Rough draft - Give me The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
Posted: Fri Apr 27, 2012 12:32 pm
What makes a good lawyer? A Twenty-Two year old Harvard graduate with no life experience, or a Thirty-One year old military veteran who chose to defend his Country rather than attend college after high school? Maybe both, maybe neither one… I am most certainly not the Harvard graduate that everyone in my family hoped I would be.
Anyone who has ever served in any branch of the United States Military knows that it takes a certain type of person to stand up and volunteer to defend their county. This is an undertaking not many people are willing to endure. Military life is not everyone but joining the United States Marine Corps was the best decision I have ever made.
As children we all dream of growing up and becoming a doctor or a teacher or a fireman but becoming a Marine was possibly the furthest thing from my mind. I grew up without a father and had no guidance as a teenager. The only image I had of the military was what I had seen in the movies. During my senior year in high school I had no idea what I was going to do once I graduated. I didn’t want to go to college because I was tired of school and I didn’t want to stay at my job where I was making barely enough to cover the gas to get there.
To tell the truth I was scared shitless about my future was going to turn out. Then I got a phone call. The call was from an Air Force recruiter who wanted to convince me to join. Since I had nothing else to do I figured I would hear him out. I met with the recruiter at his office and he gave me a brief story spiel about what I could look forward to if I did join the Air Force. But when I left his office I wasn’t convinced. Not that anything was wrong with the Air Force, it just wasn’t for me.
Then another phone call came in. This time it was from a Marine Corps recruiter and he sounded excited to speak to me. We set up at meet time and he picked me up from school and took me to the recruiting station. At the station he didn’t show me any videos or pamphlets, all he did was tell me what the Marine Corps did and what they were all about. I was hooked. I wanted to be part of a group that I felt would not only make me a better person but challenge me, as well. And that is exactly what I got.
Boot camp lasted three long months and it was the most physically demanding time of my life. We would PT 5 times a week, practice drill every day, and spend the rest of the time getting screamed at by our Drill Instructors but I wouldn’t change it for the world. I hated every minute of it but I also loved every minute because I was doing something I never thought I could and meeting people I knew I never would. I had conquered something I thought would be tougher than I had expected and I beat it. I expect law school to be same.
There isn’t anything law school can throw at me that I haven’t already been prepared for. My first of three tours of duty into a war zone came shortly after September 11, 2001. When we were told that we were going to be deployed into the most hostile region, my heart dropped. I knew what I was getting myself into when I joined the Marine Corps but when they said we were headed over it all kicked in. I don’t want to say that I was scared but I was definitely nervous.
Once deployed into an active war zone, scared shitless would be putting it lightly but on the outside you would never know. I did my job to the best of my ability and the only reason I was able to do that was because I didn’t let fear get in my way. If I had let that happen I would have endangered mu life as we al the lives of the men I served with.
When you are faced with no choices you are amazed by that you can accomplish. Fear is a powerful motivator but the courage to overcome that fear is what separates the men from the boys. I love the Marine Corps and would give my life for it in a heartbeat. Not too many people can say that and I am proud to be a member of such a prestigious club. But I never would have had this title if I let fear hold me back and get in my way.
We are all afraid of something but how we react to that fear is what is going to make the difference in how your life turns out. Face your fears head on and make them back down. Not the other way around. As a criminal prosecutor, I plan to use everything I’ve learned from my 5 years as a Marine, 6 years as a police officer, 4 years of undergraduate course work, 3 years of law school, 7 years as a husband and 5 years as a father to become the best lawyer I can be. It is my life experience that sets me aside from most and the multifaceted dimensions of my character make me a strong candidate for success.
Anyone who has ever served in any branch of the United States Military knows that it takes a certain type of person to stand up and volunteer to defend their county. This is an undertaking not many people are willing to endure. Military life is not everyone but joining the United States Marine Corps was the best decision I have ever made.
As children we all dream of growing up and becoming a doctor or a teacher or a fireman but becoming a Marine was possibly the furthest thing from my mind. I grew up without a father and had no guidance as a teenager. The only image I had of the military was what I had seen in the movies. During my senior year in high school I had no idea what I was going to do once I graduated. I didn’t want to go to college because I was tired of school and I didn’t want to stay at my job where I was making barely enough to cover the gas to get there.
To tell the truth I was scared shitless about my future was going to turn out. Then I got a phone call. The call was from an Air Force recruiter who wanted to convince me to join. Since I had nothing else to do I figured I would hear him out. I met with the recruiter at his office and he gave me a brief story spiel about what I could look forward to if I did join the Air Force. But when I left his office I wasn’t convinced. Not that anything was wrong with the Air Force, it just wasn’t for me.
Then another phone call came in. This time it was from a Marine Corps recruiter and he sounded excited to speak to me. We set up at meet time and he picked me up from school and took me to the recruiting station. At the station he didn’t show me any videos or pamphlets, all he did was tell me what the Marine Corps did and what they were all about. I was hooked. I wanted to be part of a group that I felt would not only make me a better person but challenge me, as well. And that is exactly what I got.
Boot camp lasted three long months and it was the most physically demanding time of my life. We would PT 5 times a week, practice drill every day, and spend the rest of the time getting screamed at by our Drill Instructors but I wouldn’t change it for the world. I hated every minute of it but I also loved every minute because I was doing something I never thought I could and meeting people I knew I never would. I had conquered something I thought would be tougher than I had expected and I beat it. I expect law school to be same.
There isn’t anything law school can throw at me that I haven’t already been prepared for. My first of three tours of duty into a war zone came shortly after September 11, 2001. When we were told that we were going to be deployed into the most hostile region, my heart dropped. I knew what I was getting myself into when I joined the Marine Corps but when they said we were headed over it all kicked in. I don’t want to say that I was scared but I was definitely nervous.
Once deployed into an active war zone, scared shitless would be putting it lightly but on the outside you would never know. I did my job to the best of my ability and the only reason I was able to do that was because I didn’t let fear get in my way. If I had let that happen I would have endangered mu life as we al the lives of the men I served with.
When you are faced with no choices you are amazed by that you can accomplish. Fear is a powerful motivator but the courage to overcome that fear is what separates the men from the boys. I love the Marine Corps and would give my life for it in a heartbeat. Not too many people can say that and I am proud to be a member of such a prestigious club. But I never would have had this title if I let fear hold me back and get in my way.
We are all afraid of something but how we react to that fear is what is going to make the difference in how your life turns out. Face your fears head on and make them back down. Not the other way around. As a criminal prosecutor, I plan to use everything I’ve learned from my 5 years as a Marine, 6 years as a police officer, 4 years of undergraduate course work, 3 years of law school, 7 years as a husband and 5 years as a father to become the best lawyer I can be. It is my life experience that sets me aside from most and the multifaceted dimensions of my character make me a strong candidate for success.