Joining a group # 5

When I was 17 I joined the Marine Corps.  I left my family and friends right after my last summer as a "civilian" and was shipped off to Marine Corps Recruiting Depot Sand Diego for bootcamp.  WhileI was there I was constantly thinking to myself "what did I get myself into?"  It was not an easy by any means but all I kept telling myself is that I signed up for this voluntarily and this was my choice and by golly I was gonna finish it.  The days dragged on and thing just kept getting harder and harder but my "light at the end of the tunnel" was slowly approaching and the only thing I could think about was graduation.  Once I graduated a whole new set of concerns flooded my mind, "Am I going to pass my specialty school?", "Am I going to measure up physically to my fellow Marines?"  It was exhausting, constantly thinking about what's going to happen next.  Finally when I went home my friends and family were so proud of my accomplishments, and so proud of what I had become, it made all my worries drift away.  They all told me when I came back how different I was.  How I was a changed man, how my values had changed, how my demeanor and thought process had changed, and even how different I looked.  All that happiness was short lived though, after I left home again this time for Marine Combat Training, the hazing and questions all came back.  I once again was left thinking to myself how hard this is, and how hard it is to do this alone.  The Marine Corps submerses you into a very diverse group of people, so to say the least it's a little hard to make good friends, you may have a lot of acquaintances but not many true friends.  Even if you do have "true friends" you can't show any weakness, that is the ultimate sin.  So you push on, gritting your teeth and rolling with the punches.  Things do get a little easier after your specialty school, or at least they settle down a little bit.  After your specialty school you get your Duty Assignment, which means you get stationed somewhere.  I was stationed in Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.  Once I arrived there it was harder initially but easier over time.  Mainly because you get used to things, what you have to do at work, where everything is located, how your boss wants you to act, things of that nature.  The thing that made it harder originally was you're once again at the bottom of the totem pole.  You are the grunt worker, the new guy, the peon, the guy who gets stuck doing all the jobs no one else wants to do.  Once you make it through the hazing period though, things drastically get easier.  You are no longer the whipping boy and graduate to just an average Marine. After you prove yourself at this point and work hard and get promoted you're placed in a position of authority and things get even easier.