much, grades started to slack, I ran into the law a couple times, and then one day I just had enough of myself. I wanted more. I dropped out and was ready to enlist into the Army. 

Then my cousin from my mom’s side, an Iraq War veteran, convinced me to go another route. He mentioned going through officer training while getting my degree. It sounded good. Go back to school. Get it paid for. Do the training. Graduate. Become an officer. Be able to lead soldiers and fulfill my desire to serve. Too easy, right? Wrong. Next thing you know I’m filing off a bus in Fort Knox, Ky., with a handful of Drill Sergeants ready to welcome me with “open arms.” 

“What the hell did I get myself into?” That is a common question that ran through my mind during camp and is one I’m sure you have said a couple of times already during your brief stay at the Great Lakes. 

Part 2 next time.

Colin Crawford lives in Texas and is a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army.