What I’ve Learned: Joshua Chang

Photo By Sgt. Medina Ayala-Lo | Cpl. Joshua Chang, court reporter, Headquarters Battalion, hopes to travel to South Africa once he leaves the Marine Corps. After that he wants to go to college and pursue a career in criminal investigation. (Official Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Medina Ayala-Lo/Released)  

MARINE CORPS AIR GROUND COMBAT CENTER TWENTYNINE PALMS, CA, UNITED STATES

07.28.2015

Story by Lance Cpl. Medina Ayala-Lo 

Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center

MARINE CORPS AIR GROUND COMBAT CENTER TWENTYNINE PALMS, Calif. - Cpl. Joshua Chang hopes to travel to South Africa once he leaves the Marine Corps. After that he wants to go to college and pursue a career in criminal investigation.

I’m from Arcadia, Calif., which is about two and a half hours away from here so on the weekends I can visit my family.
I’m really lucky to be able to see my family and friends on such a regular basis. They are an added support system in addition to the people I’ve met here.

My parents came here from Taiwan about 20 years ago. My brother and I are first generation American.

I come from a very small family but my extended family is very large. I have one brother his name is Wesley. He’s younger than me by 3 years.

I ran track during my senior year in high school. I actually joined because there was this cute girl on the track team and I thought, “Yeah, I’m going impress her with my awesome running skills.” Turns out she was faster than I thought.

Toward the end of high school I knew that I wasn’t ready for college. I didn’t want to end up going to college not sure of what I wanted to do.

All the men in my family have served in the military, and that influenced my decision to join.

At first my parents weren’t supportive of my decision to join the military, but I think it’s because they were worried. After a while they accepted my decision.

I’ve been in the Marine Corps for about 3 years.

I was going to join the Navy first, but then the Marine Corps recruiter intrigued me. Ultimately I joined because I wanted to make my parents proud.

I trained hard before I left for boot camp and I got to the point where I was maxing out at 43 pull ups.

I like to go to the gym and just work out until I can’t work out anymore. Fitness has become an important part of my life and it helps me combat weight gain from the amount of food I eat.

I like to play video games that help take my mind off of work. I play League of Legends a lot. I’m not very good but I still like it.

Something I like about the Marine Corps is that I can go to a chow hall, and because they take 300 dollars out of my pay check, I’m going to eat until I don’t feel like eating any more.

I think my time in the Marine Corps has helped me grow and mature as a person, far more than I would have outside of the Marine Corps.

I’m going to go travel the world after I get out. I want to get the chance to explore a new place and immerse myself in different cultures. There’s this place that has the world’s largest bungee cord jump, I think something like that would be really cool to do.

I use humor as a vice, if I don’t joke around I’ll get really sad, so I joke around all the time.

I really like art. I’ll try to draw things some times, but I’d much rather observe it and appreciate what the artist has created.

In my time here I have learned not to take certain things for granted. The people I’ve met and the lessons learned will carry on with me wherever I go.

• Date Taken: 07.28.2015
• Date Posted: 07.28.2015 16:50
• Story ID: 171367
• Location: MARINE CORPS AIR GROUND COMBAT CENTER TWENTYNINE PALMS, CA, US
• Hometown: ARCADIA, CA, US