Personal Narrative: My Next Duty Station In Panama

As legend goes, every Joint Task Force Guantanamo Trooper adapts to one of four specific archetypes by the end of their time at U.S. Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Are you a gym rat or do you prefer peace and solitude at the end of a work day to reflect on your thoughts? Or quite possibly do you prefer a smooth stiff drink or a decadent fatty meal? Regardless of your naughty decisions supposedly every JTF Trooper will fall into one of the four categories before their demobilization back home: a hunk, chunk, drunk or monk. Although my thought is pure and simple, why not become a collaboration of all of the above?

My most recent assignment was with the 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment stationed in Vilseck, Germany. I served five years at that duty location, but in reality, only lived in Germany half that time due to my combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. My wife spent the entire time in Germany, half of which she was alone while I was deployed. Before my enlistment, I was an uneducated software developer.

When the Colombian Battalion reached land immediately settled in over a hundred tents, where they could comfortably organized eighteen men. They were close to Ethiopian troops, with the Colombian troops made a great relationship. Therefore, they shared stuff with them, by that time Ethiopian soldiers everyday asked for Colombian coffee, or some just wanted to try Colombian food. It was great time; it was clam before the storm.

We all wait nervously, a room filled with six-hundred third graders but no one whispers more than a few words. Today we find out that twenty of us that will leave our families behind for the next two decades. Every year the government chooses twenty seven year old children from each school in the Providence of Britain and transports them to the United Europe Combat Forces (UECF) military school who will then become soldiers after their training. A strange woman walks up the mic, its the same women who dose the announcement every year. Our class has always joked and called her Drakula, due to her tall and skinny build, pale skin and big nose.

This summer, my church took a missions trip to Puerto Penasco. It wasn 't the easiest trip to plan, seeing we only had two months to plan for it, and pay for it. Yes, this trip was spontaneous, and we worked very hard to get the money for it. It was a hot day when I and the rest of the missions team got out of the airplane in Phoenix, Arizona.

Living in Nicaragua, I have developed many relationships among the lower class. These relationships gave me time to reflect upon myself and be grateful for the resources I have. Communicating and spending my time with the children on my parents' mission site, I have come to understand the children and their circumstances of financial hardship. This time of serving gave me a time to understand myself and helped determine my future goals in my academic life and career. One particular relationship I had was with a boy named Kenner.

Growing up in Honduras was quite an experience. I come from a hard working family where both of my parents went through several obstacles to provide me and my siblings a stable life. Honduras is a country that is consider a third-world country where economy along with delinquency are a big issue, but my parents still manage to provide the sources for me and my other two siblings on what it is necessary. My family and I were affected by organized crime, a day where my life was changed forever. It was a Friday afternoon when my brother and my father were kidnapped, they had left to a soccer game.

If I could pick where I would want to go back for a day I would have no problem deciding. It would be the Dominican Republic because I miss the crystal clear water and sun beating down on on me. What I miss the most is snorkeling in the water and seeing all the different kinds of fish. There were several ugly and pretty fish. My dad, mom and sister went there for our Christmas in 2014.

I smiled gently as my feet sunk into the warm sands of the Punta Cana coast. During a short snorkeling expedition on the magnificent coral reefs, I was abruptly awoken by a loud series of bangs. Who was outside the door this time of night? As the banging got louder, my anger quickly morphed into terror. My mind began racing with the infinite possibilities awaiting me outside the safety of my bedroom.

In the month of February I partook in a mission trip to Guatemala, a trip that I will never forget. I spent roughly a week in Guatemala, that went by nearly too fast. Within the essay I shall share my story about the things I saw, and the stuff I did. I saw great poverty in my travels that of which makes me grateful for the bounty that I have, but yet seems so little. I attended the mission with my church, one from Sioux City and another from the Holland region of Michigan.

The Punta Cana Vacation Have you ever had a vacation where your child does something horrible in public at a swimming pool? A vacation is when one or more people are gone for an extended period of time. When I was four years old me, my mother, my father, my grandpa, and my grandma went to Punta Cana to get away from the cold weather. It has been happening, ever since we left Illinois and Missouri. So, we boarded the plane and took off to Punta Cana, everyone was either taking a nap or watching a movie while the plane was moving.

My grandfather asked me “Which one?” I respond “Let’s get this one”. Little did I know that guinea pig was my dinner. Guinea pigs or cuy are not pets but food in Ecuador. When I arrived at the airport it looked like any typical airport, but it felt as if I was in a different world.

I believe in finding yourself in others. In the 21st century when you grow up you are surrounded in a world of technology, ungratefulness, and high expectations. Before I went on this life changing missions trip that was my mindset. I was ungrateful,and jealous of what I did not have. But now my values and my mindset has changed I now am grateful, and I am jealous of the people who have so little and are still so happy.

I have never been to El Salvador, but I have tried the food a few times and every time it’s been amazing. I remember the first time I tried a pupusa. The way the cheese melted in my mouth, its one of those things I wish I can experience for the first time. Now everytime I see someone selling pupusas I HAVE to buy

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.