Graduation

Time never moved this fast when I was on active duty! This past year, my final year as an undergraduate at West Chester University of Pennsylvania, has been a blur. After waiting and working for so long, I can hardly believe that graduation is next month!

After six years in the Army National Guard, two more years in the IRR, and two major tours of active duty, I'm finally about to receive a college degree. The path has been long and fraught with detours, but I wouldn't change a thing.

It's strange, but one of the reasons the military appealed to me at 17 was the prospect of funds for college. Of course, there were many other good reasons to join, but that certainly made the decision easier. Yet, as a member of the Louisiana Army National Guard, financial assistance was only available for schools in my home state. I moved to Pennsylvania in 2003, and even though I traveled back and forth to LA to drill with my unit, I was not eligible for any financial assistance beyond the MGIB.

So, I'll be paying back my student loans for many, many years, but my time at West Chester was definitely worth it. I will always treasure the friends that I made there, and I'll carry them in my heart wherever I go.

I'll be starting an internship this summer with a federal agency and, hopefully, I will be able to join that agency to begin my career. But, whatever God plans is ok with me. I really miss my family, my Mom and sister back in Louisiana, and I hope that I'll be able to move closer to them soon.

Through it all, I think of you, my friends, and thank God for such wonderful companions of the journey of life!

Love,

Jason