Why I Wear The Uniform: Airman Khari Harris

  • Published
  • By Airman Khari Harris
  • 35th Communications Squadron
MISAWA AIR BASE, Japan --  My reason for wearing the uniform is not a heartwarming story. It doesn't involve overcoming challenges and adversity. It is nothing anyone would want to watch a movie about. All my life I've been a dreamer; always imagining myself as something great and awe-inspiring, like a pilot or a neurosurgeon, living on a private island accessible only by my private jet. I would basically be the world's most interesting person, owning a pet lion that knows how to fetch or making things twice as valuable by sneezing on them. I have known all my life that would never happen unless I found a magical genie in a bottle.

However, a year ago I was standing in front of a cash register amounting next to nothing. Needless to say, I couldn't have been further from my dream life. There I was wondering how I ended up there; then I saw something that would change my life. An Airman walked in. Sure I had seen military personnel before, but this was different than those other times. It wasn't that he was particularly different from all the others, but without knowing his story I saw him as larger than life and similar to a superhero. I have no idea who he was or what he was doing. He didn't even buy anything, but instead looked around the candy aisle for maybe two minutes and left the store; but I was thinking that I wanted to be like him. I didn't even feel that way when Shaq walked into the store. That young man was the one thing that made me want to join.

I wasn't in a moment of grand satisfaction the day I got my Airman Battle Uniform. I wasn't overwhelmingly proud or happy, nor did I stand any taller or poke out my chest in a sense of accomplishment. I felt awkward. I felt like I didn't deserve or earn it. I felt like this was the uniform of heroes. Who was to wear it? However, as BMT went on and I wore it more, the less strange it felt. Although I'm the lowest rank on this base and the word "hero" isn't the word I would use to describe myself, the uniform felt less like an article of clothing and more like a second skin; like I've worn it my entire life. In technical school, people would say how they couldn't wait to wear their civilian clothes again. I never understood that mindset. It felt stranger for me to wear jeans and a t-shirt than an ABU uniform. Even here at Misawa, I sometimes wear my ABUs for hours after leaving the office. The dream of the private island and making money off my used tissues is gone. Instead a new dream has taken its place. And it is less of a dream and more of a reality. Why do I wear the uniform? Because I can't see myself doing anything else. It just feels right.