hello again, it’s me…

I’ve been away for a bit. I haven’t felt the need to write until now.

This past month has been a roller coaster for me. I’ve experienced new things, been put in uncomfortable situations, and have really gotten to know myself. I’ll dive a little deeper for you to explain what I mean.

On May 23rd I left for Quantico, Virginia, as I was going to USMC Officer Candidate School. Before then I was quarantining for 2 weeks. Once I arrived to the Quantico Marine Base, I was then quarantined for 2 more weeks in a Restriction of Movement (ROM). This is where I met my soon to be rack mate. She’s a very cool person by the way. One of the nicest people there. After being stuck in one room for 2 weeks, we were then transferred to Brown Field where our training would begin. It was the most exciting and the most terrifying day I had up til that point. I was introduced to many of my soon to be friends that day. Man I miss them so much. After the 5ish days of in-processing we had there, we were picked up by our Instructors. That day was probably the hardest and the toughest day I had ever in my life. Each day after that I started to develop mental strength, pushing through each day learning more and understanding more of why they say and do the things they do. Then came the day of the Combat Course. During the demo, as I jumped in the muddy pond, my right shin hit a log or a rock. The pain was unbelievable, but I kept pushing through. I finished the demo and completed the whole Combat Course following it. When finished, I looked down at my leg and saw my leg twice its usual size with a gash in it. Not gonna lie, it hurt, but I kept pushing. The next day I completed the Obstacle Course, but that day was also the first day of Light Duty. Long story short, I’m back home. This might sound like a somber story, but trust me…it isn’t.

In the time I was there, I learned a lot about the Marines and how to be a great officer, but also a lot about myself. I learned that if you roll your sleeves ahead of time, you won’t be stuck rolling your sleeves when the time given is only 3 minutes. I learned to always prepare marked tape so you can change it out when needed. I learned that when someone tells you to do something, it already should’ve been done (meaning do it really fast right away, like it needed to be done yesterday). Always be moving and always be working fast. There is no such thing as “down time”. One thing that really stuck with me is the importance of INTEGRITY. Integrity means to be honest, truthful, and to be responsible. If you do not possess integrity, it means you are NOT honest, you are NOT truthful, and you DO NOT take responsibility for your actions. They want a leader who can lead, and each trait combined in integrity defines every leader there is in the Marine Corps. How do you expect anyone to trust you if you are not being honest, if you are not being truthful, and if you are not accepting you messed up? With all of the leadership traits, integrity is the one that I believe to be really important. It is something I was working on there and something I am working on continuously. I wanted people to see that if I messed up, I would take responsibility for it, or if I was a leader and someone messed up in my Squad, I would take responsibility for it. I also really wanted my Platoon to trust me and have faith in me. So integrity is something I focused and worked on when learning how to be a leader in the USMC.

But now that I am back home, how am I going to apply what I learned at OCS in the civilian world? Quite simple. Do the exact same thing. Be honest, truthful, and responsible. Work fast and efficiently. Do what I am told to do when told to do it. Don’t overthink. Keep moving and keep grinding. Be the leader and put myself in the uncomfortable situations that’ll help me grow both mentally and physically. This is just a small list, but you get the picture. I can apply these traits in my everyday life. You don’t need to be in the military to use these traits. They are already shown and given, you just need to know how to apply it.

Many of you might be thinking now, “so…what about OCS?” I am going to be resigning my contract to try to get into the 10 week OCC program for next summer so I can graduate and then commission on schedule, and hopefully see some of my friends from PLC-Jrs at TBS. For now though, I am resting and healing, hopefully going to be able to start running soon but for now I’ll just be working on my upper body. If you guys have any questions that I did not answer and are still wondering, feel free to DM me or write a comment below and I’ll try to reply as soon as possible.

Love,

Emily

“The Lord will lead you. He himself is with you. He will not fail you or leave you. Don’t worry. Don’t be afraid!” – Deuteronomy 31:8 ERV