Photo By Petty Officer 1st Class Julius Wiseman | Ensign (select) Julius C. Wiseman has earned two master's degrees during his military...... read more read more
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. - Telling my story has always been challenging for me. To truly understand the magnitude of my current accomplishments, one must understand the journey that I had to travel.
My story is no different than any other enlisted sailor who stems from humble beginnings in urban metropolitan America. My intention of sharing my story is to help motivate and inspire my fellow shipmates to want to see themselves beyond their current reality.
My story begins in 1983, when I was born in San Diego at Balboa Naval Hospital. My father joined the U.S. Navy in 1980 as an Aviation Structure Mechanic. After serving aboard the USS RANGER and USS CONSTELLATION and doing two western Pacific Deployments, he decided to leave active duty in 1984.
My mother began working as a paralegal for the San Diego City Attorney’s Office when I was 2 years of age - she still works there today. I was my parents' first-born. My beginning years began with a normal, hard-working household. We lived in the middle class suburban city of Chula Vista, Calif. In 1986, my first brother was born. In 1989, my second brother was born.
After my father left the Navy, he struggled with trying to find stability in life. Unfortunately, the drug epidemic of the 1980s claimed him. Memories of the earliest stages of my childhood are filled with tumultuous arguments, domestic violence, and constant drug abuse and residence relocation. My mother decided to leave my father when I was 6 years old. Due to the lack of financial support from my father, my mother was forced to relocate us to where her salary could afford. With my mother as a single parent of three young boys, much was about to change with our move to southeastern San Diego.
We moved to the community of Skyline Hills in 1989. During that time [and still to date], gang violence, drug abuse, and robberies were synonymous with the neighborhood. When I was seven years old, I saw my first murder. One time, we were watching television in our living room and bullets came through the windows from a drive by shooting. Their intended targets were the gang members who used to congregate at the houses next door to us. On my first day of school in my new neighborhood, I remember being kicked in the back by an older kid while I was urinating in the urinal and ended up urinating all over myself. At 7, I was a tall kid for my age, so older kids had no problem bullying me and not feeling remorseful. It was clear I was no longer in suburbia, and I knew at that age I was going to have to learn how toughen up if I was going to make it there.
What most people on the outside of poverty don’t realize is most people commit crimes out of desperation and survivability. I know to some that may sound like an excuse, but the reality is I had friends at 9 years old who were literally raising themselves and, in some cases, their siblings. Some of those friends are now serving multiple life sentences in the California State Penitentiary. Others were murdered in gang-related shootings. There is a very low percentage of those who actually made it out of our circumstances. Looking back on it, I could say the fact my mother went to work every day is what motivated me, and subconsciously introduced me to the no excuses, hardworking, adapt and overcome attitude I have today. Many of the children in my community lacked that example in their households.
As I began to get older, I also started to fall into the societal norms of my community. I began to do mischievous things. I had begun to follow the wrong crowds, and loose hope in a life of success. When I was 14, I was put in handcuffs by the San Diego Police Department for joy-riding in a stolen car with my friends. While all my friends evaded capture, I was the only one caught. But it was a fortunate event. Because the crime levels in my neighborhood was so high, the police felt they had bigger fish to catch, so they took me home and released me to my mother. That feeling of going to jail scared me straight. It was around that age when I was starting to get out of control. Many other teens my age were already joining gangs, getting killed, dropping out of school, using drugs and having children. It was not uncommon in my neighborhood to see a 14-year-old girl with a child or children. While my life up to that point had not fully been filled with only bad times, it was the next incident that changed my life forever.
