United States Navy and Naval Flight Officer
“My dad is in the Navy,” my high-pitched, six-year-old voice would proudly proclaim when asked what my father’s profession was. Other children’s dads were managers, lawyers, and doctors, which was fine with me, but my dad was a Naval Officer. He sailed on gigantic aircraft carriers for a living. Now that was cool. My family is undoubtedly the thing that sparked my desire to become a Naval Officer: my dad was a Naval Academy graduate, my uncle a Navy doctor, and my grandfather a Naval Flight Officer. For me to join the Navy and become a Naval Officer is a continuance of a tradition generations old.
I would consider it a great honor to be able to follow in their footsteps, but there’s more to my decision than that. I am not blindly pursuing a career as a Naval Officer, I have done endless hours of research on this career choice, and the more research I do about the Navy and Naval Officers, the surer I am that this is what I want to become. Because Naval Officers have played such a large part in my family life, I know what type of person it takes to be one, and what type of extraordinary people they are.
You can recognize them by the pride with which they hold themselves and the confidence with which they speak. They are the people who command battleships, fly jets, and dive submarines, things that most people can only imagine doing. They are willing not only to give up their life for their country, but also to lead likeminded men and women who are willing to do the same. They have to make split second decisions that test who they are and will vastly impact the lives of those under their command. This is the type of person I want to be; I want to be a Naval Officer.
I realize that becoming a Naval Officer isn’t going to be easy, that officers have to go through rigorous mental and physical training before they can receive their commissions. I look forward to the challenge; I know that the intensive training I will undergo on the path to becoming a Naval Officer will make me better physically, mentally, and morally. I know that becoming a Naval Officer will push me to my limits and that the trials I face will result in me becoming the best that I can be. I hope that one day in the future I will have earned the right to call myself a United States Naval Officer.
