Just a humble Marine seeking advice....
Posted: Wed Jan 11, 2012 2:03 am
New to this forum. Wow, such great information from some pretty impressive candidates/students/graduates.
I don't really have anyone I know who is all that qualified to critique an essay like this....
It's my first draft of the "short essay" that's going to just a couple of schools.
I'm a 159/3.79 Not planning on going crazy with T14 school applications so please keep that in mind
Few things will change a person as much as facing his or her own death. In my case, I didn’t actually face it, I drove over it.
My platoon was assigned as a security escort for the new commanding officer of Regimental Combat Team 7 in the Anbar Province of Iraq. On the way out to survey several major checkpoints along the Syria/Iraq border we encountered sporadic small arms fire from a distance and one of our Humvees was slightly damaged by a small IED (improvised explosive device). We pressed on and finished the area tour with relative ease and no further resistance. On our way out of a village cluster along the Euphrates River, the lead vehicle slowed and reported a suspicious depression in the road ahead that had not been there in the morning.
Before the lead vehicle commander could finish his second sentence, his vehicle disappeared in a cloud of dust and flame. I barely had time to say “Holy Sh..!” before my own vehicle, the second in the convoy, was also engulfed in a ball of fire and road debris from another IED we had rolled over. The heat from the explosion was so intense for that split second, my eyebrows, lashes, and mustache singed, and the acrid odor of burnt hair mixed with the pungent smell of sulfur and diesel. The concussion of the blast felt like a punch in the chest from a boxer and the deafening boom seemed to reverberate forever. In reality, the explosion took place in just a split second, like the six subsequent explosions down the line of vehicles in our convoy.
The dust cleared quickly in the light breeze and we thankfully discovered there would be no ambush to accompany the IED’s. Despite the destructive force produced by those immense blasts, not more than a few light shrapnel injuries and some cases of mild tinnitus were endured by any member of the mission. After investigating the blast craters and debris area, our explosive ordnance disposal expert concluded that the blasts would have been fatal if the charges had been buried just a few more feet toward the center of the road. As the deployment continued, we encountered many more properly placed IEDs and tragically lost many good men.
Besides inducing stress, I can’t imagine law school and roadside bombings have much in common, but learning to handle stressful situations with grace and coolness was one of the greatest benefits of my time in Iraq. That deployment, and my service in the Marines as a whole, helped put some things in perspective, career wise. I returned from that deployment with a different attitude. I no longer felt invincible and I realized that my family needed me more than the infantry did. I saw firsthand that life can be cut short in an instant and not making the most of it is an incredible waste.
I took those ideas with me to school and my civilian employment and made it a point to give everything I had to both. The initiative and time management skills I developed over the previous decade allowed me to balance work and school successfully and will continue to aid me in the study of law. I am aware that the demands placed on law students are great and can be overwhelming, but I am well prepared to take on the challenges that lie ahead.
I don't really have anyone I know who is all that qualified to critique an essay like this....
It's my first draft of the "short essay" that's going to just a couple of schools.
I'm a 159/3.79 Not planning on going crazy with T14 school applications so please keep that in mind
Few things will change a person as much as facing his or her own death. In my case, I didn’t actually face it, I drove over it.
My platoon was assigned as a security escort for the new commanding officer of Regimental Combat Team 7 in the Anbar Province of Iraq. On the way out to survey several major checkpoints along the Syria/Iraq border we encountered sporadic small arms fire from a distance and one of our Humvees was slightly damaged by a small IED (improvised explosive device). We pressed on and finished the area tour with relative ease and no further resistance. On our way out of a village cluster along the Euphrates River, the lead vehicle slowed and reported a suspicious depression in the road ahead that had not been there in the morning.
Before the lead vehicle commander could finish his second sentence, his vehicle disappeared in a cloud of dust and flame. I barely had time to say “Holy Sh..!” before my own vehicle, the second in the convoy, was also engulfed in a ball of fire and road debris from another IED we had rolled over. The heat from the explosion was so intense for that split second, my eyebrows, lashes, and mustache singed, and the acrid odor of burnt hair mixed with the pungent smell of sulfur and diesel. The concussion of the blast felt like a punch in the chest from a boxer and the deafening boom seemed to reverberate forever. In reality, the explosion took place in just a split second, like the six subsequent explosions down the line of vehicles in our convoy.
The dust cleared quickly in the light breeze and we thankfully discovered there would be no ambush to accompany the IED’s. Despite the destructive force produced by those immense blasts, not more than a few light shrapnel injuries and some cases of mild tinnitus were endured by any member of the mission. After investigating the blast craters and debris area, our explosive ordnance disposal expert concluded that the blasts would have been fatal if the charges had been buried just a few more feet toward the center of the road. As the deployment continued, we encountered many more properly placed IEDs and tragically lost many good men.
Besides inducing stress, I can’t imagine law school and roadside bombings have much in common, but learning to handle stressful situations with grace and coolness was one of the greatest benefits of my time in Iraq. That deployment, and my service in the Marines as a whole, helped put some things in perspective, career wise. I returned from that deployment with a different attitude. I no longer felt invincible and I realized that my family needed me more than the infantry did. I saw firsthand that life can be cut short in an instant and not making the most of it is an incredible waste.
I took those ideas with me to school and my civilian employment and made it a point to give everything I had to both. The initiative and time management skills I developed over the previous decade allowed me to balance work and school successfully and will continue to aid me in the study of law. I am aware that the demands placed on law students are great and can be overwhelming, but I am well prepared to take on the challenges that lie ahead.