by Writer guy

Created on: November 13, 2009

My mother told me to never stare so intently at something I didn't intend to declare my own someday; the sun, barely shining through the clouds as patches of long-wave radiation was the last thing I remember before departing out of gate 32 from O'Hare airport, IL en route to Frankfurt, Germany for an unexpected chapter of my life.

Whether I remember the beginning, middle, or something in-between, such as the 1997 Chicago Bulls championship game on the Armed Forces Network, this is irrelevant as the mere familiarization by association with the military influenced my decision to lead a life apart from my peers.

My intention was not to set myself above the rest by carving my own pedestal out of material different than my competitors, but rather lead them along, through understanding how I could assist them through enabling them to work towards my own design.

This simple, yet direct intention to radiate my goals and desires upon an already professional working force led me to the most challenging decision that I had come across to date. At first I had toyed with the idea of attending a modest state school through the common process of assuring my place due to a full ROTC scholarship, but one day at the Embassy Suites hotel in Schaumburg, IL (Well, my direct supervisors i.e. my mother and father in the military may have had some effect on the decision) reversed my opinion of admiring the more easy, approachable method of becoming an officer in the United States Army. No, Instead - I decided to test myself - I thought for just one minute that I could do better than this, but I must assure you that this is no knock against the ROTC programs of many a college in the U.S. Doing better, of course, meant applying myself directly to the Iron heart of America - the once highly regarded engineering platform for the U.S. - and submitting myself to the long, grey line.

Just like the almost-too-ridiculous-for-television-recruiting-vide os that are directed primarily towards a teenage viewing base, I was enamored by the utopian-like benefits and self-sacrifice that encompassed life at West Point, in addition to life beyond the Point as a commissioned officer. I have completed one and a half years of the four year-long process, and in reflecting back on my long list of accomplishments, I feel that I have been spoiled by the fruits of leadership and dedication to a cause so distant to me at one point in my life. Whether it be my completion of Air Assault school, being awarded foreign badges, or completing arduous field training exercises, I have been introduced to a profession that feeds off the teamwork and self-sacrifice of the individual in order to fully function as an automaton in a purely clockwork motion, performing diligently as a cog in the fighting force that inspires Americans and inculcates in them the will to succeed and request more from their constant monotony-engrossed lives.

In my quest to repent for my years of ignorance in regards to what the military truly has to offer society, I have been introduced to one of the most advanced, team-building programs on the face of the earth. Although some will question why my parents, both of whom were, and still are high-ranking officers in the United States Army did not pressure me one way or another, I am inclined to say that in order to truly reap the benefits of the sacrifices you make, the decision must fall on the individual in both times of prosperity and times of war. I am willing to put forth the sacrifice needed in order to ensure the benefits of my actions are received by others and not myself, which is what the army values truly represent.

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