American Sniper - Boekje Pienter

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Serving in the Teams is serving a greater good. As a civilian, I’d
just be serving my own good. Being a SEAL wasn’t just what I did; it
became who I was.
A FOURTH DEPLOYMENT
If things had worked according to “normal” procedures, I would have
been given a long break and a long stretch of shore duty after my
second deployment. But for various reasons, that didn’t happen.
The Team promised that I’d have a break after this deployment.
But that didn’t work either. I wasn’t real happy about it. I lost my temper
talking about it, as a matter of fact. I’d guess more than once.
Now, I like war, and I love doing my job, but it rankled me that the
Navy wasn’t keeping its word. With all the stress at home, an assignment
that would have kept me near my family at that point would have
been welcome. But I was told that the needs of the Navy came first.
And fair or not, that’s the way it was.
My blood pressure was still elevated.
The doctors blamed it on coffee and dip. According to them, my
blood pressure was as high as if I were drinking ten cups of coffee right
before the test. I was drinking coffee, but not nearly that much. They
strongly urged me to cut back, and to stop using dip.
Of course I didn’t argue with them. I didn’t want to get kicked out
of the SEALs, or go down a road that might lead to a medical discharge.
I suppose, in retrospect, some might wonder why I didn’t do
that, but it would have seemed like a cowardly thing to do. It would
never have felt right.