Jacqueline Kinsey

How to Combine Two Selves Part One

When I joined the Navy at 18 years old, right after high school as a wide eyed naïve teenager, I never could have imagined the journey I was about to set out on. My whole moral being was about to be shaken to it's core. It was going to be rebuilt. My sense of self, what I had been taught was going to go out the window for self preservation. You see, I signed on to be a Corpsman in the United States Navy. It was during the time of mass deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. I was a sophomore in high school when 9/11 happened. I was a junior when we found Saddam. My first boyfriend joined the Marines in 2003, my cousin joined the Navy in 2003 also. I left in September 2004 for bootcamp under the impression that "females don't deploy over there". I was fine with that. I wasn't ready for college, and I just wanted the G.I. Bill. Once my six years were up I was out. I had no intention of deploying. I wanted to learn a few medical skills and head to college to be a doctor. The Navy was my way in.