Alaskans are unique, honest, zany

During my childhood and my many tours of duty with the U.S. Army, I have been all round the United States and a good deal of the world. Yet, in all my travels I never received a hearty “welcome to …” until I came to Alaska.

When I moved up from Seattle in 2005 to settle here in the Valley, it floored me, to be honest. Talking to strangers on the ferry and on the road about my trip and my dream to live here, more than a few people offered me warm “welcome to Alaska!” greetings.

I found Alaskans to be a unique bunch of people. One has to be unique to live here and, as some of my friends say — including some family down in the Lower 48 — maybe just a little crazy, too. Which is something just up my alley. I am more than just a little nuts. But don’t worry, it is the good kind of nuts.

This state is full of raw beauty and some of the wildest weather changes I have ever encountered. The wildlife is sometimes straight out of the last ice age. At times it stops by in my yard, too. I admit it was the moose in my mother’s backyard while I was on leave that made me want to live here.

People here make this place great — friendly and ready for a good laugh. We all seem to share a deep love for this land and all the wildlife that lives here. And we’re very independent, hardy souls. Almost everyone I have encountered is unafraid to make his or her views known, which can get interesting, to be frank. But honestly, I love it. It’s a far cry from the snobbish attitudes of many from the Seattle area I left. It wasn’t always like that in the past. I love Seattle, but not its new attitude. People are still real in Alaska.

When the chips are down many here are willing to help out, like that young couple in Houston that got burned out of house and home due to a trailer fire. People from all over — including some of the firefighters — reached out to help them. Stories like that are hard to find elsewhere. But here it seems to be just another part of what it means to be Alaskan.

It doesn’t matter where you come from. It doesn’t matter whether one was born here or moved here from somewhere else. If one chooses to live here, endure all this land offers — like the fierce winter storms, deep cold and wind storms — in the true pioneer spirit anyone can become an Alaskan.

It may not be Utopia, but it is wild. The population is spread out across a land several times larger than Texas. If you bundle us all up we could fill Seattle alone with a lot of room left over. There is a great deal of elbow room up here, where going out into the wilderness sometimes means just a five-mile drive down the road. Nowhere else in all my travels could I do this.

And there are a whole lot of fellow veterans here, too. We have more veterans here per capita than any state in the nation. That has been a great boon to help me find some kind of healing and a measure of peace from a war fought in the deserts of Iraq. Somehow this land gives me reasons to go on, wonders to thrill and to humble the hardest of hearts and heal the deepest of wounds.

Should I mention politics and religion? Whoa boy! It can be like the 1890s at times. I will talk about it a spell because that is a part of what makes Alaska a great place to live. I have found that people here have deep, strong feelings on these two subjects, and no problem making those feelings known. That is an honesty more states and their residents need to learn. The discussions and beliefs expressed can be lively, passionate and sometimes heated. It is this strong streak of independence that runs through most here that gives Alaska and Alaskans their true personality. I wouldn’t change it for all the tea in China. I pity the fool who tries.

Alaska and Alaskans are a blend of the ancient and the modern. This blending, along with the raw wildness of this land, is what makes Alaska Alaska. We Alaskans are some of America’s hardiest, most independent and profoundly honest people — with a touch of zany added for flavor.

Wasilla resident Daniel D. Grota retired from the U.S. Army after more than 21 years of service.