Sacrifices

Djfnsdilwefs!!

It’d probably be more grammatically correct to say I’m frustrated but I feel a long series of random letters with the intensity of two exclamation points more accurately expresses how utterly helpless and frustrated I feel at this very moment.  Our Honor Guard Detail has several positions including Detail Commander, Deputy Detail Commander, Drill and Ceremonies Officer, and Standardization Officer.  We will eventually experience each role and while I’m the person who probably needs the most work, I’m now the Detail Commander.  Every training practice we are given a new piece of information to study, and we have to get together regularly to set a pace and practice the knowledge which might include the Honor Guard Creed, Penn State Alma Matter, or the Six Articles of Military Code of Conduct, ect.  Today just wasn’t a good day and while I feel bad, I know how desperately I'm trying to keep my head above the water level with classes, my THON committee, and Honor Guard Training.  As I’m sitting here waiting to iron my training jeans, which by the way are men’s jeans from Wal-Mart because we must have a standardized training uniform, I cannot think of anything I want more than this semester of training to be over.  I can’t excel in any one given area without sacrificing another and the worst part is getting bad grades.  At Honor Guard training we’re always made to feel we don’t meet their standards and when I don’t do well on an assignment or exam I feel I’ve let down my parents who have been so supportive this year and throughout my whole life.  I’m a student before anything else−it’s something they reiterate throughout the detachment often.   You cannot be an ROTC student with poor grades, much less an Honor Guard member.  I don’t know what else I have to give because I don’t have much left, so let’s hope things get better from here on out ! J