I'm in!

Last night at around 5:00 I swore into the Navy.  I said the pledge that makes me a Sailor of the United States Navy.  I leave February 23,2011.  It seems more real now than ever.  I told my swear in buddy that before I didn't want to work out and not get in.  Before it seemed like it was beyond reach, it seemed before that it was on the other side of the mountain and no matter how far I climbed I couldn't see it.  But now it's on top of that mountain.  Now it's in my reach.  Now it's really happening.

I am a Hospital Corpsman in the United States Navy, I have the opportunity to work with Marines, and many sorts of people.

I have the opportunity to stretch out my wings and fly!  I can go to a thousand different places, see a thousand different things, experience a thousand different things.

I have the power to change the world, to make my mark on it.

Watch me do it, watch me live a life I want to live.  Watch me make mistakes, and then fix it.  Watch me become the me I've always wanted to be!

September 11, 2001

I know that September 11 was yesterday, but seeing as I didn't have internet I wasn't able to post anything.

I remember what happened that day like it was yesterday.  I had just moved to O'ahu from the Big Island, a few days before it happened and we were waiting for my Aunt and my little cousin to fly up as well.  My mom was looking for a job, and we were looking for a place to live, since we were living with my Uncle Jesse.

Anyway, I was getting ready for school when someone called my Uncle Jesse.  After that phone call he ran into living room, turned on the TV, changed the channel and just stood there.  He called my mom in shortly afterwards, and when she didn't come back I went into the living room and I watched my Uncles fist curl in hatred, I saw tears coming to my mothers eyes.  I turned my face and saw the plane hit the buildings over and over again.  I saw them tumble, I saw the ash cloud that took over the city.

You have to realize, compared to New York City, I was on the other side of the world.  The only place I've been to on the Mainland was California.  New York was a dream to me, I know it existed but I didn't think I was ever going to get there, or that I was ever going to see it even in TV.  Not only was I on the other side of the world, but I wasn't even 10 yet. It took so long to grasp what happened.

I remember when my mom dropped me off at school, no one had smiles on their faces.  That's the thing that killed me the most.  There were hello's but there was no smile to make it genuine.  The news was on in every classroom and towards the middle of the day we went outside and we stood in a circle, all holding hands, the United States Flag in the middle of us, I remember saying a prayer with my classmates, and singing the Star Spangled Banner.

I remember going home and asking my mother why it happened, I don't remember her response.

But now it's been nine years since that fateful day.  It's been nine years since our country, our world has changed.  But we've lost sight of ourselves.  We forget why our soldiers are there, at least most of us.  They are not fighting for oil, they are not fighting something that happened nine years ago, although that is apart of it.  They are fighting because our lives, our country, what we as a people stand for, and our freedom has been threatened.  They are fighting to allow us to keep our freedom.