ive in team sports, but they paled in comparison to the camaraderie and teamwork required of soldiers. It was then that I fully realized that I was part of something bigger than myself. This also reinforced the theory that you are only as strong as your weakest link. I began to have a greater appreciation of other individuals and the struggles they went through growing up, some of which made my life look like a fairy tale. Each one of us in the platoon had different reasons for arriving at our shared moment in time. What we were to gain out of it was a sense of belonging that none of had experienced before. We were given a direction and focus for all the untapped energy that had been hidden inside us all along. As a team we accomplished things that as individuals we would never have accomplished let alone attempted. Through this eight week process I began to reassess myself as a person and the world around me and realized that I was in no uncertain terms a little bitty worm on a really big hook It was an eye opening experience to say the least. At first I was overcome with various emotions all at once: anxiety, fear, excitement, insignificance, and finally calm. I realized that I was capable of accomplishing things that I never thought I would ever try. It challenged me mentally and physically. Another aspect of this was that I realized that everything that happened or everything I did had an impact on other individuals as well. I wasnt just suffering the consequences or reaping the benefits alone. Sure I had heard teachers, pastors, youth ministers, and peers talk about action/reaction, truth or consequences, and reaping what I sow, but it never hit me how right they were until that moment in time. I think what rammed the point home was that everything we learned or failed to learn was a matter of life or death to other soldiers, civilians, etc. This had a profound affect on me as a person. This really reinforced what I had otherwise b...
