Chapter I: Career Path
February 24, 2524 (UNSC Calendar)
Sydney, Australia
*Alarm rings*
Waking up and rolling over to look at the clock, I see that it is 5:30 A.M. I get up and get dressed. As normal father is already gone some staff meeting with HIGHCOM. Heading downstairs I head out to do morning PT before grabbing breakfast and heading out to school.
School as normal was boring as ever, but I still had to attend less I want to face father's temper. But now that that's over, it now on to the more fun part of my day. Since my Father was a Colonel in the UNSC Marine Corp, it meant that we live on the military base. Even if my Father was a staff officer, it didn't mean that he was a pushover. PT in the morning. School afterwards. Weapons practice. More PT. Homework. Sleep. Repeat.
Many would say that it was a tough life, but then again, most of my peers were in the same boat. Sydney, being the headquarters of the UNSC, there'd bound to be heavy military presence around, meaning a lot of military families living here, with many others also living around the similar schedule. Did I complain? No, if what my plans for after graduation was what I was going for, then all this extra training was going to help.
My Father being a marine officer, it was kind of expected that I would serve in the Marine Corp also. If mother was still alive she would have been all for it, she always said that it is the duty of man to help out other men. With the Insurrectionists still fighting for secession, and the millions of innocents killed, the best way to help my fellow man was to join up and protect others so no other family would get torn up like so many have already.
After graduating, I said my goodbyes to my Father, he seemed sad that I was going, but he told me he was proud that I was joining the Marine Corp. We shared one last hug, before I headed off to the recruiting station. My Father and I weren't particularly close, him being a staff officer at HIGHCOM meant that even though he didn't get deployed on a starship or rotated to another planet, it still meant that he wasn't home often. When I was younger, my Mother would raise me and take care of me, with Father coming home every so often, but usually after I had gone to sleep.
After Mother had died, I saw him even less, at first I didn't understand why, but as I grew older I found out that he was burying himself in his work, to try to move on, and not have it constantly on his mind. Due to most of my relative being back in China and Japan, I had to raise my self and learn a lot of things quickly. However soon enough, Father started coming home earlier and tried to bond with me. He was trying to make up not always being there for me when I was younger, and also help me move on after losing Mother.
As I kept reminiscing I soon realised that I was at the recruiting station. As I entered there were four different recruiters, Army, Air Force, Marines, and Navy. Since my Father was ground pounder, I knew that I it wasn't for me, I wanted to be like he was when he was an enlisted man, on the ground fighting others man to man.
With that I signed up for the Marine Corp. Next thing I knew I was on transport heading for the nearest Unified Combined Military Boot Camp.