Personal Narrative Essay: Being A Military Brat

This was to steer us away from all the negativity and bad habits that my cousins where involved in. At seventeen, with my parent’s permission, I enlisted into the United States Marine Corps. I served fourteen years of active duty service from 2001-2015. During this time, I completed three combat deployments, two to Iraq and one to Afghanistan. My primary occupational skill was an Ammunition Chief.

For many, the military is a form of an escape. Whether it is financially, mentally, or emotionally, they want an escape from whatever it is they’re dealing with. For Eric Robbins, this was the case. He grew up with poor parents who were both struggling with addictions. He knew he wanted something better for his life, but he also knew there was no way he’d achieve that unless he joined the military.

I do not know of a life without the military influencing it, as it has played a strong role in my family. This upcoming year that I am graduating, my father will be retiring from the Marines. His retirement has been a long time coming, and there is uncertainty

I started attending Fork Union Military Academy in the sixth grade and have stayed throughout my entire high school career. To me, this in itself is a large accomplishment and is something I am very proud of. Every cadet goes through many ups and downs, I know in my seven years I have seen more than my fair share of trouble, but like my father always said, it 's not how you fall, but how you pick yourself back up. I made sure to do everything I could to show those around me, and to prove to myself, that I could pick myself up and accomplish anything. I faced and continue to face many different challenges in my daily life, those that every teenager faces, and also those that have been presented to me because of the kind of environment I placed myself in.

Fall Hike in October I’m running out of my house, slamming the door behind me and shouting, “I’m free!” at the top of my air-filled pink lungs. I get a few weird looks from the neighbors that are outside and a few from even the one’s inside but they’re used to my usual crazy outbursts. I don’t know if I should be worried by that or not.

The 6:00 am alarm rings. I do not budge. 10 minutes pass. 15 minutes pass. 30 minutes pass.

Growing up in Iraq in the era between the gulf war, Iran war, and Iraq war with the United state was a challenge for me, but it was not harder challenge than all what my parents went through to keep me and my siblings safe and sound. My mother is one of the strongest people that I have came cross in my life. She was and still the best mother, teacher, and my best friend. She graduated from Al Mosul University in Iraq as a Mechanical Engineer. Being a daughter of graduated mother will always push me to complete my education and go even further to earn my master degree too.

My dad works for the Air Force, making me a military brat. I have been in places such as Washington, D.C. and Oklahoma City because of his job. Every time I had to leave behind friends, family, and everything I knew to be home. Every move I have gone through has taken me cross-country to places that I thought I wouldn’t enjoy.

Joining the Unites States military can be something really rewarding, it can provide you with education and a life changing experience at least that is what you are told. Even though these statements are true; when the military is recruiting they hide some information for example sexual assaults among the solders. Sexual assault is any type of forced or coerced sexual contact or behavior that happens without consent. Sexual assault includes rape and attempted rape, child molestation, and sexual harassment or threats (womenshealth.gov).

The military is an escape for people from dysfunctional family settings and in

As I am getting ready to begin my college years, my experience in America is getting richer every day. I have realized how much opportunities I have being an American citizen and living in this part of the world compared to the life i lived in Togo and I intend to make the most of it. I’m working toward my goals and one of them is to join the military. I always have the desire of serving people and I believe serving in the Military is one way to show my gratitude to my new country and its

I believe in the act of paying it forward, and treating others the way you want to be treated in the midst of it. Ever since I was a little girl, I always had a heart to help anyone that I was able to. I hated seeing others down, making it seem as if I was higher than them when I had nothing. I believed that if I was in their shoes, I would want someone to help me. Seeing homeless people on the side of the streets sad, hungry, desperate for just a bite of a sandwich or even a couple dollars to get them by for the next few days, made me realize how much I want to help people who are in need.

Many boys went to war without anything to return to, a job, a family, or a goal. The Bureau of Labor Statistics found that about half of veterans were not in the noninstitutional labor force in 2016 while that number was down to a third in the rest of the population. (Bureau of Labor Statistics) This shows that many men leave the military and for various reasons are unable to form to civilian life. They try to find a job that they are fit for, but don’t understand society and no longer fit into the culture of the world they left.

I don’t really enjoy picking fights, or committing any acts of violence. Truthfully, if I got into any type of conflict, my lanky body would probably give up on me halfway. That’s what my wife told me after I said I was going to be joining the US armed forces. “Mark, are you an idiot? You can’t even walk without limping, how will you serve our country?!”

The Yankees formed us up into a wagon train, planning to take us to City Point. On the way there, I thought about the Union prisons, which is where I was headed. I read from the newspapers that the prisons were filled to their limits with soldiers and most soldiers didn’t even live because they froze to death, had chills and fevers (which killed them), or they starved to death because of the terrible food. I hope what I read was not true because Ma, Sarah and Sam really needed me alive, not dead. To take my mind off of everything that had happened, I started to read my book of psalms out loud.