The summer after my junior year was like most summer vacations. I was working about 40 hours a week, enjoying my break from school and doing the things I like to do. Right after school ended, I took the coveted SAT test. A few weeks later, I got my whopping score of 980. My test results aided the dilemma I was having. High school, which was supposed to prepare me for college, was having the exact opposite effect.
My academic record in high school was not that glorious. I started out decent, but then I slipped quite a bit. Doing the classes was not the problem. The problem lied in my motivation. A teacher once asked my why I did not turn in my homework. I asked him to beak out his grade book and pointed to my test grades. Most of those grades were close to 100%. I was not motivated to try hard. My performance was not the only factor in this problem.
All during high school, I took these tests to “decide” my life. I answered all these questions and my answers were supposed to dictate the rest of my life. I cannot recall what the results were, but they did little to motivate me to go to college. I saw that high school was more like a factory. We, the students, were the raw material, the machines were the teachers, and the product was a college student. No one really bothered to give me an acceptable answer as to why I should really go to college. Going to college is the thing everyone does, or is it.
One Saturday morning, after working rather late, an Army recruiter called me. I made him repeat his sales pitch since I was too tired to understand him the first time around. I had never been anti military; I decided to hear him out. After meeting with him, I knew what the Army had to offer. I took the ASVAB and scored a 79. I guess the Army thought I was a bit smarter than the SAT creators were. As I saw it, the Army was offering me $40,000 for college and a decent place to bide my time until I could figure out what to do with my life. After selling this idea to my mom, I was set to leave 2 weeks after graduating high school.
My school was the kind where everyone goes to college. I was the first student not to do so in a few years. There were more than a few people who thought I was doing the wrong thing. I amused my self in dealing with these people. As graduation came and went, I was happy to leave home and enlist in the Army.
Basic training is almost like high school. Everyone wants to get through it so they can “get on with their military career.” The real Army starts when you get to your first duty station. In the beginning, I was not a good soldier. My mentality was like most others my age; do just enough to get by but not enough to excel. Unlike other jobs, my leaders definitely noticed I was not giving my all. At some point, after more than my fair share of pain, I decided to change my ways. Doing as little as possible no longer would cut it. My new theory on excelling in the military was rather simple; know my job, shut my mouth and be physically fit. I also decided to exceed (not super exceed) the standards set upon me. As I was changing my ways, I was also exposed to every type of people. I met people who were well educated, not se well educated, people who were content with life and people who were always improving their lives. Seeing how these people were gave me the motivation to go to college. After 4 years of the Army, I was ready for college.
I finally saw college for what it really was. College is one way to better your life. It opens up opportunities that non-college graduates do not have. However, getting a college degree can be as worthless as the piece of paper that comes with graduation. College, like life, is what you make of it.
My first semester of college was quite amusing from my perspective, because I got to observe hundreds of college students fresh out of high school. These freshmen not really were not motivated to be there. For them, college was more about freedom from house rules. Instead of working hard before playing hard, these people were quite ignorant. Partying, sports, boyfriends, girlfriends and social life all were more important than school. No one had figured out that you must try hard in all aspects of life to really succeed. That is something I learned during my rough times in the military. The New me did quite well when grades were released. My GPA was a 3.6 while one of my friends, who had a 1400 SAT score, was only a 2.1. If I had gone into college right after high school, I am quite sure my grades would be in line with that of my friend’s GPA.
Lastly, the Army taught me that I need a job that gives me a sense of satisfaction. Working a job where I do the same thing every day will drive me crazy. Each day in the military is always quite different from the next. Yes, there is a lot of hard work involved. But when the job is done, I get a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment. Ask anyone who works fast food or retail if their job is satisfying.
This is my long response to how the military has changed me. I could write more, but I will not torture you any longer, that is if you have even read enough to see this line

. I just figured writing one or 2 lines for this topic would not do.
SGT Doody