Growing up in a home with 5 sisters, no brothers, and a single mother, I was pressured into becoming a cheerleader at a young age by my older sisters. Naturally wanting to play football and baseball, my mother drove me to dance practice every Tuesday and Thursday until I finally stood up for myself after a humiliating recital in which every girl in my 1st grade class witnessed me slip off the stage while doing a triple somersault mctwist back flip, breaking my noise in three places and spewing out blood in all directions. Of course, being in 1st grade, I cried for hours as my tears fell to the ground directly outside of the girls changing room, makeup running down my face. This humiliating incident caused me to want to become the manliest man of all time. I immediately chopped off my blonde locks into a crew cut and began playing cops and robbers rather than freeze tag. In high school I excelled in paintball and football as I threw darts at the 1st grade girls dance teams photo. As unfortunate as this incident was, I thank God every night for making me fall and cry that gloomy 1994 September day. If it was not for the showering of blood over my pink leather jacket, I would be a very interesting person at this point in my life, and not in the military. Thank you Mother, Sisters, 1st grade class, and God

HOORAH

This boy was me as a 1st grader. :( Then the warrior is me in high school, what a change.