How Being A Military Kid Affects My Vote

Just like all people I am shaped by my experiences and what I have been surrounded by from a young age. For me specifically, that means the military and the importance of military members in my life. My dad was a military officer for the majority of my life which means I have met plenty of other military families along the way. Some of those very same kids that I would play on base with have now grown up to become military members themselves.

Supporting our troops has always been very important to me. I got to live with these people all of my life and in the military community, we raise each other. After my dad retired, I became involved with a group at my high school that volunteers and focuses on helping current military members and veterans.

Even with all of this being a part of my life, I did not realize how much these values would come into play this current election season, so much in fact that I can't see myself voting for either candidate this presidential election and here is why.

Donald Trump can say he supports the troops all he wants but he does not have their safety in mind. Trump's solution for every "enemy" we have in the world is to bomb them and their families. Besides the fact that this would make everyone hate America even more than they already do (and trust me they do) it's completely unrealistic and idiotic. While I do believe in some cases it is necessary to take military action against groups in the world that are spreading terror, it is not the way to deal with most of the problems that the world faces today.

If this is really his "solution" then he has no regard for the lives of men and women in our armed forces if he is willing to send them into dangerous situations that could be solved with a simple dialogue. And he has proved this fact when he called Senator John McCain a "loser" for being a prisoner of war and for being captured. Need I say more?

And Hillary on the other hand, I can not trust either. This is because the tragedy in Benghazi happened under her watch and her treatment of it afterwards showed she had no remorse for the lives of the men that were lost there. Along with the other crimes, she has committed in her past (and the list is lengthy) I do not trust her as a Commander IN Chief for the military services.

And while for a lot of people, this might not be the most important thing to them while voting, or even top five. for me it is. Because I have seen the other side. I have experienced deployments and not being able to talk to a loved one for weeks at a time, half a world away, not even sure where they are. I need my President to be someone I can trust with the lives of people like my dad.