Here I am! Send me.

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My wife and I have always had a vision for who we want our kids to be. “We don’t care if you are a garbageman or a heart surgeon, but be kind, work hard, and serve others.” (As a family of faith, we add “love Jesus.”) A lot of the time, we follow it all up with a half-joking “just please don’t enlist in the Army.”

And so, God having a sense of humor, last week we dropped off our 18-year-old son to report to basic training. He’ll spend the rest of the year — about 22 weeks — at Fort Moore, Georgia, learning the discipline and skills he needs to become a U.S. Army infantryman.

Most of our friends and family are excited for him, and they know what an incredible soldier he will be. Others have expressed concerns — not about him, but about the current state of our military and our country.

One well-meaning acquaintance asked, “How could you let him join the military ‘with all that’s going on’?” Honestly, I couldn’t tell if “all that’s going on” is (a) the military is too woke and he’ll spend all his time at drag shows instead of training for combat or (b) the military is perhaps not woke enough, and surely my poor baby boy will be given a gun, wished good luck, and immediately shipped to the front lines of eastern Ukraine. Maybe both?

Fortunately, of course, neither of these things is true. As a career military officer myself, I know that our all-volunteer force is every bit as capable as it ever has been. Civilian leaders come and go, and with them come new policies, processes and priorities. My own 18-year career has spanned the Bush, Obama, Trump and Biden years, the repeal of don’t-ask-don’t-tell, a recession, COVID and countless other crises of internal and external origin — and yet our focus on discipline and readiness has never wavered.

And let me tell you more about where my son is heading. The commissioned and non-commissioned officers of the U.S. military are smart, honest and dedicated professionals, up to the task of navigating our ever-changing nation and world. The young Americans they lead are the very best among us — they have to be, since less than a quarter of Americans aged 17 to 24 even qualify for military service. My son will spend the next five months being trained in loyalty, duty, respect, selfless service, honor, integrity and personal courage.

But, you may ask — what about the rest of the world? China’s threats to attack Taiwan? Russia’s ongoing attack of Ukraine? Gaza? Iran? Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un’s emerging bromance? The world is certainly a dangerous place. Fortunately, our nation’s leaders (elected and otherwise) have been consistently dedicated to using the other instruments of national power — diplomatic, informational and economic — to achieve national objectives without the use of force. We do this all while maintaining a ready military force to deter our adversaries and, if necessary, defeat them.

That’s not to say that military service is not without risk. I deployed to combat zones numerous times, and there is no reason to think my son will not do the same.

At times like this, there are folks who love to quote from the Bible’s book of Isaiah: “And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?’ Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.” But can I tell you a secret about what happens next? Isaiah goes… and it’s kind of a disaster. No one listened to him. No one changed course. By any objective measure, for reasons outside of his control, Isaiah’s mission was a failure.

But we go — and my son is going — because someone must go.

We all must go somewhere, even if it’s messy. It’s our duty as citizens. We can’t force the homeless into housing, but we can serve him food. We can’t break our neighbor’s addiction, but we can show her hope and kindness. We can’t fix our community’s financial situation, but we can give generously.  And my son can’t secure the nation by himself, but he can be one of the selfless men and women who raises his hand and tries.

By the grace of God, he is.

And I am so proud of him.

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