It took a little over seven hours to get home as I had a layover in Atlanta before I could make it home to Fort Wayne. Atlanta was a huge airport, it almost freaked me out. Leaving home just as I had done in the past was turning into a real experience. I had already done more and had been through more than any of my friends or my family ever had.
When I got off the plane at home I was so proud and there I was all decked out in uniform, spit shined and wearing my Sharp Shooters medal. I was in the best shape of my life and I felt like I owned the world. I walked down the stairs from the plane and saw my family. My mother was full of hugs and kisses, my father shook my hand, and I hugged my brother and sisters.
I went around to all of the places I liked to hang out at and even back to the school to see a teacher that I liked. I was in uniform and trying to look tough. In the next couple of days I visited a couple of bully’s in the neighborhood. I showed them what a Marine could do. I look back and I find it hard to forgive them. I felt and still do feel that they had it coming. They chased me to school and beat me up several times. Now I was a man, not just any man, but a Marine. I took care of business.
I had two weeks leave then I would have to return to California, at Camp Pendleton for training. This training was what every Marine had to do. This was the training that taught you to fight in a war setting. I was glad to leave home, it hadn’t really been all that long that I was gone while in boot camp. The two weeks went by quickly. Training was to be only a couple weeks long then we would all get our orders. Mine was to Camp LeJeune, North Carolina. I was to become a combat engineer. I was going to learn how to build bridges and how to blow them up.
It seems that blowing things up was what I excelled at. I was good at construction too. School went on for four weeks and at the end of the four weeks I was promoted meritoriously to Lance Corporal. Only the top two or three in the class got promoted. I was motivated, I was adapting to a new way of life, I was overcoming my past. That’s what Marines do, they adapt, they overcome and they improvise.
This lesson is what I grabbed on to through out my life. I would of course have to adapt and overcome many obstacles if I was to succeed. My first obstacle was to get a G.E.D. After all I had not finished high school. I studied, took the test and past. I couldn’t believe it. I passed! I overcame!
