Pursuing a Military Career: Inspired by My Father's Service and Values

Raised in a military family, I consider myself an organized, dedicated, adventurous and motivated person. My father has been a great influence in my life and an honorable example of a military man who serves the people of our nation with pride. At an early age I learned about sacrifices, “This We Will Defend,” honor, respect and devotion to duty. I truly believe in what the Army stands for hence why it would be a great privilege to join the few and elite members of the prestigious Officer’s.

There are many reasons I would like to become one of the officers.

I want to serve alongside the Army men and women who’s work and valor have helped keep this nation safe. I want to help keep our nation a safe place and be able to give back to society. I want to continue in my fathers footsteps and make my family proud. Four years in the ROTC will prepare me in making sound decisions by providing me with the tools needed for the everyday challenges and adversities met with on a daily basis by an Army Officer.

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As a cadet I expect to work hard to become better educated, physically, emotionally, and mentally fit as well as developing into a more inspiring team player and leader of character.

One of my goals have been to be eligible to take honor and advance placement classes in preparation for university. I have achieved my goal by sacrificing, staying focused, asking for help and being persistent in my studies.

Moreover, I have been taking honors and advance classes since my freshmen year. Other goals I have set and met include improving my score for my track meets and reading 150 books for my grade every year. My goals have helped me hone my work ethics and without diligence I would not have been able to accomplish my goals. At an early age I was able to exercise and develop my leadership skills.

Being the older child my brother has always looked up to me. At a young age I started taking the responsibility to help and mentor my brother. As a leader I have volunteered for different causes, such as collecting food and clothing for the homeless and setting up, planning, and organizing events for the children of the community through our MWR Department. In the summer of 2006 I assisted in leading a fundraisers to raise money to travel to the Virgin Islands Environmental Research Station (VIERS). We raised a total of 8,200 dollars, enough to pay the tuition for children of Coast Guard members.

I spent the summer supporting the research station on providing environmental education to children. Being part of the VIERS gave me much satisfaction. I was assigned to supervise a group of younger girls teaching them the importance of teamwork and citizenship. This experience gave me the opportunity to learn about human behavior and crisis management. VIERS gave me the opportunity to learn to be a responsible and fair leader. As a military child one of the hardest challenges has been my father getting transferred. Like most military children, I held my head high and took the challenge.

I have been faced with this challenge more frequently then I have wished. In the last three years I have been to three different high schools. I have learned to adapt and over come although it was a harsh transition. I’ve had to adapt to new standards and conditions. I moved from a Puerto Rican military base school system to a Californian year round school system. My strength came from my support group which consisted of my family and my ever patient teachers. When I finally got used to the system I was uprooted and moved to another school closer to home.

I’ve now been faced with the challenge of meeting all the required standards to graduate high school. I learned to function under pressure. I have persevered and I have pushed through and let this become just another experience that made me stronger. I faced the challenges of moving from one home to another and from one school to the next and I never expected as a military child to be discriminated against. Being the new kid at school I experienced put downs, and verbal abuse. I took everything thrown at me and used it to make me stronger. This past year I tried out for the girls track and field team at my high school.

I was a part of the Track and Field team at my old high school and I sought to be a part of the team at my new school. At the tryouts their was a group of girls that seemed to be good friends with one another, I over heard them talking about the “new girls” trying to make the team, I ignored it and stayed focused on what I wanted to accomplish. I was trying out for shot putter but right before it was my turn to try out the captain came up and told me in mock kindness that she wanted me to try out as a sprinter. After much discussion between the captain and I, I felt she was setting me up for failure.

I shortly realize that in order to be part of the team I would have had to be part of her group of friends. The only members who made the team happened to be her select group of friends. It did not mattered how hard I tried or that I had the ability and experience in track, what matter was that I was not in her social group. I was not going to allow myself to be a part of a group of people who would discriminate against someone new or different. I have dignity and pride and I did not intend to put myself in a position where I would have to discriminate just to “fit” in.

Being part of a military family gave me the opportunity to visit many places and learn about different cultures. Every place had different challenges and experiences. I learned from all of them, and I am a stronger person because of it. Honor, courage, commitment are just a few adjectives that come to mind when I think about becoming an Army Officer. Attending an institution where I can learn from the wisdom of many individuals that will pass on their knowledge and experiences so that I can become a better citizen to my country.

Other colleges would provide me an education based on books, but the ROTC would provide me, not only an education, but will give me the tools necessary to achieve my goal. At eighteen years old, I have already proven to be dedicated and motivated to pursue a career. The Army ROTC is a place that can provide me with the knowledge and experiences that I seek to become an outstanding leader. I am goal oriented and aim to have the opportunity to be Officer. I am already Strong I’m ready become stronger.