I believe that you can achieve anything as long as you set your mind and soul to it. Being in the Military showed me to be strong willed and competitive and that’s what sets me apart.
I joined the military because I knew that I was a leader and a competitive person. I wanted to be in a community of people that wanted to do the same thing and have the same goals.
My older brother went into the military a few months before me and did not make it thru boot camp. I remember receiving a letter from my brother while he was in boot camp, telling me not to join the military because I would not make it and was too weak. I took that letter, posted it upon my bedroom wall and read it every night before I went to sleep, this was the start of my mission to being a leader and wanting to exceed.
I went to Ft. Benning, GA. for boot camp to go through three months of hell. My superiors were mean, loud, forceful and strong. I had to learn to take commands from men that did not know me and I did not know them, I had to be respectful even when I did not receive respect in return. I had to wake up when they told me to wake up, I had to eat when they told me to eat and I had to sleep when they told me to sleep. I was told that I will never finish boot camp because I was weak and to pack my bags and go home to momma. These were some of the mental tactics that was used to see if I were a strong willed person.
My body was tested to the extremes. I went into boot camp weighing 115lbs leaving at 130lbs solid. I had to road march with a full rucksack on my back ten miles every other day. I had to run a minimum of three miles a day every day. I had to do push-ups and sit-ups twice a day every day. I had to climb some of the steepest cliffs I have never seen before. My body was pushed to the extremes of the heat to the bitter cold. My body was push to exhaustion and wanting to quit, but my mind and body was too strong to give up. Again just a few tests to see if I was competitive and strong willed.
These are just a few examples of what it takes to be in the military, but this is my community. This is where I feel safe and concrete on my beliefs.
I believe that being in the military you are a person who sets out and take life’s challenges head on. We know that in our world today we will face allot of tough roads ahead but looking back on what I have been through it is considered a pothole in a road. I have a big family and they are just about everywhere in the world so I know that I will always have a safe haven.
Being in the military we all have the same interest and goals and we all been through the same boot camp. This is community to me, a shared interest and shared belief to defend our country.