My Passion

"Anyone who would not take up arms in defense of Freedom does not deserve to live in a free country". This is a saying I have lived by my whole life, and has helped inspire me to join the Army when I finish school. My life-long goal has become my passion and I have done many things to prepare myself to become all I can be in the US Army.

Growing up, my cousin and I shared this same passion, and whenever we got together, we ran of to the hills to shoot the bad guys. As we grew, so did our intensity. Our weapons went from our hands to sticks, to cheap plastic toy guns, to pellet guns, and finally to the real guns. Our uniforms went from blue jeans and a t-shirt, to earthen colored clothes, to old Army field uniforms. When our parents called us in, we would watch military movies and read book, learning about historic battles, equipment and the like. Playing in our back yard and watching movies was not legitimate training, but it was fun, made us appreciate the dirt and earth, and reinforced out desire to serve our country.

As I grew up, I realized that playing army with my cousin would not help much in earning my commission. That's when I found out about Civil Air Patrol (CAP), and my efforts to prepare myself to become a great leader changed. CAP is the official auxiliary of the US Air Force, and while it's not the Army, It's close enough. I joined in seventh grade after seeing some of my peers in Military uniforms and thinking to myself "that looks fun". While in the program I learned how to march, wear a military uniform, and a LOT about leadership. I met kids my age who all shared a passion similar to mine, and we all worked together to attain our goals. After four years, I became a Cadet Officer, which only about 1 in 10 cadets do, and took command of my squadron, where I am charged with training the roughly 30 cadets under me. As mentioned earlier, this is not the actual military, but it's as close as a kid like me is going to get, and the lessons learned are priceless.

I am not in the Army yet, but I have not lost the dedication and desire to do so. I will continue to push myself to do everything I can to prepare for a challenging, though rewarding career. Christ said "Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." John 15:13, and it be God's will that that be done, then it is what will happen.