How Did I Get Here?

Quote of the Day: “I haven’t slept for ten days, because that would be too long.”

This weight loss stress is killing me. Self-imposed Friday morning weigh-ins are causing Thursday night sleeplessness. And oh how I wanted a snack last night but as of yesterday, I was still a pound over my intended weight.

If you don’t remember, I’ve instituted a “pound per week” regimen and up to last week, I’ve hit 10 for 10. But it’s getting into the tough pounds now.

I tossed and turned most of the night and finally at 0330, I just had to get up and get it over with.

I hit it right on the money. 11 weeks, 11 pounds.

This morning, we got ready and met SgtMaj Wertjes at a café for breakfast.

SgtMaj Wertjes just happens to be the man who put me through hell in 1987. As Staff Sergeant Wertjes, he was my Senior Drill Instructor and there may be no other man on this Earth that I have more reverence for. Now he’s a retired Sergeant Major working for the State Department, teaching at the Marine Security Guard School which, as fate would have it, is right next door to the building I work in.

He had never met my wife so it was with indescribable honor I was able to introduce two of the most influential people in my personal and professional life.

I will never be able to capture the feelings of sitting there with my wife and my Senior Drill Instructor, talking about my career (past, present, and future). It ends up he too came to a crossroads in his career when he had to choose between two very rewarding futures. He could have become a Warrant Officer but chose to stay enlisted to shoot for the star (Sergeant Major). He doesn’t regret his decision but imagines the alternatives.

Talking with him, it made me think about the concept of hero worship. Just about any Marine you talk to will be able to describe their thoughts of their Senior Drill Instructors. There is a general sense of bigger-than-life views of this influential mentor throughout a Marine’s career and indeed all the way through life.

Because bootcamp is what it is, that’s the role the Senior is SUPPOSED to fill. It’s up to the Senior, as a Marine, to live up to this view in the eyes of the recruits and obviously, some may fall short.

But throughout bootcamp, the other DIs will feed this interpretation, building up the Senior as the “Daddy” or “Good Cop” who you don’t want to disappoint. It’s a psychological ploy, to give the recruits a hero to emulate and someone to be held in high regard.

I admit I fell for it hook, line, and sinker. By the end of bootcamp (and I guess I have to admit, to this day) it was my ardent quest to live up to the highest standards embodied by Senior Drill Instructor Staff Sergeant Wertjes.

Here is the rewarding part: my Senior continued with a successful career and made it to the highest enlisted grade in the Marine Corps; he is a Sergeant Major.

For me, this is proof positive that the hero worship I placed at his feet was well-deserved. You don’t rise to the position of Sergeant Major if you are not of the highest caliber so just as someone who has to face the fact that their hero is not quite the entity they attributed to him, to the same degree (in the opposite direction), I can revel in the fact that despite the standard bootcamp training that the Senior is infallible, this time it’s warranted.

I hope I described that sufficiently. It was so rewarding after talking to the Sergeant Major to realize he really does embody the image I’ve held of him all these many years. Carrie was also impressed with him and that too is a huge stamp of approval (Carrie has a keen sense of people I’ve learned to trust implicitly).

We had a long breakfast and it was almost indulgent that the Sergeant Major sat there as we talked, in no apparent hurry to leave even after the food was gone. Of course, I could have stayed there all day but when the time finally came, I had to accept that the breakfast was over.

There we stood, toe to toe, and surrealistic wave of nostalgia crashed over me. This man had a huge role in who I am today and there we were, in a café in Quantico waiting to pay the bill. Two men. Two Marines.

I wanted to announce to the entire café who this man was but I settled on shaking his hand and thanking him for the breakfast. And what went unsaid yet understood, for everything I could never thank him enough for.

Then he insisted on picking up the bill and I had to kick myself for not cornering the waitress earlier and pre-paying. You won this one, Sergeant Major but this just means we’ll be doing this again before I leave.

Free Advice for Today: “Introduce yourself to your neighbors as soon as you move into a new neighborhood.”

This entry was posted on Friday, April 14th, 2006 at 6:17 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.