My Marine by Kevin

My Marine by Kevin - July 2013 Scholarship Essay

            I’ll start by being honest; there were not many books throughout my high school career that I truly enjoyed reading. That is, unless you count the books I got to chose for myself for Accelerated Reader, or AR as some may know it, but I get the feeling that that isn’t really what the question is asking. Now, while I said there were not many books I enjoyed that doesn’t mean I didn’t like any of them. In fact one of my favorite books, and definitely my most favorite book read so far for school is The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien.
            For anyone that is unaware what this book is about, it is a collection of stories based around the main character, Tim O’Brien, and the rest of the members of Alpha Company, specifically focusing on the things each person brought with them. The Things They Carried brings the horrors of the Vietnam war to the pages for everybody to experience. The book deals with the death of friends, the loss of loved ones and plenty other everyday problems that affect everyone, not just our soldiers.
            I read this book my sophomore year of high school, and the reason why it became my favorite book to read for school was because it gave me a greater sense of gratitude for the men and women serving in the armed forces. It especially hit home when I learned that one of my best friends was planning on joining the Marine Corps, and is in fact finishing his training this summer. As I read this story, the prospect of personally joining the armed forces seemed awful, in fact it was quite possibly the last thing I wanted to do, due mainly to the fact that the things each of the characters went through and my own personal research into Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder made the idea of purposefully putting myself in a situation where all of those things became a very probable reality something I could not deal with.
            But when you learn one of your oldest and best friends plans on being a Marine, you stop thinking about yourself. Instead, every fear and worry you had about yourself if you possibly joined the military goes away, and instead everything gets transferred over to that friend. Until the day comes that he leaves, the worries aren’t really there, you joke about the job they have to do, and joke about the potential dangers they are going to face. But when that day comes for them to board the plane to head to basic training, every fear comes flooding to the foreground of your thoughts. You realize it’s only training, that they aren’t actually going the front lines, but you also know that that is exactly what they are being trained to do. It brings about a whole new level of respect for that person that can only be brought forth by having a close friend willingly put himself in danger to protect you, their family, their friends, and their country.
            So while reading The Things They Carried really made me afraid, I wasn’t afraid for myself at all, I was afraid for my friend because I knew that he would do whatever he had to in order to keep us safe. I was afraid because I knew all the horrible things that can happen while protecting us. The Things They Carried made sure the readers were aware of the struggles every soldier faces while away from home. But even though the book made me afraid for my friend, it also made me extremely proud of him, because I knew how real the dangers were.
            So, all in all, The Things They Carried didn’t become my favorite school book because of the writing ability of its author or the deep complex themes involved. It became my favorite book because it stands as a reminder of how proud I should be of my friends willing to sacrifice their own personally safety, so I can feel safe back home.