What I've Learned: Dantrell Hunter

Photo By Sgt. Medina Ayala-Lo | Lance Cpl. Dantrell Hunter, food service specialist, 1st Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, has a passion for art which he developed at an early age. When he gets out of the Marine Corps, he hopes to pursue a degree in architectural engineering. (Official Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Medina Ayala-Lo/Released)  

TWENTYNINE PALMS, CA, UNITED STATES

07.01.2015

Story by Lance Cpl. Medina Ayala-Lo 

Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center

TWENTYNINE PALMS, Calif. - Hunter has a passion for art which he developed at an early age. When he gets out of the Marine Corps, he hopes to pursue a degree in architectural engineering.

I’ve been in the Marine Corps for two years.

My interests include basketball, writing, and art.

I love basketball. I played all throughout high school. As a freshman and sophomore I really didn’t play much, but by my junior year I was playing nearly every day.

I’ve been playing basketball since I was about eight or nine. I learned from my friends, my cousins and my uncles. Pretty much anyone who I was constantly around who was older than me.

You’re always active in basketball. It works your whole body and it’s a fun sport to play.

Writing keeps me active too, but in a different way.

I like to write creatively. The topics I write about range from small ideas to more elaborate ones. I have a very active imagination. My writing is dependent on how I feel at the moment.

Writing heals me. When I have things on my mind or something that is weighing on my heart, I’ll get a pen and some paper and it’ll calm me.

I mostly keep the things I write to myself. But I’ll share my art with others.

I love drawing and I’m very versatile. I can draw something really simple or something really elaborate it doesn’t matter. If I put my mind to it I can do it and my products are dependent on my mood.

I’ve drawn a few of my tattoos. I’m not the best artist, but if it’s something I know I can draw, I’ll figure out a way to do it.

A vast majority of the techniques I’ve learned have been self-taught. Drawing is something I picked up along the way. I love the fact that art is a form of expression, whether you’re happy or sad you can grab a piece of paper and a pencil and just have fun.

I joined the Marine Corps to get away from the way I was living at home.

It was hard growing up in Chicago. You were either doing well in school or you were in the streets causing trouble. I was doing half and half. When I was younger, I was in school doing what I had to do. As I got older I started hanging out in the streets.

I started looking into the military my junior year of high school. I knew I wasn’t going to college anytime soon so I looked at all five branches of the military and finally decided to join the Marine Corps.

What stood out to me about the Marine Corps was the challenge it presented.

I’m undecided on whether or not I want to stay in. I think if I do re-enlist I’d try security forces.

One thing that I’ve learned over these past two years is the importance of forming bonds with other people. If you don’t have people around you that you can rely on, then you don’t have anything.

Since I’ve joined, my work ethic has improved. I’ve learned how to work hard and strive to be the best at what I do.

I’ve become more knowledgeable and I’ve learned skills that will carry on with me throughout the Marine Corps as well as the other things I decide to pursue.

• Date Taken: 07.01.2015
• Date Posted: 07.01.2015 20:44
• Story ID: 168849
• Location: TWENTYNINE PALMS, CA, US
• Hometown: CHICAGO, IL, US