Personal Narrative: The NYLF National Security Program

One day at my job as a US Air Force test pilot in the year 2023, on Area 51, I stumbled upon a lower level of the underground bunkers used to store top secret materials and projects I discovered a cylinder of high strength glass. The room was well lit, but it seemed empty and abandoned. As I approached the strange object, it became apparent that there was a door that opened and swung to the left, with a high strength steel latch on it. Once I was close enough, I realized that this machine may have been a prototype of the much sought after time travel machine that was depicted in so many movies and TV shows. The sparkling glass, the gleaming aluminum base and cap, suddenly seemed very appealing, interesting, and enticing to me. I stepped inside.

Hey freshmen, don’t worry I was one last year as well. But I’m writing some advice down for you to survive a year here at Edgecatraz, so listen up. The dorms, where you live for the school year, has it’s natural rules. The school is serious and you will need to keep up to stay. The climate is usually different from home so we dress differently. Well let us get with the lessons.

During my academic life there have been several bumps in the road; they haven’t necessarily been anything I could control, such as academic failure. These bumps have been moves from in and out of the country. Ever since I was two years old, I’ve been moving in and out of the country due to my parents being government employees. Typically the moves would occur every one and a half years so the moves would obviously have an effect on my education; this was mostly due to the fact that almost no schools have the same requirements, other than department of defense education schools. I’ve been everywhere, from Washington to Florida, from Germany to Japan. These moves have forced me to interact with many different kinds of people and school systems;

I hated that stupid rock. I couldn’t move it, climb over it, or swim through the river around it. That wouldn’t count. Part of me hoped that the rock would tip over and fall into the water so I could laugh as it tumbled away, but I knew I couldn’t be that lucky. I wanted to kick it halfway across the globe or punch it up until it was nothing but rubble. I couldn’t though, because it’s a rock, I’m a human and human-rock relations just don’t work that way. Maybe I would get lucky and someone from Romania would randomly decide to make a display of gigantic stones from around the world. I wondered if the rock would pity me and move out of the way if I cried. But it’s a rock, rocks don’t seem to have emotions.

The second tool that has proven beneficial is the President’s Challenge. In the months prior to attending CPOA, I was sedentary, lacked motivation and required a jumpstart. The President’s Challenge did just that for me, catapulting and pushing me towards achieving my health and fitness goals. By the end of week two, I achieved the 12,000 point target. This could not have been accomplished without the support of my team or the fitness program that the academy faculty developed. The CPOA instructors led the class through comprehensive and vigorous routines, opening our minds to new methods for obtaining our goals. Routines included: swimming, spin, circuit training, TRX, interval runs and Fit Deck. As a result, it has ignited a new found passion

It was one of me, against an army of them. The tall humanoid beings were swarming the objective in packs. There was no hope of victory, with all of my companions either incapacitated or deceased, but I was the only thing between them and the objective, I wasn’t going to survive, I knew that, but the lab’s safety was our nation’s last hope, so I charged.

We’ve all heard the saying: keeping a positive attitude can mean the difference between success or failure. Fittingly, going through the police academy put this saying to the test! I’m not sure what was harder, going through the police academy or raising a child as a single mother. To be fair, the two are completely different and some might say there’s no comparison. But, as I sit here, memories from that journey come flooding back and I can not think of a similar or equal comparison that captures my struggles I had in the academy the way motherhood does so well. For me, the police academy was an arduous journey of blood, sweat and many tears.

Having lived through the last half of the Cold War, born 1954, I was privileged to be afraid of the communists. Schools I attended had those signs in the hallways that showed where to go in case of a nuclear attack, pictures of schoolchildren huddled under their desk or in the hallways or a fairly well-off family with a bunker in the backyard. Going about our daily lives, not really worried about anything except the end of the school day bell. Just why were we mad at the communists and more importantly why were they mad at us. Studying the cold war I learned the reason for the distrust was a lack of understanding of anothers culture. America assumed that Russians wanted to rule the world, enslave people, and destroy America. Interesting

I have been active in the security community for ten years. During this time, I have developed relationships within the community. Further, I am in a local cyber security group that puts on the B-Sides security conference in our city. I find being active and contributing to the community is an effective way to collaborate and build relationships with colleagues.

I will admit, I’m different. I wear normal clothes, I act normally, what could be so different about me? I work with the CIA, that’s why. At first glance, people pay no mind to me, and I’m fine with that. Sometimes I never understand why everything must be a secret when you become an CIA agent. I can never start a conversation at the dinner table because everything is so private. The one place I can relax is the park. I have no worries when I listen to the blowing wind and the silly songs birds make.

I buckled my seat belt as slow as a sloth. I quickly wiped the sweat off my hands so I could squeeze the metal bars. I couldn’t believe I agreed to go on the Patriot for the first time.

Ok so what even just happened today. I literally let this green girl and her friend see the real me and she ran away. Her friend was not as bad, but Elphaba knows way too much about the animal activity situation. I heard from my guards after that she flew off on her broom, which raises some eyebrows. I know Elphaba has some good intentions but she should not have just ran off like that after I let her in on all of this. I let her in on the spells and the magic flying monkeys that we use as surveillance. I mean, with the Emerald City being this big, and everything that is going on right now, we do need that extra surveillance to make sure nothing illegal is happening. And then she says that "I have no power"?! Excuse me, no, I have ALL the power

Today, I had my first security shift at Temperance River State park and I would be lying if I had said I was not nervous. Due to Temperance River being such a small park, there is no need for two Security Rangers to be on duty at the same time on any given night. So, with that being said I was on my own and that is why I was mainly nervous. My day started with me assisting the daily maintenance staff. I was shipped off to the shower building to help clean. That took until around that of 4:00pm where I was then asked to bring a load of firewood and restock the shed connected to the visitor center. Upon finishing, Kenny had asked me to meet him back at the visitor center, so we could go on a quick hike before he left for the day. So, we hiked

One Day I was playing in the hallway with my brother and I accidentally bumped into my grandfather clock playing zombie tag with my brothers Finn and Jack and sister Madison, the only thing my mother has left of her father. I called my mom a few minutes later and she started crying after i told her and yelling at me saying “ Tess you be more careful with your surroundings!” Then when she calmed down she said “Tess you’re grounded for a week that means no phone, no computer, and no TV.” She also said to tell that to my brothers and sister. I was so mad but i guess that's what you get for playing in the house . My sister and I are twins and my brothers are twins. Madison and I are 13 and Finn and Jack are 14. They are 5’ and 6” and we are 5’ and 4”. Madison and Finn like the movie “Avengers: Age of Ultron”.

To do these things, I have to be someone who has the purpose of studying and planning for the future with care. The college I wanted to go to was the Naval Academy, so I spent two years at community college to consolidate my knowledge and one year to get my CEH certification, then I take the test to become US citizen and apply for the college that I wished. However, I have to learn hard and retake SAT, my goal in SAT score is about 1450/1600 and during my college years I have to try to get some security certifications that improve my knowledge. If I graduate from naval academy, then I must serve them for five years and hopefully later accept to the National Security Agency to help protect the network, prevent hostile forces and terrorists.