Why Am I Doing This?

     Last night I attended a pool function--DI night. In other words, all the poolees got worked over by three DIs, and some of us got IT'd. IT stands for Incentive Training. In other words, a DI hauls you off to the side, then starts screaming: "PUSH, PUSH, PUSH!" in your face. You have to respond with: "Pushups, aye, aye, sir!" and start cranking them out. What makes this fun is that by the time you reach the deck, he or she will have probably yelled: "Side straddle hops, side straddle hops!" and you have to get up, yell your acknowledgement, and start doing jumping jacks. Then the DI might get in your face, insult your manliness, call you a little girl, or anything else they can think up. While you are working, you have to keep track of what you're saying, and yell acknowledgement back to them at the top or your lungs. And God have mercy on your soul if you get what you're supposed to yell back wrong.

     All in all it was a good time. I got a brief taste of what I'll experience when I ship to boot camp later this year. I met the 'breaking point' and pushed past it... Even though there were a few times where I physically lacked the capacity to push myself up off the floor. And it made me look forward to boot camp even more. Even though I know it will be the hardest thing I've ever done in my life up to that point, I know it's a challenge that I can overcome, as long as quitting isn't an option, and the word can't isn't in my vocabulary.

     I know I can take it on because I have good reasons to. I'm doing this to serve my country. I'm doing this because I want to do something that matters. I'm doing this because I think there's still some good left in this world and that it's worth fighting for.

Plans Change

     My first post of this year, I thought I had things figured out. I thought I knew the exact direction I was going.

It's not the dawn I expected it to be, but let's be honest... is it ever?

 There were a lot of ideas swirling through my head, but very shortly after that point, one rose the surface; it was honestly one that I did not expect to. Of all the ideas and possible pathways for me to take, this is the one that blindsided me when it emerged as the one for me to take. When this took ahold of me and drew me toward the path I had to walk, I didn't see it coming. At least not consciously. It was something that had always lurked at the back of my mind, even through previous years. And now it returns full force.

     Upon graduation, I am going to enlist in the United States Marine Corps.

     When I was a kid, I'd always wanted to go into the military. It has always stayed in the back of my mind. So I guess I should have seen it coming that I would make the choice to take this path.

     But now I have. When I graduate in April, I'm going to sign. And I couldn't be more excited.