Military can have a different meaning to many different people. To me, no matter what branch you’re in, you have to commit to all the sacrifices that come along, leaving your friends, being separated from your family, and moving to countries whose language you don’t know.

I have a small loving family–a mom, a dad, and a loving German Shepard puppy. My dad joined the military when I was only eight years old,  he’s been in the Army ever since.

My dad got stationed to Hawaii last year and that was the toughest situation to go through as a military kid.  My dad was in Hawaii as a chemical specialist. What he did was study all the bombs and their reactions and how to fight against them. If we ever got attacked, he would know how to protect our country and know what weapons to use in case we went to war.  

We first moved when I was in third grade. He was stationed to Fort Hood in Killeen, Texas which was my first move ever. We were there for two years until we got stationed back in San Antonio in the summer of me going into fourth grade. Moving again and again was difficult because we had to think about my dog, where we were going to stay, and where I was going to go to school and other stressful stuff. My dad finally retired this year and he’s officially a veteran.

I’m very proud of my dad. He worked so aggressively daily and sometimes even nights. He got retired because he got medical discard. He had surgery on his ankle and was supposed to get surgery on his shoulder. I can now proudly say that my dad is a veteran!