Identity is important. The way we see ourselves, the way we see our friends, the way we fit into our “team.” Whether this is your circle of friends, your co-workers or just the guys you play video games with online, being a part of a group lends a feeling of importance, and it helps us to define ourselves. In the military, this team cohesion isn’t only important, it also saves lives.
Getting people to work together and develop a feeling of camaraderie and trust isn’t easy when you’ve got a dozen guys sharing a small living quarters. The movies always show us male bonding in the Army, guys passing around cigarettes and photos of their girls back home, and this is part of the military experience, but the reality is that it can be just as tense as any other “roommate” type of situation. Every little bit helps when it comes to team building for a military unit, because keeping things cool is of the utmost importance to survival and to the mission.
Some units use custom belt buckles to help bolster their team identity. This serves a number of purposes. First off, it looks a lot cooler than the standard issue military buckle, but more importantly, bearing the team insignia and motto, the buckle serves as a reminder that no matter how hairy the situation gets, your unit is there to watch your back.
In civilian life, we have the luxury of being able to keep our friends at a comfortable distance. When we see people get too close, we call them “co-dependent.” In real life combat situations, co-dependency with your unit is the only thing that gets you home safe unless you have four arms and eyes in the back of your head. The bond shared by a military unit goes as deep as any marriage, as deep as any family, and you’re lucky if you get one friend in life you can lean on like a soldier leans on his unit.
Through the combat, through the boring stretches they call the “suck,” through friendship, strife and everything else, a military unit has to function as just that: a unit. Custom belt buckles can’t make up for proper training, but they don’t hurt the bonding process at all.