WEBVTT

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So , I mean , you gotta , you gotta

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give Nick savings some credit . It ,

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it's all about the process . I'm John

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Dawson and from Gadsden , Alabama and I

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am trying to do for the Marine Corps uh

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via the zero cc route . Um And

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hopefully we'll be shipping in

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September . I am a Lance corporal . I

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joined the Marine Corps December 13th

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of 2021 then I

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arrived in Okinawa early August and

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I've been here pushing on seven months .

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They all started with our , with our

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grandfather who was a marine uh during

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Korea . And I remember he was always

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telling stories about it and we just

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thought he was the coolest person ever .

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So that was the person who definitely

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put it on the map for us . We had a

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recruiter out of Gadsden who called my

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dad looking for staley . And my dad was

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like , oh , I don't think he's

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interested in the Marine Corps , but my

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oldest son is and uh ended up helping

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me get in touch with him and helping uh

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him get me in touch with Captain mcwane .

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And then of course , he ends up joining

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before I get a chance to . So it's just

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kind of funny how things work out . He

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left right before Christmas . And so it

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was the first Christmas where we

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weren't , you know , hanging out

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together . And so it was kind of weird

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because me and are really close . He

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was actually my first phone call that I

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had made and I didn't want him to tell

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mom or dad and then get upset at me

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that I didn't call them first . But ,

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yeah , he was definitely the first

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person I reached out to , especially

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like having staley in . It's definitely

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like , oh , yeah , you're not getting

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out of this . So you're , you're in it .

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So just might , might as well mentally ,

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just be all , you know , all in . So I

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always thought that the marines was in

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my future and once I decided to go to

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law school , I really knew that the

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marines , that the jag route was

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something that I wanted to pursue . And

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so I've been working towards that ever

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since . Probably my senior year of high

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school . Law school is tough . Um , I

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was a four point oh student in

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undergrad and , you know , I studied

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but it wasn't like I was devoting too ,

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too much time to my studies . I just ,

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you know , would do , you know , do

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what I needed to do to get an A and

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then law school comes around and it's

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more of a competitive atmosphere , a

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lot of long hours and being disciplined

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to like , ok , I'm gonna get there at

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eight in the morning and I probably

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won't leave till , you know , 12 , 11

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at night . And then you just kind of

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have to say , all right , this is what

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I wanna do . Let's make it happen . So

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one thing that , uh , kind of was a big

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point , I guess in , in my process was

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not getting selected for P L C last

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year and it just wasn't my time and

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just kind of the , all right . Well ,

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this is the real world . You gotta

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realize that and if you really want

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something , you can't let a little

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thing like that hold you back . And so

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not getting selected . It was just kind

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of like a one of those moments . It's

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like , you know , when the going gets

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tough , the tough get going . It's like ,

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all right , well , we're gonna double

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down . I came up with the plan . I was

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like , my parents live in Panama City

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now . I was like , I'm gonna go to

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Panama City . I was , I'm gonna go help

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the recruiting station there at the

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moment . I was like , man , this is not

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the ideal situation , but looking back

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at it now , it's like , I'm so glad

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that I was able to do that because I

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was able to see these , these kids go

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through the process and actually be

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able to help them , um be able to , um ,

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go to go to boot camp and , and that

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was just very rewarding and it just

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kind of kept me in the mindset , kept

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me going and uh made me really excited

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about starting this year and going

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through the process again for zero cc .

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So it's all just kind of staying

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motivated . Don't let little things

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kind of hold you back , don't let um

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things that may not go to what you want

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at that moment , keep you from doing

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what your overall goal is and just kind

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of keep pushing forward , just working

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through the process and , you know ,

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doing what you gotta do and you know ,

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eventually it will happen , especially

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if you put enough time and effort and

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prayer and heart into it . You can ,

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you know , you can do those things .