Virtues of My Life- Personal Narrative
As a young boy growing up in a military family, life was not an easy task. Our house was often run in an orderly proficient military manner and excuses were not tolerated.
My father spent sixteen years of his life in the United States Air Force and decided he needed a change and transferred over to the United States Navy to finish out eight more years of dedicated service, where he would finally retire to the state of Maine.
I have been dragged all across the United States and to many different foreign lands such as Japan, Spain, Guam, and Italy. Now this may seem like an excellent childhood to some but the truth is every time we moved to a new place, I was always the new kid which caused a lot of problems. My home life was not exactly the greatest, my father was a very big and burly man who solved issues with us kids by the way of the hand (closed handed not open handed). His temper was as unstable as an elephant on a balance beam.
I was often picked on and in order to establish my place in society and a sense of respect I began to fight with other kids to establish a pecking order if you will. Although most of these bouts began to lean in my favor, I was suddenly no longer the little chubby boy being picked on but the big Bulli who picked on every one else. Some where along the way I had lost myself and became exactly what I hated the most. As the problems around my house became a way of life for me, I vented all my anger and frustrations out on anyone who dared to stand before me. This particular attitude stayed with me all through high school.
After graduating from high school I joined the United States Army and attended boot camp at Fort Benning, Georgia. Upon my arrival there was a lot of yelling and confusion, it almost seemed as if I had just taken a round trip right back to my house where my father waited to tear me down both physically and emotionally. Weeks into my training one of my drill instructor's had begun to notice that I did not respond well to negativity and would harass me on a regular basis stating that, " You lack discipline, You lack courage, You need some positive reinforcement.
Drill sergeants must break them down twice, building them back up afterwards. The first three weeks is the first breakdown - the hardest part. “They tell us we're worthless, that mommy ain't here, and that we are no different than any other rotting piece of compost in army fatigues. They tell us we're not wanted, that our recruiters lied to us, and that we should just go home.” Although most people know that military drill sergeants are harsh, it's entirely different from realizing it’s something that is, well, real - and people have actually experienced
After he was in the navy he decided to stay a couple more years then leave. He ended up staying in the military for 6 years. He loved being in the navy for the adventure. He also loved being in the navy but he thought it was time to change.
Drill Instructors strip all your old values and Marine Corps values are formed. “There is no ‘I’, ‘I’ is gone” (p.60). To be a marine you must shed all thinking as “I” and “me”, and think as “we” and “recruit”. In American society, striving for independence is a goal for most people, and instead of working as a group we tend to compete with each other to get what we want. As a Marine you must think as a group, learn how to move as a group and you are drilled until not a single action is left to individual improvisation (p.64).
Every day of my life I have woken up to the sound of Reveille, and gone to bed listening to Taps. I have moved nine different times, know the feeling of having my dad deploy more than four times, and eating Thanksgiving dinner in a DEFAC is second-nature to me. Being an army child is a huge part of my life, however it does not define who I am; it has shaped how I view the world. Because of my life as a military child, I have determined that I am compelled to positively influence how others view life.
I was at Fort Benning Georgia in August 1988 to attend jump school. I had done my basic training here four years earlier with Sgt. Smith who would be my black hat true instructor for airborne school. I was standing in formation at five in the morning. It was cold now, but Georgia has hot, humid daytime temperatures that were draining mentally and physically for a student from Northern California. I knew I wanted to be here even though there would be physical and mental stresses, challenges and the possibility of serious Injury. The students would be weeded out at every point. I did not want it to happen to me. During my four years in the Army, I learned that I like to be an independent, resourceful, goal oriented problem solver. In the infantry, I had to obey the orders and not think for myself. Uniformity in everything was demanded.
