Late 2005 I was assigned to 2-35 Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division, Schofield Barracks, HI. I re-enlisted into the Army after almost a three year break in service. On my previous enlistment, I served in the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment from the 82nd Airborne Division. All the new soldiers to include myself were standing in formation waiting on the Battalion Command Sergeant Major (CSM) to speak to us. I was the only Private First Class with a Combat Infantryman Badge, an Expert Infantryman Badge, and a combat deployment to Afghanistan.
SGT. Barrett and I contacted a suspicious vehicle in the parking lot that was parked in an unlit area at approximately 2300 hours. Once outside of our vehicle I started flanking toward the right side of the white Nissan Maxima, as the windows were darked out. SGT. Barrett went to the driver side of the vehicle, where the door was ajar, with a male sitting in the driver's seat with his feet planted on the ground I heard what sounded like a dense metal object fall onto the pavement from the driver's side of the vehicle.
Life at Valley Forge Brave, have no fear of someone or something. American soldiers represent bravery. The huts of the soldiers were very long and wide. The fireplace was in acceptable condition. No beds in the huts just straw and mud.
Growing up in Iraq in the era between the gulf war, Iran war, and Iraq war with the United state was a challenge for me, but it was not harder challenge than all what my parents went through to keep me and my siblings safe and sound. My mother is one of the strongest people that I have came cross in my life. She was and still the best mother, teacher, and my best friend. She graduated from Al Mosul University in Iraq as a Mechanical Engineer. Being a daughter of graduated mother will always push me to complete my education and go even further to earn my master degree too.
Military children are faced with many difficult challenges throughout their childhood. Most end up with many quality traits, such as loyalty, and resiliency. It is a life filled with constant change. Many things, including parenting attitude can help them transition along the way. It is this life that makes them into what they are, strong kids, full of pride for their country.
Pop! Pop! Zoom! Whiz! I heard them and I heard them loud.
I believe in the act of paying it forward, and treating others the way you want to be treated in the midst of it. Ever since I was a little girl, I always had a heart to help anyone that I was able to. I hated seeing others down, making it seem as if I was higher than them when I had nothing. I believed that if I was in their shoes, I would want someone to help me. Seeing homeless people on the side of the streets sad, hungry, desperate for just a bite of a sandwich or even a couple dollars to get them by for the next few days, made me realize how much I want to help people who are in need.
I was a coward who spent most of my time in a dark cave reminiscing on my failure as a friend. As dark as the cave was, so was my mind. There were so many things I was afraid to shine a light on, but one needed to be remembered. There was this man I liked so much that I couldn't help waving his thoughts out of my mind. Kevin Bigger, dark, tall, and agile with a rectangular face structure; he was ready to serve.
War changes Me: The time was August 1990, I was a young man at the age of 19. President Bush Sr. had put into motion what started off as Desert Shield, later escalating into Desert Storm due to Saddam Hussein taking over the country of Kuwait and making his way to the country of Saudi Arabia. The Marines where the first one’s in with boots on the ground. The time I spent in Desert Shield/Storm helped me transform me from a young boy into a responsible man, with oh so real events that became part of American History.
It took 250$ and good deeds to create some doctor like me. Growing up I was the kid who looked at the world with open optimistic eyes. I grew up in a small city called Dora located in Iraq, the middle of three girls. I was born in the late 90s, I have been told that I was born "at the end of the good days". That's when Iraq's political circumstances were not at peace at all, at 2003 another war broke in Iraq.
Why did the Europeans explore the seas? The Europeans explored the seas because they wanted to gain more power, money, resources and spread religion. Columbus had sailed and promised he would collect money, resources etc. At the time christianity was big and the Europeans wanted to spread more of christianity around the world. For a long time Europeans have been searching for new land and trade routes which lead the Europeans to explore the seas.
Do you remember a few months ago, that night where the whole family was sitting down for Easter dinner and I burst in? Do you remember my shaky fingers and my eyes that scanned the room over and over again nervously as I explained that I was to leave for war? I remember your face, the tears, the words, everything. Mom, you told me not to go, that in war there were no winners and that war would change my life. I was so against these words that I haven't talked to you since, but I want you to know that those words echoed through my head in the cold and sleepless nights and frightening days at war whether I wanted them to or not.
Says Dudley (2010) says, “We need to redefine leadership as being about lollipop moments, how many that we create, how many we acknowledge, how many of them we pay forward, and how many then we say thank you for.” (Dudley). Luckily, for me, I have been on the receiving end of a “lollipop moment,” and it happened very recently. My career in the military began as enlisted soldier and very shortly afterward, I became a non-commissioned officer in which I filled a variety of leadership roles. On average, I had approximately 35 soldiers under my charge.
From the moment I was born I was considered a military brat, I was born in Hawaii at tripler hospital because my mom was in the army and stationed there, my biological father was in the marines. When my mom remarried when I was 7, she married a man who was in the Navy. Everyone thinks being a Military brat just means you know more than other people because you 've been more places and seen more things and you get a lot of stuff you want. This is not true at all. Coming from a military background means you never have stability, you are held to a higher standard than all the other kids, and sometimes it makes you want to be in the military and only focus on that.
I don’t really enjoy picking fights, or committing any acts of violence. Truthfully, if I got into any type of conflict, my lanky body would probably give up on me halfway. That’s what my wife told me after I said I was going to be joining the US armed forces. “Mark, are you an idiot? You can’t even walk without limping, how will you serve our country?!”
