A Soldier of Patience

            Finally after six years of waiting, February 20, 2014 had finally come. Being a soldier of the United States Army taught me numerous values and ethos. One that stuck out to me the most was patience. Patience has helped me develop into the man I'am today. Before the Army I was an impatient young man growing up. I didn't have a worry, or care in the world. No agenda that kept me grounded nor guidelines to shape me into a successful man. I was lacking something; I wanted more in my life then waking up day by day with no goal. So I decided to enlist in the United States Army. There I had structure, something that the Army taught me was a set of values. "Hurry up and wait" was a saying that I had learned as a soldier. In a way I was forced to be patient. People may not grasp the concept of that, but I, myself thought about it more differently and took it as valuable lesson. I had a realization that no matter how fast or in a hurry I was to make something of myself. Patience was required to succeed.
             The Army aged me in a sense, to be this rock hard indestructible person mentally and physically. Giving you responsibilities that most male and females at the age of nineteen don't have. I was giving a new perspective on life. Now wanting a family and to raise children of my own. After about a year in, I get married at the age of twenty. I was moving forward rapidly through life which in certain cultures was not common but in the military it was normal. Another year passes and here comes the birth of my first child. I was now a father of a beautiful daughter, Alexis. So within the first two years I had a family all at the age of twenty-one. Two months after my daughter's birth I deploy overseas leaving my family behind. This took a number on our relationship which later lead to a divorce. The first three years I was married had a daughter and divorced by the age of twenty-two. But this was all normal in the military.