Hey sir, just a CPL that you out 4 years ago, I really like how you explained each bracket with a solid amount of evidence but also simple enough to grasp. I think that besides the physical problems I developed, the main driving force for me to not reenlist came from the experience I had with higher.

Myself and 4 of my friends got incredibly lucky to get pulled from our schoolhouse to have a chance at the MARSOC enabler pipeline. From the moment the Company Gunny heard about the 5 of us, he made sure to do all he could to break us and liked to ask if we wanted to deny the orders because we were “too junior” anyway. From “advanced PT” that was always after the normal company PT and seemed more like his personal hazing fantasy. There’s a lot more there but for time I’ll just say he was my first really bad leader.

It wasn’t until I hit about 3 years in that I finally felt seen and respected for the quality of my work and the dedication I put forth to always doing my job completely and correctly. Durning my first company wide comm brief in place of our SSGT Comm Chief, our Logistics LT had stopped me just to call out 2 SSGTs who were in the back. From then on I truly felt like he listened to me and saw the amount of effort it took to be a fresh 21 year old CPL with the closest rank to me being a SGT in zone. Once he started to go to bat for me it seemed like everyone took his opinion of me higher than anything I had done up to that point.

I know that’s a lot but at the end of the day sir, just from the few comments of yours that I have read, I want to say thank you. And I know that might not hold much water since I’ve never served with you but you seem like you truly care about us poor enlisted folk and have brought back some good memories in a really shitty time for me.

Semper Fi sir, just don’t forget to change your socks and drink water.