Exactly. If I hadn't served, I wouldn't know the first thing about how to shoot properly. I probably wouldn't have given a second thought to shining a flashlight around at night. I also probably wouldn't have gotten the full experience of how intrusive bureaucracy can be. I wouldn't have seen how many man hours, and therefore tax dollars, are wasted by adhering to the endless mountain of regulations.

When I get out of the military, I'm going to have some challenges ahead of me to get my unit set up, but not nearly as much of a challenge as if I were going into it completely blind.