Going the Distance

We were told to get in rows and stand at the positon of attention, this was frightening. We were told to run to the bus from here, this is where I was split up with everyone I came with. The base was three hours away from the airport. On the bus ride over there I called and texted everyone I knew for three hours. I called Jed first, he could not talk long because he had a meeting, although I knew if I called my mom or Ayden they would both cry and that would make things harder on me. After I talked to Jed and he convinced me everything was ok after 20 minutes of me crying to him as if he could come pick me up and take me home. After this I texted Boone to be sure he made it on a shuttle, he did. Boone was on the Shuttle behind me. That was the last time I talked to him until the day after graduation. We made it to the reception building at nearly 11 o’clock and briefed until about one. We finally got to bed at 2, and we were woken up at 4:30 the following morning. During reception they checked our dental, blood type, eye sight, etc. this is where we received our uniforms, and most importantly where we met our first Drill Sergeants. In receptions Drill Sergeants are almost done with their contracts, they cannot make you preform corrective action, or give you RBIs, all they can do is get really close to you and scream as loud as they could. I was here for seven days, and then after those seven days were

Prior to September 11, 2001, I had no idea about what I wanted to do with my life. After the tragic events of September 11 and talking with several people at each branch's recruiters' stations- I decided that I would join the United States Navy. On November 14, upon arriving at Naval Station Great Lakes, I did not know what to expect. Over the next 8 weeks I was taught not only things to help me survive the Navy but life lessons to help me get through life in general. When I arrived at boot camp, I was given a complete health and dental physicals to ensure I was healthy enough to endure the stringent activities that I was going to go through. Along with my physicals, I was given shots to ensure that I would stay healthy. After shots, I was given

Twenty-six years ago I a 17-year-old boy joined the United States Army. I served my country faithfully for 22 years, two months and four days; I served in the Transportation Corps. My time in the army was a special period in my life. I gain a lot of life experiences as well as professional ones; the military shaped and molded me into the husband, father son, and brother that I am today. During my service, I grew up and learned several life lessons that would serve me well in and out of the army. To get a real understand on how the military shaped me into the person, I am today; I must first give you some insight into the person I was before I left for basic training. I graduated high school in 1991 just four months’ shy of my 18th birthday;

My mother worked day and night so I had to care for my sister and cousins. On some occasions I had to help my mom clean houses to earn money. At the age of thirteen up until I was sixteen I was cleaning houses for the people we longed to be. I got a glimpse of a life I have never known. For the most part my mom’s boss was nice, but her family was ignorant at times. They would ask me where I have traveled and if I’ve been to all these kinds of expensive places. When I answered no they asked why not. I guess they didn’t comprehend the fact that my mom and I were cleaning their dishes and making their beds for less than the minimum wage to be able to barely afford the rent of the small room we all

Without a doubt the single most influential experience in my life has been graduating from Marine Corps boot camp at MCRD San Diego. They say less than one percent of United States Citizens serve in the military and a small fraction of them serve as United States Marines. I take great pride in the fact that standing on those famous yellow footprints separates me from more than 99% of people I will meet. Some people claim boot camp was easy for them, that they didn’t struggle or second guess themselves; unfortunately I am not one of those people. I greatly struggled, not physically as that was easy but mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. Initially I wasn’t sure if I had made the right decision in enlisting right out of high school. But then

The Army expects you to succeed higher than ever even with a High School Diploma or a GED,They want somebody to know what they are doing especially they do not no one at all to act dumb or be disrespectful ,The Army wants someone to be respect young man or women who would want to get their heads on straight to achieve more the expect ASVAB scores out of a Graduated Highschool Individual is a 31 and a G.E.D Graduate is a

As I grew older, it was impossible to notice that my world was imperfect. In elementary school, all my parent’s problems here hidden; I didn’t understand my family’s economic status. As I grew older and began to ask my parents question about our lifestyle and compared it to the other people around us. This conversation would always end in the same place; because we can't afford it. My high school is composed of economically unstable families, and economically stable families. Seeing that other families were better off than mine, I grew up with the idea that a comfortable life, is a luxurious life. I know that others around

I had learned the art of being a big guy that could be tinier and quieter than a field mouse. I had learned my lesson and now began the practice of listening before speaking and it was worked wonderfully in my favor because I hadn’t received the wrath of any of my drill instructors. I started to realize that the military was teaching me valuable tools that would help me throughout my life, not just a means for me to survive basic training.

