the story so far

Originally, I was going to make my posts on this blog entirely about jeeps, but I procrastinated to this point and have seemingly found inspiration elsewhere. Today marks the end of a relatively successful first semester of college for me, and for most it’s probably just another stepping stone, but it took quite a bit of work and personal growth for me to get to this point.

About Three years ago, I graduated high school. Admittedly I was somewhat of an underachiever at this point in my life, having barely made it out with a 2.0. I knew if I had any interest in doing something with my life, it was going to be an uphill battle from this point forward, and it has been. Even If I were to get accepted there was no way I could afford to start college, as my parents didn’t have any money and I knew damn well I wouldn’t qualify for any scholarships. The next logical step in my mind was to join the Air National Guard and work to put myself through school, so I swore my oath of enlistment and was given an Aug 12 ship date.

I didn’t manage to get much accomplished for the majority of that summer leading up to basic, as I blew through most of the money I made working and spent most of my time just hanging out with friends instead of getting in shape. I also ended up going through a particularly nasty break up about a week before I left, which did not enforce the mindset I needed to be in at all.

Needless to say, Basic was quite the wakeup call for me. In some senses, literally as revelry at five AM might be the worst sound imaginable if you’re not a morning person (I am not). Furthermore, I wholeheartedly believe that if I were in any worse shape when I arrived I would have been kicked out, as I was a few seconds from missing the minimum time on the initial PT test. Being the slow kid that just graduated high school, I wasn’t exactly well liked in my flight (platoon, in army speak).

Before long some of the members of the flight started calling me sluggins behind my back, which in all honesty was kind of hurtful. But in a way I’m glad they did, of course it took a toll on my self-confidence for a while, but I think it also fueled the motivation to prove them wrong. I completed basic in October, and continued training as an aircraft mechanic for the next 7 months. I spent a majority of that winter in Sheppard air force base in Wichita Falls Texas, and later moved to Little Rock Air Force Base in Arkansas.I think technical training was really a turning point for me, both academically and in personal motivation. I graduated that march top of my class, with a 96 average.

After my technical training was finished I returned home as a traditional guardsman, only going to drill one weekend a month. I began working full time and take a couple of classes over that summer, both of which I did well on, but do to tax complications wasn’t able to attend Coastal Carolina University that fall. The following spring I tried once again to start classes with Lee university only to have financial Aid fall through again. At some point throughout the year something about Boone caught my attention and I decided I’d feel at home going to school here. So this previous summer I decided I’d save up enough to have a failsafe incase financial aid fell through again, (it almost did). I got a job landscaping, and within a couple of months was promoted to supervisor, which definitely helped me financially support myself throughout the summer and staring school

So today I’ve managed to complete my first full time semester in over four attempts to start school. In two years I’ve gone from nearly failing my senior year of high school to successfully managing two part time jobs, being a full time student and close to $1700 a month in bills without going into debt, (that number is painful to look at). I’m proud of the person I feel I’ve become, but I know I still have room for growth, and I look forward to it.