Personal Narrative: Joining The Army

Personal Aspect
I joined the military in December of 2003, it was something that I wanted to since I was a kid. I believe in honor and respect, which the military is a perfect place for those traits. My parents had to also sign my initial contract because I was 17 at the time. If I had waited until I was 18 then they would not have to sign because I would have been legally an adult. I joined into a split op program at the time because I still had to finish high school. My grand pa had been in the navy, so I guess I also wanted to keep the military in the family. Not saying that I would push the military on my kids, but if they wanted to join like I did when I was 17 then I would be honored to let them. I went to MEPS in December where I signed my contract and sworn in under oath with the military creed. When I did that I felt like a new person because I was doing something that was an honor, and a privilege to do. I chose 21B as my primary MOS, which is not a common choice amongst other soldiers. We are the same thing as Infantry, but the main difference between Combat Engineers and

Infantry is not only we are combat support but we do a lot more in terms of carrying equipment, thinking more outside the box, and even using explosives to get the job done! We are the guys going out ahead of the other units make sure the road or path is clear of any obstacles or even land mines. We can also do the opposite by emplacing land mines or creating obstacles to stop/slow down other parties that we don’t want them to follow us.

Soon after signing my contract, they sent me off to basic training. The first part of basic training is called “Reception”, that is where they do all of the in processing medical and paper work. They go through all of your medical everything from drawing blood samples to health screenings. All of this id documented and placed in your military folder for future use/record keeping. It can be quite rigorous because you stay moving the whole time from 0500 in the morning till 2200 at night giving short time for rest. Usually the in processing will last about a week at the most then off too basic they ship you. When that time comes you have to go outside and line up next to a short bus with no seats that they call the “Cattle Bus” and then the fun starts with day 0 of basic training.
Day 0 is the worst day of any one’s life, that is the day you lose your right to think as an individual.

As soon as you step of the Cattle Truck the Drill Sergeants surround you saying anything and everything they can to mentally break you. They make you feel small and meaningless because you do nothing until they tell you to do it. As the hours pass and the days count up they get worse with their tactics of breaking you. They run you from dawn to dusk giving you very little sleep. You have weeks that feels like days from being sleep deprived, physically weak because all they do is push you trying to make you quiet, and mentally tired and giving you the sense of frailty. It does not get any better until AIT, which once I was done with basic training I came home and finished high school. About 6 months after I graduated, I received my orders for my second part of training called

AIT.
AIT is more geared towards your MOS that you choose to go into. You have specific training too complete, they still try to break you, but just not as bad. Some of my training included land mines, explosives, movements, and obstacle placement/destroying. I was there for approximately 8 weeks, which felt like a lifetime because we stayed going the whole time. We did not have any breaks or days off to where we could do what we wanted to. After graduating I reported in to my home unit ACO 153rd STB.
To this day I am still with my same unit, our company has gone through some restructuring since I first went in. Now we are called ACO 53rd BSTB, which we are currently in the process of getting restructured. The unit is going to double in size, and we are getting all new equipment that everyone will need to be retrained on. To this day that same pride and honor that I felt when I first enlisted is still burning inside of me. Don’t get me wrong there are times that I hate it because I am knee deep in mud, but overall I enjoy the feeling of being there for other individuals. When I have to make a stop coming home from drill or going to drill, people will stop and tell me thank you for your service. When any soldier hears that from other citizens not in the military it reminds us why we are doing it. There is people that are not capable of doing it, or just doesn’t care about what happens in the world. And that is why I do it, because I want to protect my family, and others from those outside threats or natural disasters that occur. That is why I chose the military to be part of my life so that others did not have to choose. If it came down to it I would be honored to make that great sacrifice as I help wave that great American flag in our enemies faces.