Basic and advanced individual training pushed me to give my all in everything I do. The ability to serve my country and travel made me proud. When I was direct commission as a physician assistant in the National Guard it thrust me into a leadership role that I was not trained for, but my life experiences to this point helped me on this path. Training soldiers and maintaining battalion medical readiness was the core of my duties. Amongst the most valuable attributes I developed while serving was time management, extensive preparation and

Growing up as a military brat wasn't easy, there were many places we had to go to and we didn't have a choice. One of those places was here ,Illinois, and I was ten when we made the move here.This move was probably the hardest thing I have ever physically gone through considering all of my mom and I's stuff was lost in the ocean because the place we moved from was Hawaii.So, when we got here me and mom both didn't have our stuff but the rest of my family did.To make matters worse my dad was being shipped out to South Korea and we didn't have a house. For a whole year we were homeless,we put what was left of our stuff into storage and moved in with grandma. As terrible as that year was, it taught me a lot about what some people actually live

Little is know about my life until I enlisted into the military. I was well educated, and that helped me a great deal when it came to joining the Continental Army. I had most of my military training there, and was later stationed in Illinois at Fort Kaskaskia under Captain Russell Bissell (virginia.edu). I later was transferred to Camp Dubois in Missouri where I, at the time, was in charge of 8 privates. I was always seeking new opportunities, and in 1804 at age 23, I was given the opportunity

"I have been in multiple situations where I have either feared for my life or was ready to die for my country. How we were raised We were all raised differently, but we all joined to serve our country. Regardless, of our Military Occupation Specialty, we all volunteered for the greater good of the nation.

Living in poor conditions was never easy when I was young. My dad worked in a coal mine to support mom, myself and my six sisters.

At only nineteen years old I have been through a lot in life. So much to the point that most people soon realize why I give my all in everything that I do.one thing that will forever stick with me is being homeless as a kid at a young age. Growing up in Mobile, Alabama I grew up with my mother and four siblings. I was next to the youngest out of five kids. My mother had a job at USA medical center where she had worked since she was 21 years old. My mother worked with the house keeping service as basically a janitor. My mother worked six days a week as much as she could to ensure we at least got to school. Even though mom worked so hard sometimes ends were just not met. Some nights she would go to bed hungry so that my siblings and I would have something to eat. Well one day mom came home from a long day’s work to a letter that stated that basically we had a nine days to get our stuff and leave because we were being evicted for not having the money to pay rent. We didn’t have anywhere to go, we couldn’t even afford to go anywhere. This was the first time I had ever seen my mother break down and just cry her eyes out. I didn’t realize at that moment what was going on. Four to five days had passed by with no luck at all. Then by the grace of god we got a phone call from an organization known as family promise. Family promise basically assists with families who are at risk of becoming homeless. They had called after someone had let them know our situation. So we arranged to stay

I had never faced homelessness before.I have heard of it, witnessed it but I never thought of it actually affecting me. It started when my mom was unemployed for a short, period between ending of my 8th grade year and throughout my Freshman year, I was thirteen on my way to turning fourteen . I managed to keep a positive attitude and hold my own against it. Ultimately it got to me , when my mom was ordered to court and came back with the news that we had to move out by the end of August.This was the most punishing blow. Thousands of thoughts raced through my mind. Where would I sleep or eat?The thought of the humiliation of being seen on the streets hungry, dirty, made me feel like a subhuman.