Why I Returned to School
Harlan Almon
ENG121
Dr. Amber Smith
May 21, 2011
My instructor wants me to write an essay on why I returned to school, a feat that is easier said than done. Writing papers, essays, and reports have never been easy for me. Therefore, I will take you on a journey, my journey back to school.
This story starts when I had just graduated from high school. The plan was to enlist in the United States Navy, but that never happened. A week before I was supposed to sign the papers to enlist my father passed away. His passing hit me hard and I felt obligated to stay at home and take care of my mother and younger brother, Jeff.
I worked meaningless jobs until I was twenty-one years of age. Then I found a job that I absolutley loved. In 1984, I landed a job as an EMT (Emergency Medical Technician). However, this career came to a screeching halt in 1992 when I fell off a twenty-foot ladder and shattered everything in my left ankle. After a year and a half of recovery, I landed a job as a truck driver. I have been driving trucks ever since.
We moved to Las Vegas, Nevada in 2009 to take care of my wife’s sick father. The recession hit the “city of lights” hard and work was scarce. I remained a truck driver but my brother-in-law was having trouble finding work. Therefore, he enrolled in Ashford to get his AA in business, thinking this would give him an edge over the competition. It did not take much convincing on his part for me to talk to his recruiter.
I have always felt a sense of duty to me country. After 9/11, my sense of duty grew stronger. The Ashford recruiter asked me a few questions the recommended the Social and Criminal Justice program. I was thinking to myself, what am I suppose to do with that degree. My ankle would not let me be a police or correctional officer. As she was going through the specializations, Homeland Security hit home for me. I knew right then that was what I was going to do with the rest of my life. I always...