And this has often times served me rather well. However, the most memorable and possible the most effective vicarious learning it seems has always come from those things my peers and counterparts have done wrong, and for which they faced group and public score and ridicule above and beyond simple and meaningful punishment as set down in the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) (military.com, 2016). Such incidents while rare have always remained memorable and relevant to me and have served to remind me that you simple do not want to be “that guy”. One such example of these memorable public shaming’s that served to teach all of us, who had to bear witness to it, was a calling out of the offenders by the commander in front of our formation. Wherein the commander proceeded to declare publicly the wrongs these men had done, steeling ammunition, and then explaining the how these selfish and petty acts had brought embarrassment on our entire Regiment. At which time the commander ripped every patch and emblem from their uniforms, symbolically casting them out of our tribe and down to the ranks of common soldiers. This was followed by weeks of extra-duty, supervised by the First Sergeant, for these men; in additional to the money garnished from their pay; before they received their reassignment orders and could get on with their lives. The less learned by our entire formation, and all who witnessed this public skeptical on that day, was; do not do wrong things period; like steeling valuable resource. And do not do such things for selfish motives. Or else you too may face the gauntlet of public shaming and ridicule; as you are formally cast out of our honorable tribe of
Andy grew up as a military child and he assures, “Being in a military family I can appreciate the veterans and their families more.” (Moore) Military children recognize the importance of sacrificial service that their parent committed. This ensures parents that raising a child in the military can help develop an appreciative, respectful, and prideful child by experiencing and interacting within the military lifestyle. The military provides a strong structure or values and traits that promote a healthy development of characteristics for
After I received my lecture I was given a week's worth of detention. from that point on I've been learning how to control my temper, but ever scene that day, I've changed in someway because everyone has been seeing me as a
At a young age I knew I wanted to be just like my father (who is now a retired Chief in the United States Navy and has served 27 years.) My dad constantly tells me to this day make sure you take care of the ones you work with because their welfare is what really matters. Although you might have to yell at them every once in a while, you can never forget that they will always count on you for everything. You never want them to be scared of you where they cannot talk to you, but where they know the limit that they can talk to you about anything and when work needs to get done it will get done. Growing up my dad always took care of his sailors whether if hes throwing them a BBQ or having them come over for a home cooked meal. I understood very early that the military isnt about just ...
My teachers weren’t very helpful at all in stopping them. Although, it didn’t help I lashed out towards them. The way I lashed out was by fighting back with words. I also became violent towards the other students. This was because of the discrimination I received and the lack of support by the teachers.
I grew up in a small town and after I graduated high school I wanted more in life than a 9 to 5 job; I wanted to see the world. I had a few friends that had joined the military and had come home to visit with exciting stories about their experiences. I noticed a change in a few of them; they seemed to walk a little taller, maybe act a bit more mature. This, along with the intrigue of life outside of my small town, drew me to consider joining the military. I met a recruiter in Lakeland Florida in July of 1989 and a few months later on September 26th I raised my right hand and took the Oath of Enlistment. I had no idea what I had gotten myself into.
There have been tons of things that I have learned and been taught in my life, by a number of people such as family, teachers, or even friends on occasion. The things they taught me vary from math and other related subjects to just some truly simple yet meaningful life lessons. However, there is nothing quite as unique, quite as special as a person teaching themselves a life lesson. It really is an amazing accomplishment for a person to teach themselves something. It is not quite as simple as another person teaching them something because it is not just the transferring of information from one person to another. The person instead has to start from scratch and process the information they have in their mind in order to come up with a new thought
The journey of life follows a predetermined pattern; we evolve from needing influence and guidance to finally reaching that point where our lives are up to us. I consider myself very lucky up to this point in my journey. Some people become sidetracked and wind up on a far different course than initially planned, but the detours I made have only assisted in embellishing the individual instead of devouring it.
My career in the Military shifted to the Army in 2006 and continues on today. I have enjoyed the last 14 years and plan on continuing my service until the Army doesn’t want me around. Even though I had to deal with role conflict between being a service member, father and husband the military life is for me. I have been able to experience things that a civilian job would have never allowed me to experience this.
I never really thought about where my life was going. I always believed life took me where I wanted to go, I never thought that I was the one who took myself were I wanted to go. Once I entered high school I changed the way I thought. This is why I chose to go to college. I believe that college will give me the keys to unlock the doors of life. This way I can choose for myself where I go instead of someone choosing for me.