Personal Narrative: Joining The Army

My whole family is from Hungary. As it was mandatory for men to serve in the military before 2004, all my male relatives are veterans. Even my own father is a lieutenant. Unfortunately I can not choose my father for an interview as a veteran, as he did not serve in the United States military. Although Hungary is now part of North Atlantic Treaty Organization, (or NATO) and ally with the United States of America, before 1990 Hungary was part of the Warsaw Pact and “enemy” of United States. I had to choose an American veteran. I chose a friend of my mother’s colleague 's daughter. His name is Dan Williams. He is a 40 year old retired Marine Veteran. After 20 years of service he retired last year as Master Sergeant. Dan Williams was born and raised in Indiana and joined the Marine Corp at the age of 19. His parents were very happy about his decision. As he said: “I had to get out of the house. When you are done with high school you have three choices: 1. Go to college, 2. Go to work or 3. Join the military. I joined the military.” He chose the Marine Corp as it seemed the most challenging and hardest option at that time.

Dan Williams was deployed to many places around the World: Hawaii, San Diego, Washington District of Columbia (or DC), Spain, Germany, Egypt, Greece, Albania, Japan,

It is hard to talk to an adult, whom I did not know, over the phone, especially if that adult is an army personnel of higher rank. Dan Williams was very nice and very patient with me, funny with a great sense of humor, open and cheerful. Very quickly he eased my nervousness. I was surprised to hear that being in the army is not more dangerous than a police officer’s job. I very much enjoyed hearing his stories and I am very grateful for the opportunity to talk to a real veteran. Although during his service of 20 years he never got injured, I think he is very lucky not to get any physical or mental