From Birmingham and Tuscaloosa in Alabama to Greenville, South Carolina to Lewisville, Texas. My life always seems to reset every two or three years, but I’ve just come to accept this. It’s the life I’ve lived with military parents.

Even within the same city, I’ve never stayed at the same school for too long. Making friends after a move has never been an issue though; it’s actually the part I enjoy the most. Moving around so much has opened my eyes to different cultures. After a while the similarities between the new people I meet and the ones I leave behind became more apparent. I’ve enjoyed new foods, music and TV shows I never would have heard of.

As months pass at each new school, I find and gravitate toward my new circle of friends. I enjoy the time I spend with them, however, I know it will not last forever. Once I move, I keep in contact with those friends briefly. However, slowly but surely they become strangers – so much it’s almost as if I never even met them.

It was the middle of my eighth grade year when I had finally learned to accept South Carolina as my home after living there for only a couple months. Then, as if the world knew I was comfortable, it pressed the reset button on my life and I had to start all over again in Texas.

Luckily, I’ve only had to live in three different states throughout my life because my father applied for stay here. He wanted me to be able to start and finish my high school years in the same place.

Normally this is not the case for all military lifestyles as some opportunities simply can’t be turned down. Sometimes it’s simply having to relocate just because of an assignment change. Other times it’s just the fact of getting promoted and having to move to the next station.

Such is the case of my father with his promotion to sergeant first class just a few months ago. He had to relocate to a bigger station 45 minutes away in Arlington so it didn’t require another move.

Because of my dad’s military influences in my life, I plan to join the military this spring and have been studying since August for the ASVAB, the test future soldiers must take. I’ll be taking it in three weeks. Once it is confirmed that I passed the test, I can take the next steps in processing paperwork and getting my physical.

After high school graduation, basic training will begin the process of molding me from a civilian to a soldier. After 10 weeks of reestablishing my own identity, breaking my individuality down and molding me, I will think and act as a team with my unit. Discipline comes first and I will be forced to put aside my own ideals and control my behavior for something greater than I could ever achieve alone.

Now that I’m older, I’ve come to a decision the lifestyle of moving around constantly is something I’m comfortable with. I know going into the military isn’t for everyone and it will require me to break bonds with some friends, but stronger ones will replace them like the bond I’ll have with my future battle buddy in my unit. I await to spend my first three months of hardship with whoever he or she may be, but in the meantime I will live out the rest of my high school career counting down the days until I become an active soldier in the military.