Question 3: What are the achievements you are most proud of?

This is actually an easy one.  I'm most proud of joining the Army. I joke and tell people I did it in a "moment of temporary insanity", but it was a life changing experience for me.  Graduating from college so many years ago, I was set on a path to grad school because that was what I was expected to do.  It's not something I actively chose and the closer I got to that date,  the more I realized I did not want to go to grad school. I was not ready and I was not even sure why I wanted to go, except that everyone told me that was what I should be doing.  Choosing not to attend grad school was a difficult decision, but I still think it was the right choice.

So, as a result, I ended up moving back in with my parents, still thinking at the time that I was just going to defer for a semester and go to school in January.  I took up two jobs in an attempt to earn as much money as possible for my school nest egg. And again, as January loomed closer, it again became more apparent that I did not want to go to grad school.  Needless to say, my parents were upset and they were pressing me for a long term plan.  

Somehow, the idea of the military popped into my head.  I went down to the recruiters, thinking about the Navy.  However, the Navy recruiter was out to lunch and I was instead intercepted by my Army recruiter, Sgt. Canastero after he spotted me lingering in the hallway trying to figure out how long I should wait.  In that moment, my life was set on a new path.  Long story short, I ended up enlisting as an MP, with a guaranteed posting in Germany.

The Army was both the easiest and the hardest job I've ever had.  They taught me discipline, strength of character and determination.  I learned I could muster the strength to march 10 miles with stress fractures in my pelvis. I could shoot a weapon and surprisingly, I enjoyed it.  That said, it's never made me want to buy a gun, shooting for work and choosing to shoot for pleasure are too very separate things. The Army taught me to dig deep in and move forward when I was faced with difficult challenges.  I still think about my drill sergeant's advice to us to "suck it up and drive on" whenever we were struggling.  Simple advice, but sometimes that's all you can do to get through the day.  I worked hard and I achieved something a lot of people don't get to be a part of.  And those lessons stick with me today.