Ah. So you work for free? That nice hacienda style house with a stable there in what, East Tucson came for free? Retired out of DM or Luke and they gave you a house gratis, right? Right...sure they did.
A "manly" job is one where you keep your family housed, clothed and fed, and provide for their future. That's it.
Your earlier post alluded to that. So stay on that track, it's the right one. Any idiot can be trained to ride horses, shoot a big gun, drive a tractor; that's why the pay is low - simple skills. The difficult things in life require patience and dedication to develop talents and abilities that people have in varying degrees - and it's when all of those stars align that you have real value.
An acquaintance of mine is a 4 star. He's the sort of guy who doesn't talk about the illustrious past: he stays in the now. Working with him, you notice that there are very few rough spots, and he takes you along for the ride quite nicely. At the end, everyone gets it: that's how he ended up where he is.
No big noise, no chest thumping, no screaming...just the right mix of perception, organization and knowledge.
That's um, "manly". And he doesn't even have to wear the nice little epaulets every day: everyone knows.
Hmm...I also said “If the only thing you care about in your job is your paycheck...”
I have NEVER had a job where all I cared about was the paycheck. Never. I have worked jobs because I needed the cash, but I’ve always worked with pride and for the satisfaction of a job well done.
“Any idiot can be trained to ride horses, shoot a big gun, drive a tractor; that’s why the pay is low - simple skills.”
Hmmm...I’ve done those enough to know they are not simple skills. I’m reminded of a professional guitar player I met who said the guitar was the easiest instrument in the world to learn to play - and the hardest to play well.
Any idiot can sit on top of a mild horse, but a real man would aspire to more. If you watch a good cowboy cutting cattle, or watch folks riding jumpers or dressage, or reining, then you will see serious athletes performing at a level I will never reach - although I aspire to it every time I ride.
My last tour was in Afghanistan working EW. Shooting little guns in infantry is also an art, and a real man there takes it very seriously - mistakes kill people. The big guns - artillery - is even more demanding to do well. During tours as an ALO, I worked with both good and bad FSOs, and the good ones were as much artists as I tried to be as an ALO. And on Tuesday, I’m going to pay an expert to come to my place with a tractor and fix MY tractor work!
That is my point. A manly man doesn’t fill squares and collect cash. He constantly tries to do his best, for the pride and the joy of doing things very well.
The SEALS and Rangers want to be, not ‘just a soldier’, but the best! They don’t do it for the cash, but the love of being very good, and the recognition of their peers of their proven performance.
And yes, any woman who is worth spit will treat work the same way. My wife is a nurse. Some nurses do their hours and collect their checks. She works very hard, is constantly studying, and is exhausted at the end of every shift...for the same pay as the donut-eating fat lumps with RN badges.
Not for cash. For pride.