Writing Exercise

July 2012 will forever be marked in my memory as the matriculation day at The Citadel, one of seven senior military academies and reputedly the sharpest and most infamous. There were approximately 800 of us descending on that campus, everyone carrying nearly the same thing. Hygienic supplies to last for the next 6 months, undergarments, shoes, and things necessary for cleaning, ironing, and maintaining military uniforms and standards of living. Everything was standardized, everyone's shoes were the same, we all had white briefs, white t-shirts, white towels, no one dared be different. Some tried to sneak in contraband, that was a mistake they wouldn't understand the gravity of until later. Some had a laptop, cellphones, watches, all of which were confiscated. One person asked where his laptop would be stored, he found out the next day after he elected to leave the academy. Some people had their family help to carry everything to their rooms, the rest of us just carried everything ourselves. As was the case with my roommate, his mother was there to help him- something he resented and abhorred. You see, his load was much heavier than mine. His brother was a respected alumni as were other male members of his family.  The pressure was unbearable, for him, The Citadel wasn't a choice, it was a four year sentence. He lasted two weeks before I found him trying to slice his wrists with his door key, he was doing a pretty good job and wasn't anxious to give me the key either. When I finally got it away from him, I had to bring in our cadre. They took it from there. Ironically, his story ended being carried by paramedics. I lost touch with him, the last thing I was told was that he was much better. When I found out I had to withdraw because my scholarship fell through with the Navy, I carried resentment, anguish, and heart break to my commander's office. The difference was, on my last day, I carried all the same generic crap I brought in with me back to my car, but I had a much lighter weight than when I first went in. I knew that I made it, I made memories I won't forget, learned some extraordinary lessons, and met people I will value for a long time to come. All that in one month, it's truly amazing how irrelevant time is in certain situations, and how fatal it is in others.