What makes a good soldier? Courage, physical prowess, toughness? Things that give him or her a certain rugged independence?
Perhaps.
But if you ask a soldier what makes a good soldier, odds are he or she will tell you… other soldiers.
“Teamwork is everything,” said an Army sergeant in an interview. “When you deploy you rely on the people to your left and right.”
That’s true beyond the battlefield as well, not only within the military branches themselves, but the communities they work in. Witness the Marine’s Toys for Tots program, which collects and distributes over 18 million toys to 7 million less fortunate children each holiday season.
And that kind of support goes the other way, with people coming together to support soldiers and veterans abroad and at home. Sometimes that happens in big ways, like parades and homecomings. And it happens in small ways, like a boy who collects and donates comic books (over 3,000 so far) for those in the military.
“They felt really grateful for the donation because all of the books would go to veterans in the hospital who need something fun to read and something to cheer them up,” the nine-year-old told a news station. “I was really happy that they were so excited about them.”
This is the kind of mutual support for and from our military that should be recognized all the time, but particularly on holidays like Veterans Day and Memorial Day. And at MassMutual we celebrate it.
Discover more from MassMutual …
Remembering MLK through mutuality
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