As the GPS was recalculating the world was getting back to me on my reflection, I had come to know the reflection of the people close to me at this time in the life I had been living in the early months of 2009. March, low and behold brought on more than the nomenclature of the third month, it brought upon the command to march forth, go look into the mirror and reflect back what you want to be. I told myself I wanted to be strong, I wanted to make my mark, I wanted to start off this new bestowed adult life with my own modus operandi. Modus operandi is the perfect way to define what I was framing as a foundation in the 18 and up world; I’d like to say I beat upon my chest like King Kong and let the people hear my roar but I did not. As the way I generally operate I maintained to myself and skepticism blanketed which foot I would take off on…. soon it turns out it was my left foot. So that five year plan society begins to launch at you in early adulthood began to pound around in my chest almost bellowing “LET’S DO THIS” but THIS was not defined. The people whom surrounded me were few but of great measure, by this time I had taken up my hermit like ways that drown my life out into a spent match that really only has a charcoal like tip to write with and not much else. Of the character I had grown to admire in the reflections I had seen were two service members who had happened into my life through a local band member I had befriended. The servicemen were Marines, one a veteran and one active duty, I had known very little of the military and the Marine Corps in general. Well to be blatant I knew nothing about a Marine Corps until I had met these two and my time to choose a reflection was waning on me; I mean my military idea was Top Gun and a devastatingly awesome Tom Cruise as Maverick (ahem, and that is the Navy & pilots are officers). Time to buzz the tower of reality and check back in from my 1986 flashback of beach volleyball in jeans and dog tags, and invert myself to actually know what the Marine Corps was about. Opportunely enough I had the two gentlemen to reveal the knowledge they had gained and divulge into the less than charming duties that would be required. As any “adult” would do, I mulled over the decision and the idea of the reflection I could gain on this path…in all of a matter of a week or perhaps less. This was for me and no one but me, I kept the decision to myself until the day before I had walked into a recruiting station. As fate would have the station was in walking distance to my house; I stepped in the door thinking this is it and as I was told by the two gentleman that any recruiter would be eager to get me to sign a contract. One thing has been more certain than anything else in my entire life to date and to put it in one word it would be CONSISTENCY, you see nothing really just works out in my favor nor do I have an easy time getting anywhere. Struggle follows and I can count on it and the plans I make mine as well be cliff notes for a cliff I will be jumping off of and hoping for the best while saying F**K IT. Now as I set foot through this testosterone filled office space to see about getting my reflection to be the image I can only envisage (or shall I say, envisaje), I am completely ignored besides the fact that someone had asked me if I was someone’s girlfriend; joy, and I mean joy in the most resting b*tch face, sigh relieving, tiresome moment I could encounter. I stand in the center of the room and just say I am here to join the Marine Corps which collects a decent amount of jaw drops and confused faces that have ever been just for me. Alright, we’re getting somewhere and now I’ve caused a scene, classic, this will set the tone for what I am about to do for that 5 year plan everyone likes to rely on. Needless to say sparing the drab details, I walked in on a Monday to cause incredulous stares, and left that following Friday as an enlisted recruit being sent to Parris Island as the rest of my peers concluded Spring Break. Mind you I still only had about a handful of secondhand testimony to muster some sort of substructure for what I was about to embark on. Hindsight, researching on ones own is the best as well as gathering honest personal memoirs when decidedly making a life commitment emphasis on LIFE. With that we’ll just say I am glad I went in as a Helen Keller visiting The Louvre or The Met, it was well intentioned with greatness ahead of me but my faculties were not about me. Which brings me to the greatest decision I have ever made with the raising of my right hand, and the forethought that I would have a reflection I needed and one I wanted to see. -SM
“I, SM, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice.(So help me God)”
Semper Fidelis
Inspirational