Throughout high school everyone bombards you with the same exact question of what you are going to do after high school. 

For me growing up, I never wanted to go to college. There was always the student loan debt that people racked up, and I wanted nothing to do with any of that. Plus plenty of people are overqualified for jobs they have, so going to school didn’t even benefit them.

As I got closer to being a senior (probably my junior year), I decided that high school is one of the best times of your life. Because of that, I wanted it to last longer, and what better way of doing that by going to college. What a turn around I know! 

The next thing was for me to figure out what I wanted to major in and at what school. I eventually ended up on the decision of journalism (something I’m still pursuing now) as my major. But I wasn’t sure what school yet. 

My mom brought up the idea of a school in Florida that specializes in certain majors and allows you to graduate almost two years early. It sounded pretty good but one thing you couldn’t escape was those pesky student loan debts. 

My dad also didn’t want me to go so far away, so I looked at some more local options and landed on Mankato State. One thing that excited me about this school was that it was the alma mater of one of my favorite football players. It also had a pretty decent comm arts program.

I decided I would do both: I would go to Mankato for undergrad and then finish up with the school in Florida. My hope was that by going to this much schooling, I would be more competitive in the job market. Little did I know this was far from what I was going to actually commit to doing! I continued to get ready for this decision as my senior year continued on.

One thing that I did not have on my 2023 Bingo card was getting called by a Marine recruiter. We talked for almost a half hour about three days before Christmas that year. It was a life changing phone call.  I left for Colorado less than a week later thinking about how was I going to tell my dad without freaking him out before I left.  We ended up talking about it then in that moment, and again, more once I came back.  Together we sat down with the recruiter. He had some very good things to say. I also did not realize at the time that the recruiter was actually interviewing me. After all of that, I decided that joining the Marines was what I was going to do.

I would have never thought that in a million years I would be a Marine. I can’t even talk myself into shooting a deer. How was I going to be a Marine? My recruiter told me that he was the same way when he was younger and that when he was about my age a recruiter came to his house to talk to his mom.  She just shut the door on his face, but clearly it had worked out for him. 

I understood that this wasn’t going to be easy, nor did I want it to be. I wanted the challenge because where’s the respect you get from doing something that’s easy. I wanted to prove to myself and others that I could do this. That’s also not even mentioning all of the benefits. The pride, along with the multiple other benefits helped me make my decision. 

In the Marine’s you can have your schooling paid for and then one of your dependents or your spouse’s schooling paid for.  You don’t have to make a down payment on any property that you purchase during your time as a Marine. You can also call yourself a Marine and put that down on any future job application making you significantly more competitive in the job market.

Obviously I’m scared, but who wouldn’t be? I think it’s natural and that’s okay. In the end, everything has a price and things you want shouldn’t be easy to get. You should have to work hard because, if not, what keeps you going, you know? That’s my take at least. After all they are the few and the proud.