Making the decision to give better and become better
"Progress is strength."
That's a quote I have carried with me since the day it was said to me.
I was 16 the first time I encountered a Marine Corps recruiter. It was an average school day during my junior year when I stumbled upon a red and gold table set up outside the cafeteria. A pullup bar stood next to it and around it were two men in clean creased blue uniforms. Their stern expressions emphasized by broad shoulders mounted upon a straight back only to wither at the moment of direct eye contact with a passing student, one who happened to be me. That moment was followed by an immediate, "Have you put any thought into your future?"
I quickly responded, "Yes, probably college."
"Why college?" one recruiter replied.
To that I had no answer, so I simply replied, "I don't know, but I don't think I'm cut out for the marines," and walked away.
That same year, I graduated high school. Although I kept in touch with one marine recruiter under the advice of an enlisted friend, I went on to study journalism at Harper College the following year under my parents' decision. My time spent there was edifying. I excelled greatly under the institution's tutelage, but mysteriously I never truly felt a sense of achievement in what I was doing. That triggered my consideration of the military.
Consequently, I volunteered with Harper's Student Veteran Association and became close friends with many of its service members. It wasn't until I spoke with them that I understood the gravity of the decision to enlist. This was something that would influence the rest of my life, that it would stink and it would bring out every piece of my true character.
But most importantly, it was solely my decision. Understanding this helped me realize my big life decisions weren't being made by me. A majority of the choices about my life were forced, told, or given to me with the risk or reward taken away as "discipline." Thus, depriving me of the self confidence to make my own choices.
During high school, a majority of adults told me college was the unequivocal path to success, other avenues were shaded. I loved college, and education has always been my priority. Nonetheless, this is the exact reason I considered the military. Experience varies by person in college; for me, college sharpened what I knew, but didn't teach me anything new. I wanted to expand, I wanted a challenge.
I moved out on my own at 18, and I enlisted not too long after. When people enlist in the Marine Corps, they are placed in the Delayed Entry Program (DEP) to await shipping out to boot camp and are known as poolees. They can remain in the DEP from two months to a year, during which they will physically and mentally prepare for boot camp with other local poolees.
It is not until poolees enter boot camp that they become recruits, and it is not until recruits graduate boot camp that they earn the title of marine.
To me, this is the one thing that sets the Marine Corps apart from all other branches of the military. Nothing is given, everything is earned.
Type in "Marine Corps boot camp" on YouTube and videos of a large wide-eyed, open mouthed Drill Instructor staring into the soul of a recruit are likely to pop up. Type in "the mission of the Marine Corps," and something along the lines of amphibious warfare and first to fight are likely to appear.
Which usually prompts the question, "Why would ANYONE want this?"
Every marine I've met has a different answer to that question. From the son hoping to use his GI Bill benefits to attend college to the daughter who still feels the impact of 9/11, but the central idea of every reason I've heard is to give better and become better.
From this, I learned success is subjective. Everyone is fighting for something different and when everyone is pushed to achieve the same thing, there becomes a lack of pride.
The decision I made to enlist in the United States Marine Corps was at the end of a long rope of questions every young adult faces entering their future, primarily being: what do I want to do, how and why. I asked and was asked many of those questions along the way to finding that the Marine Corps was my answer. Every person will have different obstacles to overcome as they grow up, thus leading to a million different careers and lifestyles.
However, unfortunately, opportunity is not always dispersed equally. Since I enlisted, I came to learn that the Marine Corps fights to change that circumstance. It does not care where its marines start, the color of their skin, who they love, nor the God they worship, if any. The few can come from anywhere. I have met poolees from diverse walks of life, many of whom are now marines.
It's been about a year since I raised my right hand for the Marine Corps. In fact, I will ship out to boot camp in less time than it took me to make the decision to enlist, but I made more progress in this short period of time mentally, emotionally and physically than in my entire life.
I understand what I signed up for. I don't expect it to be as formidable as the military I was sheltered from nor as glamorous as the one romanticized by screens; but I hold reverence to the necessity of the field I'm choosing. It has given me new brothers and sisters whom I continue to learn from every day, one of whom I will have the privilege of shipping to boot camp with. It's taught me new leadership principles and that the importance of discipline lies in diligently trying to improve myself and others.
"Progress is strength," was what my recruiter said to me when I first enlisted, and as I prepare to endure 13 weeks of training, I reflect on this quote. That day when I said I didn't think I was cut out for the Marine Corps, I wasn't yet. It took a lot of help and work to mold me into who I am today and I'm still forming, but I owe much of it to striving to become a marine. I hope to earn the title, but I know a marine's strength is not defined by the title itself, it's how the person wears it and uses it to pursue betterment through adversity.
Grace Roman, a graduate of John Hersey High School in Arlington Heights and Harper College, is a member of the Daily Herald's Sounding Board of opinion advisers. We asked her to write these reflections as she prepares to ship out to Marine Corps boot camp.