I get your frustration, this might sound banal, but that's why we're called 'veterans'. There's a lot of absurd, stupid stuff in the (US) military. But when it'

I get your frustration, this might sound banal, but that's why we're called 'veterans'. There's a lot of absurd, stupid stuff in the (US) military. But when it's firing on all cylinders it can truly be site to behold. It can be simple things, like imagine any civilian organization lining up at 6:30am, 1,000+ people stepping off to run at the same moment; in winter, in the cold, in the dark. That's a brigade run in the army. Happens all the time. To me the big thing is leadership. Top down and bottom up. Professionalism and personal accountability. You just don't see that in the civilian world. I was talking to an older guy at work last week. He was talking about something military related using "that" tone of voice and some authority. Turned out he was a vet, first gulf war, air borne freaking ranger, now enterprise architect. I was amazed. Civilians just don't understand. Nor should they.