In preparation for this article I searched my memories and also browsed my Facebook feed looking for events that really changed who I was as a person and just one or two events they stood out. Throughout life we ​​are often presented with opportunities, and with those opportunities come choices. As Dumbledore says to Harry Potter: “It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities” (Rowling). I wasn't blessed with a great ability, but I was blessed to have the ability to make a choice. This article will show how my choice to join the military and the experiences that followed would shape who I am still in the process of becoming today. I grew up in a small town in Virginia, we didn't have much but I had some great men in my life who led by example. My grandfather, my uncle, and other men in my family served in the military and told me their stories as I was growing up. This brought to my mind the idea, albeit incomplete, of joining the army. I didn't fully realize then that their stories were only part of what the Army would offer me, but I knew they took pride in what they were able to accomplish, and I wanted to feel that way, too. However, as I grew up, my opinions fluctuated, and when I finished high school I attended a professional electrician program. My professor from the program died shortly before graduation and I was unable to graduate and couldn't shake the feeling that there was more to life. Rather than spend another semester finishing my last class, I decided it wasn't what I really wanted to do. I made the pre-emptive choice to join the Army. I wasn't sure what branch of the military I wanted to go into. My grandfather was in the army, but… middle of paper… in the army and I knew my life would never be the same again; I just wasn't sure how much. That day set me on a path that opened my eyes to the kind of person I could be: a friend, a brother, a soldier, and a man capable of making this world a better place. That day I chose to be part of something bigger than myself. I would never regret that decision even now, with all the mental and physical degradation I endured. After that day my life had taken a course that I couldn't change but that would certainly change me. The things I experienced in the military made me the kind of person I hoped to be. It also left me a little bitter and with a different view of racism, patriotism, and this country than I ever had before. The Army has shaped who I am today, and despite my flaws, I have grown into a man proud to have served his country.