The Vietnam War was ending and the Corps was cutting manpower. Promotions were frozen. There were going to be E-4s with eight years in grade. I got out, went to college, drifted. I missed having a sense of Mission with a capital 'M' ... the sense that I was doing something important for the country and the Corps. I finally found a career that gave me a sense of Mission, doing something important and constructive. That's what I needed.

That said, the war in Ukraine is the first in a long time where the moral issues are so clear cut. There are good guys and bad guys and you can become a good guy for the price of a plane ticket. If I wasn't old as fuck I'd be tempted.