The First Step - MEPS

20100902 – My phone vibrated with an unrecognized number highlighted on the screen. Today was the first day I actually sat down with Sgt Hall and discussed my options and possible opportunities that awaited me in the Marine Corps.

20100914 – I have been speaking with SSgt Verduce and Sgt Hall for a week and a half.  I have been going back and forth between wondering if this is what I really wanted to do or whether I need more time to decide.  Knowing that I have been delaying far too long, I call up Sgt Hall and tell him, “I want to be a Marine”. 

20100915 – Getting up at 0400 isn’t what I had in mind, but it was no surprise.  To make it even better, the food on the breakfast buffet was cold.  The day just kept getting worse.  Between the physical exams and sitting around all day, I couldn’t decide what was worse; the embarrassment of having to try and balance while doing the duck walk, or the bore of sitting around waiting for everyone else all day.  Then the ceremony came… and it made up for everything else.

“I, Jessica Adele Edmiston, do solemnly swear
that I will support and defend the Constitution
of the United States,against all enemies, foreign
and domestic, that I will bear true faith, and
allegiance to the same, and that I will obey the

orders, of the President of the United States and
the orders of the officers appointed over me,
according to regulations and the Uniform Code of
Military Justice so help me God.”

Now I am high on life! I just got sworn in and now I am ready to go… boot camp here I come!  Well, not quite yet.  There are a few things I still need to take care of before I will be ready.  I want to be as prepared as possible, physically and mentally.  Its time to start going to pt and deciding what I want my career to be. There is so much work to be done before shipping out to the island.

Making My Decision

It only took one time hanging from that chin up bar for me to know I was ready to change my life.  It was something I never considered before, but once I said those words “I want to be a Marine”... I knew right then, it was the best decision I ever made….

I had always wanted to join the Air Force, mainly because I wanted to be a jet pilot (height and speed.. my two favorite things.)  But then again, I was always going to be an astronaut, veterinarian, and actress too.  Being a US Marine was never part of the game plan. 

I met SSgt. Verduce at the Hookstown Fair, where him and a few other marines where scouting out possible recruits.  At first I was hesitant to even walk up to the tent, knowing how all recruiters act like vultures.  I didn’t plan on joining the Marines, or any other branch for that matter.  I just wanted to see how long I could hang from that chin up bar, I wanted that 70 seconds, I wanted that shirt!  I was going to pass it up though, so I didn’t have to give the recruiters my information. I didn’t want them to contact me.  But that bar kept calling to me.

I wasn’t able to hold the flexed arm hang for the full 70 seconds, but I wasn’t going to give up that easily either.  So I came back the next day and tried again.  Still, no 70 seconds hang.  That feeling I got, however, from just getting back up on that bar… it was a feeling I knew from somewhere… and it was a good feeling, and it sparked something inside. 

I decided to give SSgt my phone number so we could set something up where I could get information.  At first I wasn’t completely sure what I wanted to do… I just wanted options.  I was surprised at how quickly SSgt called me.  I got a message during my lunch break, so I called and scheduled to go to the office right after work that day.  SSgt Verduce set me up with one of his recruiters, Sgt Hall.  Even though Sgt Hall made the Corps sound like the place to be, I was still hesitant.  There are so many negative feeling towards the Marines from people I have known my whole life, I was skeptical. I didn’t want to disappoint my parents, and I didn’t want to come out “changed”.

However, within just one week of meeting with Sgt Hall, I knew what my decision was.  Seeing how passionate he and SSgt Verduce are about the Marine Corps, was evidence enough for me. I was going to be one of the few and one of the proud.  The words felt perfect as I said them, and they are the most meaningful 8 words that I have said in my 20 years, “SGT HALL, I WANT TO BE A MARINE”