First Impressions - Entertainment or Something Deeper?
When I first started watching Squid Game,
I expected brutal competition, high tension, and shocking twists.
But as the episodes unfolded,
I realized I wasn't just watching a dystopian thriller.
I was watching reflections of struggles
I had lived through after leaving the military.
The Brutal Competition - A Mirror of Post-Military Life
After leaving the Army,
civilian life often felt like an invisible competition—
a scramble for jobs, stability, and identity.
In Squid Game, the players fought for survival, not glory.
That desperation, that quiet fear behind their eyes—
I had seen it in real life,
in veterans trying to rebuild from scratch.
Trust and Betrayal - Hard Lessons from Real Life
In the Army, trust was everything.
Your life depended on the person beside you.
In civilian life, trust became more complicated.
Just like in Squid Game,
alliances formed and shattered in an instant,
often for survival, not malice.
Learning who to trust—and when not to—
was one of the harshest realities I faced outside the military.
Silent Struggles - Battles No One Sees
Not all battles are fought with guns or fists.
Many are fought silently—against fear, loneliness, regret.
Squid Game showed those invisible battles better than any show I'd seen before.
The characters carried wounds you couldn’t see,
just like many veterans do, even long after the fighting ends.
Survival Over Honor - When Principles Get Tested
In theory, honor and integrity guide every decision.
In practice, survival sometimes forces painful choices.
Watching Squid Game, I saw characters compromise themselves,
and I understood.
It’s easy to judge from a distance.
It’s harder when you’re the one forced to choose
between dignity and survival.
A Reflection of Society - Not Just Korea, But Everywhere
Though Squid Game is deeply Korean,
its message is universal.
I saw American veterans struggle in similar ways—
left to navigate a system that often feels rigged against them.
Debt, isolation, invisible battles—
the show wasn’t just about Korea’s hardships.
It was about the human cost of being forgotten.
Carrying Forward - What 'Squid Game' Taught Me About Resilience
Squid Game didn’t offer easy answers.
Neither does real life.
But it reminded me of something crucial:
Even when the world feels brutal and unfair,
holding onto even the smallest shard of humanity matters.
As a veteran, and as a human being,
resilience isn’t about winning.
It’s about refusing to give up on yourself.
