Personal Experience: My Connection To The Marine Corps

Once a Marine always a Marine. Growing up I had many success stories around me. It was very inspirational and this set the example for my future. Now it is my time to carry on the legacy. Having the support that I receive from my parents and family is important, especially when I am away from them for long periods. Sometimes it is hard to understand how important family is on one’s achievements. However, when you do not have them on a daily basis, it is hard not to realize this impact.

November 10, 1775, is revered as being the Marine Corps birthday, and its birthplace being at Tun Tavern, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Continental Congress met at Tun Tavern, to establish two battalions of Continental Marines, under the command of Cpt. Samuel Nicholas, as an amphibious fighting force who would later in March of 1776, participate in their first foreign raid, in the Bahamas (www.globalsecurity.org ). After the Treaty of Paris

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

There are many different cultures or social groups that have a language barrier whether that is because of religion, race, or social differences. These language barriers eventually will have to be overcome so that we can all communicate with each other. Out of these social groups, comes the greatest fighting force in the World, The Marine Corps. Marines have a very unique language dialog that has been preserved for hundreds of years Unfortunately, there comes a point in time when a Marine must transition out of the Marine Corps into the “Civilian World” (as we call it). Transitioning is a very exciting time for Marines but it also is very difficult time due to the strong language community that we belong to.

My Mother and Father relocated from Costa Rica to New York City where they met got married and where I was born. When I was just two years old, always wanting the best for us, my father moved our family from New York City to Jacksonville, FL in search of a better paying job and the American dream so he could provide us with a better quality of life. To ensure we were always clothed and feed, my father sacrificed everything for us and worked long hours to do so. Though I did have a pronounced, safe and active upbringing the North Florida school system didn’t expect much from the Hispanics that were starting to move to the then small town; unfortunately since my parents worked so much they expected the school system

It all began in 2003 when President Bush declared war on Iraq. He declared that, “Now that conflict has come, the only way to limit its duration is to apply decisive force” (Bush). Unfortunately, the war in Iraq became one of the longest and most controversial wars fought by America. Thanks to the sacrifices of the men and women in uniform, the mission ended in 2011. However, this war still lives in the hearts of those that fought for the lives of others. In Soft Spots: A Marine’s Memoir of Combat and Post-traumatic stress disorder, Author, Sargent Clint Van Winkle is one of those men that fought and is still fighting his own mental battle of the pass war. Despite all the uncertainties of whether the war was worth fighting for or not, Sargent Van Winkle favored the War against Terror, because he enjoyed the life of combat, being a Marine and the brotherhood that came along with survival.

I, Cpl Nathaniel K. Bouffard was born on June 15, 1996 in Burlington, Vermont. Where I then went to Flynn Elementary School from kindergarten to 5th grade. After that I went to City Middle school. Then for high school I went to Bellows Free Academy, where I graduate from. I decided to join the Marine Corps half way through my senior year in high school. I decided I was not ready for college, I figured I would be focusing more on social life then schooling. So I thought the military was the best option. I chose the Marine Corps over all the other branches because in my eyes and to this day the Corps is the elite fighting force of the world. I also am a fourth generation Marine in my family my great grandfather was a Sergeant in the Marine corps in WWII. My grandfather was a Sergeant during the Korean War, he later changed branches into the Airforce and retired as a Chief Master Sergeant. His brother my great uncle was a Marine Sergeant during the Korean War as

I grew up in what I thought was a pretty typical suburban American family. I was always taught to pray, respect my family, and love my county. It was never a real question of what I wanted to do when I graduated high school. The Marines was the only option for me. Remembering that fateful day in September of 2001, I would have it no other way. I always held a grudge. A grudge against someone that didn’t have a name or a face. In my ignorance I believed that it was everyone over in Iraq or Afghanistan who would do my country harm. It would be through the Marine Corps that I would learn the truth. No matter where you are from, what religion you follow, where you stand on the social latter, we are all the same.

Joining the military was astonishing in very many aspects in my life and it truly molded me into who I am today. I will genuinely say that the most important people in my life are my mother and father. I am not a parent myself but I have had years to only imagine how tough parenting can be; especially when raising three stubborn boys. My mother and father are very open minded and kind hearted to everyone regardless of who they are. I will be honest here and say that I may not have been as grateful as I should have been when I was a younger kid, but that’s just life. When you are younger, everything is very simple and do not realize the little things in life. I had no other worries except for, “What’s for dinner?”. The military made me realize how much I appreciated and very much needed my loved ones. Travelling far away to Marine Corps Recruiting Depot, San Diego California and starting my very own journey was one of the toughest decisions at that time to make for myself.

At 18, I enlisted in the Marine Corps. In basic training, I was introduced to a new way of speaking, and of thinking. This new language, integral to the transformation of my thought practices, transformed me, from a civilian to a Marine. My experiences in the Marines confirm the idea of linguistic relativity, proposed in the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis, and served as my initiation into the Marine Corp’s Community of Practice.

When I was growing up, the only family I had was my mom and her side of the family. My father was not a big part of my life at that point in time, and our relationship has suffered because of it. For the first four years of my life, my father was an active member of the Marine Corps. His absence in my life impacted our relationship since we never had a chance to connect, and I don 't think we ever recovered from that. We’re on good terms now, but we don’t have any special connection like my mom and I do. The two of us were never close, we never see eye to eye, and we can barely hold a conversation that lasts longer than five minutes.

After watching this film for several times, a viewpoint comes into my mind that almost all of people are not inborn soldiers, but it’s quite clear that most of them could be soldiers through a series of training in the army. Unlike a majority of jobs in our daily lives, soldiering could be more complicated and it needs people to take a high level of risk in the war and even some people sacrifice their lives in order to defend their countries’ rights and protect citizens’ safety. Therefore, many people may have formed a false concept that only specific groups of people are suitable for selecting as soldiers. In fact, anyone’s son will do it and they can do it very well. In the end of this film, most soldiers’ family members express that they are proud of their sons or daughters. That’s because their sons or daughters assume responsibility and make great contributions to the society.

My darkest hour was also the moment I became a man. When all my years of training, all the blood, sweat, and tears of running, aiming, skills training, and hand to hand combat had finally been put to the test. My first kill. It wasn’t a proud moment but it was one on necessity and choice that I’ve played over and over again and I still get the same result. It would have gone exactly the same.

I joined the Marine Corps looking for a challenge. I wanted to open doors for a new career and longed to have a positive impact on the world around me. Looking back five years later, I realize I found all that I originally sought, but I’ve also found something profoundly satisfying and meaningful that I never knew I was missing.

One sunny October morning I awoke to my Great Grandfather telling my brother a story. I asked him if he would please restart the story, And he did and this is what he said. I was in deep in the jungles of Vietnam on a top security mission. Deep undercover over enemy lines, His mission was to get some information about a securite weapon called an anti-aircraft self propelled system. It could take out an entire fleet of aircrafts with its extreme accuracy, and deadly range.