Personal Narrative: My Army Story

Army Story Believe it or not, before I joined the Army I didn’t want anything to do with pain, death or fear, I was scared of the world and I wanted to protect myself. So how was I going to do that you ask? I decided that I was going to be a nun. I grew up in Lomita, California with my mom, dad and four sisters, and with all those girls there was bound to be some trouble. My two oldest sisters got heavily involved with drugs and among other things, my third oldest sister died when she was 17. All this devastation only deep-rooted decision to become a nun, or so I thought. When I told my family of my plans of going to college and then a convent, they laughed; I got angry. I figured, that if I said I was joining the Army, my dad would help me …show more content…
My sisters told me I was too weak and emotional to be a Soldier and that I was wasting my time. Instead of accepting their labels, I chose to take on the challenge and it has been the most rewarding 13 years of my life. I chose to become a Military Corrections Officer. As I challenged myself and completed basic training and Advance Individual Training I knew I wasn’t weak, I felt empowered. My first duty station was is Mannheim, Germany where I took advantage of the train systems and traveled all over Europe. I went the Tulip festival in Amsterdam, Octoberfest in Munich and even attempted to ski in the Swiss Alps. I went shopping in the flea markets in Czech, I even spent two weeks traveling around Italy and spent Christmas at midnight mass in the Vatican. I’ve had the opportunity to work in the only men’s maximum security prison in the department of defense located in fort Leavenworth, Kansas. This facility houses some very infamous prisoners such as the controversial Chelsea Manning and the fort Hood shooter Nidal Hassan along with 500 other prisoners. I have worked in San Diego, California where I was the Unit Manager for the only Women’s Correctional Facility in Department of Defense and subject matter