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My Career Interests Sitting here completely exhausted and mentally drained from today’s activities, I watch a bead of sweat run down my arm and drip on a piece of paper that has many of my career interest written on it. The temperature on the flight line is a scalding ninety-six degrees, and there is not a piece of shade in sight. Facing me, is a line with at least two-hundred Marines and Sailors waiting to devour lunch and complain to me about not receiving enough french fries and cake. I, now completely oblivious to the countless planes that are flying over my head at mach speed attempting to burst my eardrums, I still try to concentrate on my current mission, and upcoming mission due on October 21, 2003 at eighteen hundred hours. From Lieutenant General Chesty Puller, Sergeant Major (SGTMAJ) Edgar Huff, Brigadier General Smedley Butler, and SGTMAJ Dan Daly to name a few, has embedded traditions of outstanding leadership in the Marine Corps that still holds true with today’s leaders throughout the Corps. However, today’s Marine is smarter and more independent than their predecessors were, and this fact alone causes conflict and frustration for inspiring leaders like me to stay motivated. Leaders in today’s Corps think smarter, not harder, and practically in whatever decision is made. This “new” way of thinking in the minds of Marines who have Page 2 been in the Corps for a long time, are under the impression that this new way of thinking is softening the Corps. For instance, if I was leading a firing range and the temperature was forty degrees and raining. My practical decision would be to let the Marines wear their gortex jackets to stay warm. However, a more seasoned senior Marine would arrive on the range without a gortex jacket on, override my decision, and tell the Marines to take their jacket off, leaving them cold and miserable. As a leader, I will attempt to hold back my frustration and anger that I am feeling at the moment, and write about my career interests that I have dreamed about since I joined the Corps. Nevertheless, totally holding back my feelings and sugar coating this deep rooted frustration and struggle I go through as a leader, will deny the reader full insight as to why my career interests are so important. My career in the Corps has been a constant roller coaster ride with sharp turns and long steep climbs. In the beginning of my career, I endured many steep climbs that never seemed to end.
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