The reasons Americans have for enlisting in the military are abundant and varied, but the motivation offered by this new recruit to his drill sergeant may be a first.

The handwritten note was posted to Reddit by Basic Combat Training (BCT) Drill Instructor Looney82. These are the career soldiers in the green campaign hats who receive raw recruits from every imaginable background in the country. Looney82 has a sterling reputation on Reddit that lends itself to believing the letter is genuine.

A drill sergeant's job is a 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week gig in the Army called "Walking the Trail." It's prestigious and demanding, but challenging and considered an integral part of a successful enlisted career. This drill sergeant was looking to get an idea of why his new Privates joined the military and asked for a paragraph or two outlining their motivations.

This young soldier has been in uniform no more than a few weeks, is sleeping no more than a few hours a night in a large bunkbed-filled room with up to 60 or so other recruits. He or she is getting woken up to pull watch, is learning how to use an automatic rifle, a belt-fed machine gun, a rocket launcher, a claymore mine, six types of hand grenades, and a grenade launcher.

This soldier is doing all this because:

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