Personal Narrative: Growing Up In The Army

Colonel White stood in the front of the room and bellowed, “ And your company commander….. Vaden.” JROTC has changed my life. The moment I started ROTC, I felt as if it would be the worst four years of my life. I couldn’t believe my mom was making me do this, and she wasn’t taking no for an answer. I had always had this idea that ROTC was like a class for children in high school who was just too lazy to run a lap on the track. Maybe their parents forced them, but I just felt like it wasn’t for me.

My parents had always regarded career as doctors to be of higher social and economic status, and they have passed on these "values" to me also since I was a child. Buy my life did not turn out as what they had expected, as I became a single mother of three children when I was just 24. I decided to complete my college and adopted the mindset of an over achiever and decided to become a major in biology to complete my bachelor’s degree which could be accepted in a prestigious medical school. Managing the school along with my growing family had become very difficult. Eventually, I had to drop out after a period of 3 years.

The many times I had loss to him it just made my confidence just go down the drain a lot of the time. My first time Frankie and I had wrestled against each other it was during the first tournament during the season in the semi-finals. The match was a very close one it was a five point to three point match which he had won. Frankie had just dominated the match with his strength and not by his wrestling ability it just made me realize I had to work harder in wrestling practice and the weight

Being born into a Hispanic family, I was constantly influenced by my parents, peers, and school officials to work harder than an average American kid because I was labeled as Mexican not American. My culture has strict, strong standards when it comes to having men lead the household, women bear and raise the children, and children follow the parents’ footsteps. However, I grew up contemplating to contradict my Hispanic heritage. It began with learning how to speak, write, and read English all on my own because my parents only knew Spanish. I knew my parents wanted a different future for my siblings and I, for they only made it to primary school before having to work and raise their first child.

I used my loss as my motivation to help countless people in Afghanistan. It seemed difficult but using the Project Management techniques I was learning in university at the time, I managed to organize a schedule where we could take supplies on each mission to remote locations. The smile of children and adults alike were worth all efforts. Back on base, I was constantly trying to make disbursing operations more efficient. I ended up spending almost 26 weeks out on missions in just one year.

Despite of everything, I enrolled in nursing for first semester. I am happy and enjoy nursing a lot that I got high grades. My father is so proud and give his support on my decision but after 1st semester, my father informed me that my aunt will not support me anymore. I feel sad about the news but I cannot

It all seemed great, but was I ready or would I ever be ready to see people in their worst days? It took me a whole year in college to realize that firefighting was something I did not want to pursue. Desperately looking for a new major, I started to consider teaching, but purely for selfish reasons. However, somewhere during my second year of college, there was a significant spark that led me to want to pursue teaching for a different reason. In high school, sports were everything, maintaining a good GPA was crucial.

She is now recovered and is serving in the military, but she has scars from her past that will last a lifetime. I am eighteen and a senior in high school, and I was forced to grow up before my time. During thirteen years of my life we spent very poor or in an unstable household with my mother’s boyfriend, I kept good grades, never got in trouble with the law or at school, and never did drugs, I had baby-sitting jobs and when I turned sixteen, I got a job and held that job for two years. In my life I want more. To succeed I must give up who I am now to be who I want to be.

How was I supposed to deal with that? It was equally as weird, because for awhile, I could not look at him when we walked past each other in the hallways. I told him everything and the fact that he held my secrets was a major problem. He could use them against me if he wanted, but he never did. I cried for a week and soon I began to be able to live my life without

I had always wondered how it must feel to have friends that care so much, they would drop everything just to come and help you. However, after months of searching my three best friends showed me what true friendship was. One of the most important male figures in my life taught me that what is yours will find you and that life gets a lot more beautiful when you start living for yourself. This really helped to shape me into the person that I am today because I no longer seek approval from anyone but myself. That piece of advice is what made the last two years of my high school career nothing short of