In the video below, Miles Murray of Seattle explains to WIBM why he chose to join the Army National Guard of Washington. His story illustrates the importance of military service as a route to successful adulthood for young men. Miles shares a bit about his specific role during his four years in the National Guard and talks about helping clean up in Oso after the mudslide disaster there.
Above is a 4-minute video that shows excerpts from our conversation with Miles Murray and Pilar Corder. Below is an edited transcript of the video.
Military service as a source of pride and dignity
Miles Murray: By the time I was an upperclassman in high school, and I still had classes I needed to make up, I knew I wasn’t getting into a college. I knew I wasn’t getting a scholarship. And so I thought, Ok, what can I do that won’t make me look like a failure in my dad’s eyes? It needed to be something that I could still say was my choice and something that I could own and take pride in. Joining the military was the answer. I felt like that was literally my only way to still kind of make my dad proud, when it’s all said and done.
WIBM: I’m sure that as far as routes from young adulthood into adulthood – routes that are regarded as successful ones – joining the military is a choice that a lot more men make than women make. And that really speaks to the importance of the presence of the military as an institution to provide that option that young men (and some young women) can choose, where they say: I didn’t really apply myself in high school, but here’s this thing I can do that generally has societal approval, and maybe I’ll see the world, I’ll meet people from different places, and the military will help me become disciplined and move myself from behaving like a kid to behaving like a grown-up.
Miles Murray: 100%. I recommend the military, and I recommend active duty. I was in the National Guard, which is reserves.
It’s amazing how God works. I decided on the military because I went to a college fair, and I actually only went because a girl I liked invited me to go with her. I had no desire to go to college. And then I saw the stand for the National Guard and I was like, hmmm. Then that was it. One thing led to another and then everything ended up working out the way it did.
I 100% recommend the military to anybody who doesn’t know exactly what they want to do out of high school. If you don’t know, I really strongly discourage going to college, just because of what they’re teaching in colleges nowadays. But I definitely highly recommend military. Just like Pilar’s dad did – perfect example. Go active duty because that way you are immersed in a completely different realm of reality with people there to train you and mentor you and build your self-confidence. They build everything you need, in my opinion, to really be a respected soldier, a true citizen of your county.
Read related WIBM post: Army Ranger Pat Tillman’s connections to Washington state
What Miles did in the National Guard
WIBM: Tell us about your experience in the Army National Guard.
Miles Murray: I like working with my hands and building stuff. I always have. My job in the National Guard was carpentry and masonry. I feel like carpentry is the most basic thing you can do if you want to build stuff.
There are all different types of jobs you can do, but I was an engineer. Engineers in the Army are a separate little section. They’re called the Army Corps of Engineers. They have ‘vertical’ engineers and ‘horizontal’ engineers. Long story short, you can either build stuff or blow stuff up if you’re an engineer. I was part of a group that built stuff.
After the mudslide that happened in Oso in 2014, I was sent there to help. That was a terrible scene, a complete disaster! The huge mudslide wiped out an entire little town, and we went there to help clean it up. So in the National Guard you have your job, and then you a duty to help out when disasters like the Oso mudslide happen.
I was only in the military for four years. I really just joined so I could get the experience and be able to say that I served my country, pretty much. I never saw any combat and never went to war. I’m grateful for that.
