A Once and Lifetime Experience

Derek Schlenkermann

English 111-45

Diagnostic Essay

August 27, 2009

A Once and Lifetime Experience

I was living the life down at the Oceanfront of Virginia Beach with my best friend, Tim. I had a nice restaurant job as a waiter and having fun while doing it but times changed and life began not to be so great. I became broke and was surviving on hard times there were not fun anymore. I went to my dad and that is when I turned my life around 180 degrees which was the best thing I could have done. I opened myself to a new life that brought me a new sense of appreciating life. The experiences and the people I would meet and have on my journey would be something I would not change in my life.

I told my parents I wanted to join the military. I thought at first I might check out the Marines, since they see more action than other military branches, but my dad lead me in the direction of the US Army Rangers. I felt scared at these times before joining only because I did not know of what to come of me in the military. The Rangers were only something that I learned about from the movie “Black Hawk Down” and they were tough and I liked it. I said my farewells while feeling sad to my friends and parents and headed to boot camp in Fort Benning, Ga where I began my training to become a Ranger.

Surviving at my Oceanfront apartment was only a piece of a pie compared to the training that I went through. I was crawling in the bone chilling mud and walking miles to where my feet felt like they were going to fall off, doing static line jumps out of a C-130 airplane in the darkness of night being scared while preparing for what to come next. After eight months of training, I completed the rigorous training and arrived at my new unit at Fort Lewis, WA, the 2^nd Ranger Battalion. There I trained more to only find out that four months later I was going to Iraq and going to the heart of the battle, Baghdad. This was also something I could not talk about with my parents and friends since the unit I was in was a unit were we could not talk about what we were doing or going to do. We were living in tents at Baghdad International Airport and sleeping on cots in sleeping bags. Dust was on everything, from equipment to the battle uniform and the smell was of burning plastic, old trash, and an odor that would not go away. The days were hotter than I have ever seen and the action was something I could never imagine. The adrenaline was pumping through all of the soldiers as we looked through our night vision goggles as we left the confines of our base. We worked many days and nights as something new would come everyday. That wasn’t the only time I had to go to Iraq, I was over there three other times.

When we got back to the US and smelled the fresh air, oh the smell of fresh air stepping off the plane is something I will never forget, was that of relief and rest. My new military friends and I would work hard but we played ever harder. We traveled around the country and went together as group of brothers. I felt proud of what I had accomplished and have come a long way from living down at the Oceanfront. My job was not a job anymore but a way of life that I was living. I put my heart and soul in what I have come from to what I became, a US Army Ranger. The friends I meet and the times I had was something I would never give up. So many memories of accomplishment and joy came together to make this the best job I have ever had. The experiences I will take with me will only help me guide myself through a life I have started with the military. It was a job with great highs and great lows, but to get through it, that is the greatest high. I will remember what I have done and I only hope to find another job where I can say, “That was the best job.”