1 00:00:03,550 --> 00:00:05,606 I wanted to be an instructor since I 2 00:00:05,606 --> 00:00:07,772 was a young sergeant . Unfortunately , 3 00:00:07,772 --> 00:00:09,994 I lacked a lot of confidence . One with 4 00:00:09,994 --> 00:00:12,161 public speaking and to also my overall 5 00:00:12,161 --> 00:00:14,328 knowledge . I just figured this was an 6 00:00:14,328 --> 00:00:16,383 opportunity . Um , and I took it and 7 00:00:16,383 --> 00:00:18,606 luckily I got screened . I got selected 8 00:00:18,606 --> 00:00:17,960 and then from there I just made it a 9 00:00:17,960 --> 00:00:20,340 goal to be the best instructor . I 10 00:00:20,340 --> 00:00:22,340 could be the best version of myself 11 00:00:22,340 --> 00:00:24,562 cause that's very important to me . But 12 00:00:24,562 --> 00:00:26,673 I think my biggest goal , if I had to 13 00:00:26,673 --> 00:00:28,784 say one was , I knew it was a subject 14 00:00:28,784 --> 00:00:30,951 matter expert , but that didn't matter 15 00:00:30,951 --> 00:00:33,118 to these 19 year olds who have no clue 16 00:00:33,118 --> 00:00:35,118 about anything that I do . So I was 17 00:00:35,118 --> 00:00:37,284 like , how do I break down what I know 18 00:00:37,284 --> 00:00:39,118 from the last almost 10 years of 19 00:00:39,118 --> 00:00:41,007 experience until this group of 30 20 00:00:41,007 --> 00:00:43,230 marines who just are out of high school 21 00:00:43,240 --> 00:00:45,296 or maybe have a little college under 22 00:00:45,296 --> 00:00:47,518 them and explain to them and build that 23 00:00:47,518 --> 00:00:49,573 foundation . And , and I think I was 24 00:00:49,573 --> 00:00:51,740 able to do that over time . Everything 25 00:00:51,740 --> 00:00:53,851 we do as instructors is in support of 26 00:00:53,851 --> 00:00:56,018 students , but that's our goal , teach 27 00:00:56,018 --> 00:00:58,470 and broaden their knowledge when they 28 00:00:58,470 --> 00:01:00,637 leave here . So whatever we do for the 29 00:01:00,637 --> 00:01:02,748 course isn't for the benefit of us to 30 00:01:02,748 --> 00:01:04,914 make our lives easier , is to make the 31 00:01:04,914 --> 00:01:07,137 students lives easier . So if I'm going 32 00:01:07,137 --> 00:01:09,137 through afterwards and updating the 33 00:01:09,137 --> 00:01:08,860 material , it's for the benefit of 34 00:01:08,860 --> 00:01:11,027 students . If I'm coming up with a new 35 00:01:11,027 --> 00:01:13,138 activity to help gain their attention 36 00:01:13,138 --> 00:01:15,249 to help retain their knowledge . It's 37 00:01:15,249 --> 00:01:17,471 for the benefit of students . I think a 38 00:01:17,471 --> 00:01:19,416 lot of people are afraid of public 39 00:01:19,416 --> 00:01:21,638 speaking and I know I don't like public 40 00:01:21,638 --> 00:01:23,749 speaking , but what better way to get 41 00:01:23,749 --> 00:01:25,971 over your fear than to face it . So I , 42 00:01:25,971 --> 00:01:27,693 that made me apply to , to the 43 00:01:27,693 --> 00:01:29,804 instruction position , I got accepted 44 00:01:29,804 --> 00:01:31,749 and once I came here I saw that it 45 00:01:31,749 --> 00:01:33,638 wasn't , it was still scary . But 46 00:01:33,638 --> 00:01:36,030 there's a team that helps to build you 47 00:01:36,030 --> 00:01:38,141 up to get you ready to stand in front 48 00:01:38,141 --> 00:01:40,141 of a classroom full of students and 49 00:01:40,141 --> 00:01:42,252 then once we start teaching , you get 50 00:01:42,252 --> 00:01:44,474 comfortable . Some of my goals were you 51 00:01:44,474 --> 00:01:46,363 see up on the wall instructed the 52 00:01:46,363 --> 00:01:48,474 quarter , instructed the year and I'm 53 00:01:48,474 --> 00:01:50,641 like , wow , maybe I'd like to do that 54 00:01:50,641 --> 00:01:52,752 one day . Yeah . Thank God I was able 55 00:01:52,752 --> 00:01:54,919 to accomplish some of those nerves are 56 00:01:54,919 --> 00:01:54,420 natural , right ? There's a , there's a 57 00:01:54,420 --> 00:01:56,860 reason that public speaking always 58 00:01:56,860 --> 00:01:59,270 makes the charts for like America's top 59 00:01:59,270 --> 00:02:02,430 fears . It's natural , it's normal . 