“My ROTC teacher once told me I’d end up dead or in jail.
I grew up without a father figure.
Wore the same clothes from middle school through graduation.
We were on food stamps.
We lived in the hood.
But those were circumstances — not my destiny.
I refused to become a product of my environment.
My friends called me stupid for believing I could do more.
Now look at me.
I became aware that I control my future.
I became aware that I decide the kind of man I become.
And I knew there was only one branch that could help me become that man.
I became a Marine.”
[Nathaniel Love]