The Reasons Why I Serve My Country

Major Nicola Thompson
Student, Command and General Staff School
U.S. Army Combined Arms Center
Fort Belvoir, Virginia

"The views expressed in this blog are those of hte author and do not refelct the official policy or position of the Department of the Army, Department of Defense, or the U.S. Government."

The purpose of this essay is to provide you with the reasons why I choose to serve my country. However; I have to be totally honest with you, it was not my country I was thinking about initially, it was my family. So if I may, I would like to be a little more specific and share that, in the beginning, I choose to serve my country because my family needed me to join the Army. So I choose to join the Army for the following reasons: financial stability; higher education and the ability to give back.
In December of 1974, I was born to a young girl who was 15 years old, and an even younger boy who had just turned 13 years old. My mother had no idea what to do with me, so she dressed me up like a doll, while my father decided that dolls were not his thing and left us both to play with one another. By the time I was 11 years old, my mother had been married, divorced and given birth to three additional children. My mother worked two jobs; therefore, my siblings and I rarely saw her. This caused me to have to grow up very fast, and being the oldest; I had no choice but to learn the three C’s; cook, clean and change diapers. By the time I was 15 years old, I was already working my first full time job with a worker’s permit. This enabled to assist my mom with the bills, and whatever else pay check did not cover. This brings me to reason number one, financial stability. I told myself at a young age that I did not want to ever find myself in such a financial low that I would need the financial assistance of one of my own children in order to keep a roof over their heads or to help put food on the table. That is an adult responsibility, not a child. The Army kept me from having to wonder where my next paycheck was coming from and whether or not I was going to be able to pay my bills from one month to the next.
It was also at a young age that I realized, in addition to my mother and all of her siblings, that their mother, along with their mother’s mother, were also teenage mothers. Additionally, none of them had an education past high school. It was at that point, around the age of 15, that I could not help asking myself the question “is there a generational curse holding my family hostage?” It was also at that point in my life that I made a conscious effort to beat the odds and break whatever generational boundaries our family had. This brings me to my second reason for joining the Army and serving my country, higher education. I believed that if I could keep from getting pregnant and focus on getting good grades, there would be a strong possibility that I get into a college by earning a scholarship. I did not know where I wanted to go, but I was determined that I was going to go somewhere. When graduation came, I was only given a partial scholarship. This meant I would have to find a way to earn the rest, and that’s where the Army Reserve Officer Training Core (ROTC) came into play. I read about the ROTC program at my college and learned that there was an opportunity for me to earn an additional scholarship that would pay for my school, housing and potentially pay me a check monthly. All I needed to know at that point was where to sign up.
This brings me to my third and final reason of wanting to give back. After watching my mother work two jobs for the better part of her life, I desired to be in a position where I could take care of her one day. Besides, it was because of having to raise her kids at such a young age that helped me get through my teenage years without getting pregnant; it was the best birth control I could have ever had. She was also responsible for me working hard at getting into college, because I was so determined not to have to put my kids through the burden of working while trying to get through high school. And finally, she showed me that hard work, determination, and faith in God could get me through any trial and tribulation.
I know that none of this talked specifically to my country; however, I believe that my family is every bit of this country to me. The war I had to fight started long before I joined the Army, and I know that I have carried all of those leadership skills and tactics with me to the far country of Iraq. The Army gave me financial stability, a higher education, and the ability to give back to my family, and in exchange, I have given the Army 100% of my lessons learned from my childhood. I am extremely hard working and will not stop until the mission is complete. I am dedicated and loyal to those with whom I serve. And I plan to remain in the fight, because ultimately, I needed the Army and now my country needs me.