60 00:02:02,440 --> 00:02:04,580 But get out of your comfort zone . I 61 00:02:04,580 --> 00:02:06,691 can't believe that I've missed out on 62 00:02:06,691 --> 00:02:08,913 this opportunity since I was a sergeant 63 00:02:08,913 --> 00:02:11,247 because I held my own self back with my , 64 00:02:11,247 --> 00:02:13,469 you know , insecurities come out and do 65 00:02:13,469 --> 00:02:15,413 it . Um , you're going to become a 66 00:02:15,413 --> 00:02:17,524 better staff into you when you get to 67 00:02:17,524 --> 00:02:19,747 that level , a better person and just a 68 00:02:19,747 --> 00:02:21,858 better leader overall . It's , it has 69 00:02:21,858 --> 00:02:23,969 been enlightening to say the absolute 70 00:02:23,969 --> 00:02:26,191 least . Just get out and do it . You're 71 00:02:26,191 --> 00:02:28,413 never gonna be good at something if you 72 00:02:28,413 --> 00:02:30,747 never try and I know that sounds cliche , 73 00:02:30,747 --> 00:02:32,691 but I mean it's 100% I would say I 74 00:02:32,691 --> 00:02:34,913 accomplished what I wanted to do coming 75 00:02:34,913 --> 00:02:34,800 to the schoolhouse . Being able to give 76 00:02:34,800 --> 00:02:37,340 that positive impact on the future of 77 00:02:37,340 --> 00:02:40,610 the Marine corps and influence the 78 00:02:40,610 --> 00:02:42,666 future on where the direction of the 79 00:02:42,666 --> 00:02:44,610 marine corps is going . Especially 80 00:02:44,610 --> 00:02:46,666 focusing on that force design 2030 I 81 00:02:46,666 --> 00:02:48,832 think my role as an instructor impacts 82 00:02:48,832 --> 00:02:51,054 the Marine corps by were that last step 83 00:02:51,054 --> 00:02:53,166 in that training cycle that we really 84 00:02:53,166 --> 00:02:55,221 focusing now on what the marines are 85 00:02:55,221 --> 00:02:57,332 gonna be doing on a day to day and be 86 00:02:57,332 --> 00:02:56,770 able to paint that picture for these 87 00:02:56,770 --> 00:02:59,048 marines future within the Marine corps . 88 00:02:59,048 --> 00:03:01,690 So being an instructor versus being the 89 00:03:01,690 --> 00:03:04,670 fleet it's 11 you're doing and one 90 00:03:04,670 --> 00:03:06,870 you're teaching and those people that 91 00:03:06,870 --> 00:03:09,800 may not be as comfortable with their 92 00:03:09,800 --> 00:03:11,911 with their M . O . S . Knowledge they 93 00:03:11,911 --> 00:03:14,022 might be okay being in the fleet just 94 00:03:14,022 --> 00:03:16,240 doing doing the job but by challenging 95 00:03:16,240 --> 00:03:18,462 yourself and coming to the school house 96 00:03:18,462 --> 00:03:20,684 you have to learn everything of the mos 97 00:03:20,684 --> 00:03:22,629 and now you're standing you're the 98 00:03:22,629 --> 00:03:24,629 subject matter expert in front of a 99 00:03:24,629 --> 00:03:26,518 classroom of 30 people and you're 100 00:03:26,518 --> 00:03:28,796 actually teaching how we do what we do . 101 00:03:28,796 --> 00:03:30,851 So my impact as an instructor is not 102 00:03:30,851 --> 00:03:33,073 something that undersell but it took me 103 00:03:33,073 --> 00:03:35,296 a very long time to kind of figure that 104 00:03:35,296 --> 00:03:37,351 out and I figured that out because I 105 00:03:37,351 --> 00:03:39,462 thought to myself up until this point 106 00:03:39,462 --> 00:03:39,245 these marines have gone through boot 107 00:03:39,245 --> 00:03:41,356 camp they've gone through M . C . T . 108 00:03:41,356 --> 00:03:43,356 So they've seen drill instructors , 109 00:03:43,356 --> 00:03:45,578 they've seen combat instructors but I'm 110 00:03:45,578 --> 00:03:47,689 the first afghan ceo that they see in 111 00:03:47,689 --> 00:03:49,856 this field and this new specialty that 112 00:03:49,856 --> 00:03:49,350 they're about to move into in their 113 00:03:49,350 --> 00:03:51,461 career because for all I know I might 114 00:03:51,461 --> 00:03:53,710 be um at some point they're only kind 115 00:03:53,710 --> 00:03:55,877 of role model in this particular field 116 00:03:55,877 --> 00:03:58,860 and mos . Um so as far as my impact 117 00:03:58,860 --> 00:04:01,200 goes , I do not undersell what we as 118 00:04:01,200 --> 00:04:03,530 instructors do and how truly important 119 00:04:03,530 --> 00:04:05,474 and critical it is for us to carry 120 00:04:05,474 --> 00:04:07,630 ourselves as such . My favorite part 121 00:04:07,640 --> 00:04:09,751 about being an instructor honestly as 122 00:04:09,751 --> 00:04:11,862 the students being instructed to help 123 00:04:11,862 --> 00:04:14,029 me become a better marine in the sense 124 00:04:14,029 --> 00:04:16,400 of it forces me to stay current in HMOs 125 00:04:16,410 --> 00:04:18,610 and now you get to personally have a 126 00:04:18,610 --> 00:04:21,460 say on where that training is coming 127 00:04:21,460 --> 00:04:24,680 from and get to make that impact within 128 00:04:24,680 --> 00:04:26,690 your primary mos . So the most 129 00:04:26,690 --> 00:04:28,801 rewarding part of being an instructor 130 00:04:28,801 --> 00:04:30,968 is someone's gonna come behind you and 131 00:04:30,968 --> 00:04:33,079 what better position for you to teach 132 00:04:33,079 --> 00:04:34,968 your replacement by coming to the 133 00:04:34,968 --> 00:04:37,190 schoolhouse . That potential would have 134 00:04:37,190 --> 00:04:39,412 been wasted . And that's the same thing 135 00:04:39,412 --> 00:04:41,523 to go into sergeant who's inquisitive 136 00:04:41,523 --> 00:04:43,746 and kind of on the fence . Just do it . 137 00:04:43,746 --> 00:04:44,340 Absolutely