It’s a gut wrenching, thankless and sometimes heartless job. I did it for 24 years. If not for a a congenital spinal malformation I would still be doing it. I saw a number of fellow officers kill themselves. Some did it quick with a gun. Some did it slowly with a bottle or pills. Either way, they’re still dead. You have to find your own motivations to do the job, because you’re not gonna get a pat on the back very often. And you have to find a way to deal with the stress when it comes. I’m glad I did it. But I’m also glad I’m retired.
CC
And thank you for your service to our country as well.
Just because you are not military and serving in an officially declared war zone, does not mean you were any less protecting the lives of decent Americans than the officially labeled soldiers did.
It was just a different capacity.
A few bad apples give all LEOs a bad name and unfortunately, it does seem like the bad apples are on the rise. However, I have known some LEO’s personally, and they were genuinely nice people who did it because they wanted to help people and make a difference in the world, and thought this would be a way to do it.
God bless you, sir.