In Basic Training, I were the student platoon sergeant and Floor Commander during my Advance Individual Training. My previous two units I held the position as a Team chief where I also received my Master Degree, Security plus certification, completed (BLC) Basic Leader Course and got promoted to sergeant.
I spent countless hours volunteering in programs; such as, the Battalion Good Neighbor Program, coaching unit men basketball team, assist in coordinating Annual Interdependent Festival for kids and Adopt A Pet.
I were a member of the Upward Bound program and played AAU basketball. In high school and college I were the Captain of the varsity basketball team and received the awards for Most Improved, Most Valuable and Defensive player. Lead
Late 2005 I was assigned to 2-35 Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division, Schofield Barracks, HI. I re-enlisted into the Army after almost a three year break in service. On my previous enlistment, I served in the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment from the 82nd Airborne Division. All the new soldiers to include myself were standing in formation waiting on the Battalion Command Sergeant Major (CSM) to speak to us. I was the only Private First Class with a Combat Infantryman Badge, an Expert Infantryman Badge, and a combat deployment to Afghanistan.
One past leadership position that I held in high school was the presidential seat of National Honor Society. Through this leadership position, I’ve gained communication skills between teachers and fifty students in the organization. I’ve promoted and facilitated community service activities. I’ve also learned to engage actively with colleagues and branch out of my comfort zone, especially when it is something I am passionate about. As the president, I delegate responsibilities to board members that I worked closely with to achieve the organization’s goals.
Pop! Pop! Zoom! Whiz! I heard them and I heard them loud.
I have also received first or highest honors with all progress reports. During this year, so far, my lowest grade was a ninety-five. Even with these outstanding academic achievements, I still want to make a difference in the world. Within the last couple of years, I played with a group for The Salvation Army in order to raise money around Christmas time for the less fortunate. I am part of the marching band which is a large commitment, but my participation in all activities done by the band shows my enjoyment and dedication in this co-curricular activity.
Loud noises seemed to scare me, I have no idea why but screeching tires, Revving engines, screaming children, and even the occasional barking dog will get me on edge and paranoid. In my younger years I joined the US Air Force as a way to get away from everyday life, I just wanted to get out of the everyday monotony of work, sleep, wake, repeat. The only thing that brought me any kind of variety was my sweetheart back home, Hazel. We met in high school when I was just 17 years of age, somehow we are still together today through the night terrors and struggles I constantly suffer.
I was a coward who spent most of my time in a dark cave reminiscing on my failure as a friend. As dark as the cave was, so was my mind. There were so many things I was afraid to shine a light on, but one needed to be remembered. There was this man I liked so much that I couldn't help waving his thoughts out of my mind. Kevin Bigger, dark, tall, and agile with a rectangular face structure; he was ready to serve.
I've attended the ball numerous times some while on active duty, at times with dates, at times with friends, but today it is with someone special. Today, November 10th, is the 240th Birthday of the United States Marine Corps (USMC), and I am anxious. I've been planning this for weeks, and two days ago I visited my favorite spa at Nordstroms in preparations for today. I had a full body depilation, and a body wrap as well. This morning I returned for a french manicure/pedicure, and deep tissue massage.
Entering the once lonely house, there was a family rejoicing with a long-gone relative. As striking as the first rose in spring, her silky, soft, shiny hair combined with her enticingly exquisite eyes: producing a sublime look. Her upturned nose, oval face and elegant cheeks exhilarated hope within anyone in sight; she filled a void that could only be filled by her. Instantly ejecting any ridicule of the family, her presence made the household regain its original nobility. Spiralling into circle after circle on the indigo walls, like an optical illusion, numerous twirling lines were being contained in a plethora of thin liable cracks; suggesting, this house is enriched in Pangaea-old traditions.
I was sitting on the porch talking with my great grand-kids, when Charlie asked me how I lost my leg. So I thought about those dreadful days in 1934. I was the general of the fiercest military in army ant history. We ranged about two miles wide and ten miles in depth devouring any and everything in our paths. One night, I sent one of our privates out to search for food.
It took 250$ and good deeds to create some doctor like me. Growing up I was the kid who looked at the world with open optimistic eyes. I grew up in a small city called Dora located in Iraq, the middle of three girls. I was born in the late 90s, I have been told that I was born "at the end of the good days". That's when Iraq's political circumstances were not at peace at all, at 2003 another war broke in Iraq.
The war is over. I have missed my child and wife. I can’t wait to see them again, my beautiful child is about five now. I left before I had a chance to see it come into the world. I don’t even know its name or the gender, I can’t find out; the letters and telegrams were not allowed just incase they of the chance they get intercepted by the enemy.
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.
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?!”
From the moment I was born I was considered a military brat, I was born in Hawaii at tripler hospital because my mom was in the army and stationed there, my biological father was in the marines. When my mom remarried when I was 7, she married a man who was in the Navy. Everyone thinks being a Military brat just means you know more than other people because you 've been more places and seen more things and you get a lot of stuff you want. This is not true at all. Coming from a military background means you never have stability, you are held to a higher standard than all the other kids, and sometimes it makes you want to be in the military and only focus on that.
Why did I join the Army? I thought it was a good place to start off with... But I was wrong… I’m a squad leader at the age of 19. I came into the war with 8 other men.