Mezcel

Our Father …

I thought I spent a lifetime training to become something specific, but it turns out iv been training to live up to something else. I can honestly say that I have undertaken a journey of God. I may or may not have shown the proof of my worth to man, but I am certain God has watch and found favor. It is rare that I present anything of myself with such confidence and certitude, but this only proves to show the power and significance of how recent events have unfolded.

In late November 2007, at the final review board, former candidate Todd was disenrolled from the United States Officer Candidate School, OCC 196. But this former candidate did not fail and at the final moment of judgment, this former candidate was proven not only to have been a man of honor, but a gentleman.

My cumulative GPA was an 81.92%, a marginal yet passable score. I was dropped because I took a risk. I took on one of the hardest billets on one of the most confusing of days, in a situation with the strictest control constraints. It was an honor and a curse, with a 30% chance of survival. I did not survive, but though I failed my answer was the only correct Marine Corps answer. It is not consolation, but sadness was expressed by the Marine Corps when I was disenrolled. Though the wisdom of God and Corps are to be trusted and followed with confidence, I was still viewed upon as a man who meant something positive and consistent with the promotion of the core values: honor, courage, and commitment.

I do not wear the weighted bars of a 2nd Lieutenant, but I left with a seal of approval fundamental to Officer and Marine. Candidate Todd had something special and right, and if he had only shown his gift to key evaluators at the right time maybe he would have been an officer. He did not, and God willed it thus, for the lives and destinies of man are all according to his will. But a shroud has been placed upon me in order to walk with God and fight as Jesus has prescribed and to know that the soul of the Marine Corps was shared with this former candidate and must be used to live on.

The good lord has made this world a cruel and violent place full of deceit and corruption. For a man to be anything more than warped and twisted by evil is truly a grace and gift from God. With challenges and snares often designed to destroy us; it is quite the opportunity indeed to embark on fight for one’s true life to defend ones very soul. Success in such a fight is not accountable by victory stats or points on a grade sheet, but though vision filtered by the screen of character, virtue and justice, all of which are characterized by heart.

-Amen