Personal Narrative: My Military Journey

Everyone knows that a soldier is someone that has made the ultimate sacrifice. By that I mean someone that has gave up being with family and friends to go and help the world. However, being a civilian may be difficult at times, it does not even compare. The responsibilities of a solders can be challenging, rewarding and yet demanding. As a United States Soldier, fighting for our country, both home and abroad, we are considered as a band of brothers, well some may even call it a family whom incorporate the antic of military first, family second and accountability fits into the category as top priority. Within the United States, the importance of keeping our patrons safe and free of any potential threats that can be a risk to safety is also near

The most challenging aspect I have found about being a leader and Soldier in the Army is finding balance between Army life and life outside of my career. As a father and a husband, I have to consciously make time for the other factors in my life. Since I have spent an average of my adult life more at work than at home, whether deployed or in garrison, I have formed lasting bonds with peers, superiors and subordinates alike. It is a delicate balance to ensure that I am creating similar bonds with my 10 and 16 year old boys, who live with their mother, while continuously strengthening my bond with my wife. Although this balance remains a challenge, I have found that by anticipating various reactions to my words and actions that I am choosing to say what I actually mean. That simple process has positive impacts on my continuing effort to build resiliency. I also make it a point to “hunt the good stuff” and focus on the positive aspects of my life rather than the things that cause me to stress. I find that positive communication and exercise are also good releases for me and helps me to feel less overwhelmed.

Growing up as a military child and living all over the world, I was afforded many

With every organization comes a degree of change. The Marine Corps is no different. With a rapidly changing world, we must strive to sustain the transformation and remain true to our ethos. Across the Marine Corps the culture of each unit is different, with sustaining the transformation as our tool we can make each unit better for new generations of Marines. Marine Raider Training Center sustains the transformation by holding quarterly promotion panels to ensure deserving promotions; however it fails to sustain the transformation by not welcoming new Marines to the unit appropriately, I will build a Welcome Aboard package to sustain the transformation for my Marines.

On the early morning of April 19th, my husband left to gather with the militia. I being worried could not go back to sleep and awaited by the window from time to time. The children were still asleep and out of the corner of my eyes, I see at least a couple hundred of lobsterbacks. I was frightened and crouched making sure I wasn’t seen. Oh how my heart beated, and I am ashamed to remind myself that the militia fired. Perhaps out of fear, but they fired. Immediately there was movement until my eyes could see, running, shooting, bloodshed. As soon as I saw the Regulars marching, and the house being so near to all the commotion I ran to the children and hoped they wouldn’t burn the house down. I was prepared, nervous for the life of my husband

This was my first deployment to Iraq and second overall deployment with Bravo Company, 1-501 Parachute Infantry Regiment. I was only in one direct fire engagement during my first deployment. So when we were notified of your company being selected to change areas of operation to one of the hottest spots in all of Iraq I was not sure what to expect. I had only been a Squad Leader for 6 months and I was not exactly sure how my young squad would handle the realities of war. We were stationed in Alaska and the army chose us to attend a Joint Readiness Training Center (JRTC) rotation in Fort Polk, Louisiana that prepared us for the adverse conditions of Iraq. During JRTC we conducted multiple raids while being paired with a team from 20th Special

Hello everyone. I was born and raised in Puerto Rico. In 1987, my dad was working for IBM and was given an opportunity to move to United States. After a few months of debating and researching, my parents chose Knoxville as our new home. Four years later, I graduated from high school and enlisted in the Marine Corps. During my four years of service, I traveled from one side of the world to the other and saw and did things many people can’t even imagine. Tough as the work was at times, I wouldn’t trade that time for anything as it shaped my view of the world and, along with my family, became part of the foundation on which I built my life.

My first combat deployment was one that gave me a vast majority of experiences and shaped my mind and the decisions I would make as a Noncommissioned Officer. Along with my unit I deployed to Iraq for a year, conducted missions by helping the people of Iraq to establish a functioning government, and uproot insurgents. My unit had trained just as hard as all other units in the U.S. Army and we relished the fact that we would have the opportunity to deploy. For the better part this deployment did have its high points as well as indubitable low points that we wished would have never happened.

My army career was right on track. I had been in the army 3 years at this point, coming up on 4, and already had completed air assault school, been awarded my expert infantry badge, and had one 15 month deployment under my belt. I was assigned to the scout platoon sniper section and was waiting for a sniper school packet to get final approval from the company commander. I had been studying for the sergeant promotion board for months. I knew that study guide like the back of my hand, I knew whatever question I was asked by the command sergeant major I would have an answer for. I went to the promotion board that morning and blew it out of the water. My dress uniform was perfect. No one was able to find a single deficiency. The soldiers creed

On top of the hill, they followed the Georgian exterior around until meeting with the wooden porch that faced eastwards, towards the redwoods. They left the tinted grass behind but the smell was far too powerful to flee from. Mr Evans kicked in the front door, with the assault rifle to his shoulder. A procedure he'd learned at military school perhaps?

1. I am truly remorseful and apologize to you and my command for my actions. I am respectfully asking my command to forgive me. This situation has made me reevaluate myself, my goals and why I am in the Army. During the past few months I have done a lot of soul searching; looking into the motives, reasons and for the choice leading up to both of my article 15s and being chapter. The final conclusion is after the actions is done there are no excuses. Truly the wrong decision was made without thinking it fully thought. I started out on a path that lead me to be a better Soldier. I have made several mistakes along long the way, which I am truly remorseful. I took a long hard look at myself and I did not like what I saw. How could I

Growing up as an Army brat had some disadvantages. Constantly moving, going to different schools, living in places that did not even speak English well, and most importantly not a stable support system. I did not really live with my parents until I was ten years old and that was short lived it only lasted four years. My parents were always getting station to a different military base or felt like we needed a bigger house. I was basically raised by my grandmothers, which was nice sometimes but I really wanted to be with my parents. A typical day when I was little went like this: wake up at my grandma’s house or at the local military base daycare, go to school, pick up from school by the daycare or my grandma, have an afternoon filled with all sorts of activities so I would not notice my parents were not there, go to my parent’s house, do my homework and eat dinner with them, pack my suitcase for that night, and return back to my grandma’s house. I moved so much that this college is my eleventh school I attended, which is sad since I never went to pre-kindergarten. Attending school was very much harder for me. I was bullied for being plus size and not

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.

Being a military kid always made me different to the other kids in my school. Even I were to talk to another military child, our experiences would be different. Different states, different time periods without our parents, all of us have a different story to tell. I always felt like I couldn’t talk about my life because no one would understand. And most didn’t. It was hard to move across country. It was hard to move to different schools, sometimes in between the year. It was also hard on my family, with my dad being gone for long periods of time.

Throughout life I have always been reminded that freedom is not free, and my few years in the service have confirmed that. Military service is of extreme importance because without the men and women that protect and serve, the United States of America would not be what it is today. Throughout history, America gained it’s freedom and independence with use of military power. With today’s threat of enemies whom are willing and capable to harm, a powerful and robust military is a necessity in deterring this kind of terrorism. The military paved the chance to change my life and better my future for my potential family down the road. My career in the military helped envision my true ambitions and matured me in a special way. My commitment in the