Story

I believe that enjoying the little things in life will make the hard times better. Mainly because when I was away from the ones that I loved and cared about, or who had a major impact on my life. It was all that I had left of them at that time and it comforted me through the hard times. I like to live by this because it helps me on the day to day basis in remembering all of the good times I had with my fellow Marines, the Marines who were there for me when my MWD (Military Working Dog) Meister passed away or the ones who were there for me when my fiancé left me while I was away from home.

            When I was starting my senior of high school I had signed the paperwork to become a Marine. Two weeks after I crossed that stage I was on a plane to sunny San Diego, CA. but not to enjoy the weather, instead I was going to have one of the toughest experiences of my young life. This is where my credo was born, Marine Corps boot camp is by far one of the closest things to hell on earth anyone can go through. For 13 weeks you amount to less than dirt and learn the limits of your body and mine. But it is also where the brotherhood is born, while in boot camp I was among 60 other men going through the same thing I was every day from dusk till dawn and we back support for each other, while walking up a steep incline carrying a 60 to 70 pound bag on your back and a rifle in your hands, you just want to give up but when I would look to my left and right and see one smiling and the other mouthing “ come on man keep pushing”  all I could do was keep going. Did I want to be the one that gave up, of course not and those little things became important, they helped give me the confidence in myself and my fellow recruits. At the end of the 12^th week I was finally able to call myself a Marine and the one thing I still remember to this very day is what my Senior Drill Instructor said to me “ I heard you took charge out there and motivated the others, Good Job Marine.” As he laid my very first EGA (Eagle, Globe and Anchor) in the palm of my left hand as he shook my right.

            As my journey continued as a Marine I began to experience hard times in life that I lucky didn’t have to go through alone because of my new family. After Military Police Schooling I had orders to Okinawa, Japan a tiny island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. I started working as a Military Police Officer in March, 2011 on one of the 7 Marine Corps Camp’s that are on the island. I started enjoying the little things after my first 36 hour shift, those little things included but not limited to drinking with buddies, grilling, fishing, swimming, etc. I spent a year and a half riding around and patrolling the mean streets of Camp Courtney Okinawa, Japan with a guy named David. One of the things he told me that I still remember clear as day is if you feel like you’re gonna lose, just whip out you’re baton and give them hell. The little things he showed me about being an MP made it enjoyable because it was different ways of relieving the stress of work, the way David and I would relieve work stress was simple, what do you do while on a sub-tropical island? Go to the beach and have a drink. In August of 2012 I jumped on a plane from Okinawa, japan to San Antonio, TX for MWD Basic Handlers course although this was a big thing it lead to a lot of little enjoyable things. When I got back to Okinawa, my first MWD was named Becker H319 an 11 year old all-black German shepherd. He taught me to enjoy the little things because the smallest favor I would do for him would drive him crazy. I bought him some chicken nuggets on our way back from the vet’s office. When I gave them to him, he lost his mind, I’m talking back flips in the back of the car, running from window to window. Keep in mind this is 79lbs trained Explosive/Patrol Detector Dog. When Becker passed away I cried like a baby, Meister J247 was my next partner he was a 9 year old german shepherd Narcotic/Patrol Detector Dog. Meister has this skill of telling when something was wrong with me whenever I was down about Becker, Meister would walk over to me and jump into my lap he was also 77lbs so it made things fun. Another one of Meister “fun” things to do was if he got bored he would bite my pants leg or hand. Those were his little things that I remember and let me hold on to the memory of that amazing dog.