My inspirational story (Asthma)
Create Post
Results 1 to 3 of 3
  1. #1

    My inspirational story (Asthma)

    Can't seem to post this in the inspirational stories section, my bad if this should go somewhere else.

    First, a little background on myself. I am 18 years old, born in september of '93. The first house I lived in had a lot of mold, and I developed Asthma due to this. I struggled a lot with the asthma as a kid, making several emergency room visits. Asthma plagued me till about 2003-2005. In 2005 I broke my arm, and that required surgery.

    A couple months ago, I was taking a shower and was thinking about my life, where it was headed, etc. I was planning on going to college, for accounting. I have always wanted to serve my country, and I couldn't stand the thought of being a civilian accountant for the rest of my life. I have looked into other services in the past, but never the Marines. I'm a scrawny guy, I made weight by two pounds, so I figured the Marines would be only a dream. I started doing research on the Marines, causing my interest in the Marines to grow and grow, finally I decided it was time to talk to a recruiter.

    I went to see the recruiter, and liked everything he had to say. Around this time I started working out in earnest, lifting weights in gym, running every day, etc. I began to realize the stereotypical 250 pound muscle bound Marine is incorrect, and I decided to continue the enlistment process.

    I told my recruiter about my asthma history, and he of course told me to say nothing of it. However, due to the surgery I had to submit all paperwork related to the surgery, and my asthma was in that paperwork. I was crushed, I thought for sure I would not be allowed to join. My recruiter told me to get a Pulmonary Function test done, to show that I no longer have asthma. I had the test done, and I passed.

    We then submitted all that med history paperwork to MEPS, and the recruiter told me I had a 50/50 chance of even being allowed to go to MEPS. I found out last thursday I was good to process, I felt awesome. Yesterday I took the shuttle to MEPS, and took my asvab. I had been studying for the last few months for the ASVAB, practically reteaching myself Math. I did not find out my test results that day, and it was still awhile to learn today.

    Today I went through medical processing, I was the first person to see the doctor one on one. I was terribly nervous, the doctor said nothing for 30 minutes as he just looked through the paperwork. He then asked a few questions about my arm, and my history of asthma. We then went through the whole medical shabang, I was more than a little surprised when he told me to drop my pants, turn around, grab my "buttocks", spread em, and bend down at the waist. After that he told me congratulations, and to go see the front desk.

    After some more medical testing I went to see the two Marine Liasions, Gunnery Sergeant Haock (((Spell check, not sure if it was spelt this way, pronounced Hawk))) and Gunnery Sergeant Steele. We talked about my history/etc, and they told me I am qualified to enlist. I went to get fingerprinted, and when I came back Gunny Hawk goes, "I was just saying to Gunny Steele that i like this kid, and my mother passed away when I was young as well." (My mother passed away 4 years ago) This was definetly the highlight of my recent years. I asked Gunny Steele what i got on the asvab, he asked me what I think I got, and I said 80. He says are you going to walk home if you scored under that? I said no, and he goes, "Well you should have more confdence in yourself, you scored a 93. Your strong point is administrative work, your electronics wasnt bad, but I would not suggest a mechanical job. I think you would have trouble even turning a wrench. What job are you thinking about?" I answered, "Intelligence, sir." He replied, "Alright then, you'll have to come back and take the DLAB."

    Sorry for the wall of text, I just had to get this out of me, and I figured this would be the right place to do it.


  2. #2
    Unless Moderator Sgt Leprechaun decides that he wants to move this to the "Inspirational" forum, I'll keep it here so you can post being that you're unable to post in that forum for now.

    Good for you on sticking with it and glad that everything worked out for you!

    If you're looking for some info on the DLAB, there are quite a few topics here on Leatherneck.

    Good luck to you!


  3. #3
    Thanks a lot! I will defeniatly check them out, I have no idea what to expect when I take the DLAB.


Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Tags for this Thread

Posting Permissions

  • You may not Create Posts
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts