A little over six
years ago I began to think about asking my girlfriend to marry me. While I was confident that she would say yes
if I asked her, my example is more in my confidence that I was asking the right
person. I had, had several relationships
before her. Some were good, some were ok
and others were terrible. None of them
was I ever confident that if I were to marry that person that everything would
turn out the way I wanted it to. At that
time I had no idea where life would take us and the trials we would have to
experience. I knew that whomever I was
going to marry would have to love me with all of my flaws and would also have
to be independent and determined. I had
just started looking into the military and knew if I decided to join that life
would be difficult for both of us. We
would move every few years with the possibility of living overseas far away
from family and at some point I would deploy leaving my wife to take care of
the children by herself. I have minimal
confidence in my own ability to take care of the kids by myself for more than a
few hours much less six months at a time.
However, when I asked my wife to marry me I had all the confidence in
the world that I was going to marry someone that would make my life
significantly better and be an incredible mom.
I never once second guessed that decision and six years later feel the
exact same way as I did then, only now I know for a fact that she is as great
as I originally believed her to be. At
the time of asking her to marry me I was nervous about her reaction and nervous
about our future but I was confident that I was making the right decision.
My second experience
is my actual decision to join the Reserve Officer Training Corp program. At the time I had been going to school for a
while and still hadn't found what I really wanted to do for a living. I had switched degrees several times. I realized I enjoyed marketing and public
relations and decided to major in this subject.
At this point my Dad had been pushing me to go and check out the ROTC
program with the Air Force. I told him I
had no desire to join the military.
Being a military brat myself I knew the hardships that it has on
families and children. Eventually he
convinced me to just go and see and talk to the detachment commander. I decided to start going to the morning physical
training sessions and just take one ROTC class to see if I liked it. I quickly found that there were a lot of
things I enjoyed and quite a few things I hated about it. It took up a lot of extracurricular time, I
was often up at 5:00 a.m. for PT and tried to juggle the rest of school and
work also. There were several times that
I contemplated quitting. I wasn't sure
the military was for me. I didn't want
to be a pilot and didn't really know what else the Air Force could offer
me. After attending the summer field training where I was yelled
at for a month straight I decided to continue with the program and see what it
held for me. In the end, I still wasn't
sure I wanted to join the military but it held a good job and good
insurance. I knew I wanted to start a
family soon and this was the best way to ensure we would be taken care of for a
while. Over the years I have done things
and been a part of something far greater than the paycheck and traveling the
world. I have taken care of my airmen
and help fight to free those that are being oppressed. Five years after joining I can say that I am
now confident that my decision to join was the right one, however, at the time
I first joined I was extremely nervous and unsure at my decision. There have even been times in my career that
I have second guessed my decision, however, in the end I am still grateful I
joined and for the greater good I am a part of.
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