On March 11, 1998, my youngest brother, Marcus Eugene Wiseman (8 years old), was hit by an impaired driver and killed on Skyline Drive. This incident happened about a week or so after I was brought home by the police. It was at this point I only wanted to bring my mother joy. For the next three years, my mother was in a constant state of depression, despair, and anxiety. As the oldest child, I had to take on many responsibilities that were beyond my years. She didn’t have the energy to yell at me anymore about my grades, tell me to clean my room, or tell me to stop doing things that were counterproductive to my future. By then, my mother had given birth to my sister. This was a handful for a person who had just lost a child in such a violent manner. To this day, she refuses to accept it. My brother doesn’t even have a headstone at his grave site. This is because she will not allow me or anyone else to put one there.
When my brother passed, it was the first time I had been reunited with my father in about 10 years. I was about 15 when we reconnected. He had changed a lot. He had cleaned himself up, and we began to grow a relationship. Since I was the oldest child, it became very import to me to be a positive example for my siblings to want to look up too.
So, when I was 17, I graduated high school early, and joined the U.S. Navy. Ironically, on March 11, 2002, 4 years from my brother’s death, I shipped to boot camp.
From the time I got to boot camp, I was all business. I knew I had to make the best of my naval opportunity. The fear of returning home has always motivated me to work harder than my peers. While in boot camp I was a standout. I was overly enthusiastic. I was the Assistant Recruit Chief Petty Officer in Charge. My efforts led to me meritoriously advanced to the rank of E-3 from E-1 and I was offered an opportunity to try out for the United States Navy’s Ceremonial Guard. Of the 1,000 recruits that volunteered, only 24 were chosen to attend tryouts in Washington to become a guardsman. Of the 24 who went to Washington, 12 of us made it in. The others dropped out due to injury or lack of ability. They were sent to their “A” schools to continue their naval careers.
The first ceremony I was a part of was the change of command for then-Secretary of the Navy Donald Rumsfeld to Gordon England. I remember seeing Colin Powell for the first time at that ceremony. I was a huge fan of Colin Powell’s. When I was 15, my father made me read his autobiography as a punishment. So I knew all about him.
Since then, I have read two more books on him as he is one of my heroes. In the Ceremonial Guard, you were given many privileges to be around some very influential people. When your first duty station allows you to stand on the White House lawn, participate in Pentagon arrivals of foreign dignitaries and be a part of the color guard team that participates in every Baltimore Ravens and Washington Redskins football games, it can give a young sailor the wrong sense of reality about what the Navy is really like. In April of 2004 I, left the Ceremonial Guard to go to Operations Specialist “A” school.
In October of 2004, I reported to The USS CHAFEE (DDG 90) in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. From the first day I arrived onboard, I realized I was not in the Ceremonial Guard anymore. I had been told for two years that I was the Navy’s best. It was on the CHAFEE that I became a man. On a ship, there is small margin for error. Everything you get is earned. Until you are fully qualified, you are volunteered for every menial job there is. Believe it or not, the easiest job I had onboard was the 90 days I was a Food Service Attendant in the scullery washing dishes and listening to “The Game’s” “Documentary” album.
As an Operations Specialist, we stood six-hour on and off watches. The Combat Information Center was always a stressful environment. However, once you got the hang of it, it became second nature. To this day, I am the closest with the people who I served with on the CHAFEE. This is because I went through the most with those people. While onboard, our ship averaged about 300 days a year out to sea. We also deployed twice to the Arabian Gulf. To this day, the hardest thing I ever accomplished was complete my Enlisted Surface Warfare Specialist qualification.
The ship instilled a work ethic inside of me that has become my second nature. I believe the hardest job to do in the Navy is to be a basic, everyday Sailor doing the day-to-day jobs on a ship no one wants to do. The everyday shipboard Sailor is not exciting enough for Hollywood or praise. Therefore, I feel it is overlooked by many. I can easily count about four movies made about Navy Special Warfare Units that have come out in the last five years. Not everyone can be a Navy Diver, a Navy SEAL, or Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technician. It is the everyday, shipboard Sailor that lets me know how lucky I have been in my career to do duties that allow me to reach my personal growth.
I transferred to the Navy Expeditionary Guard Battalion in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba in 2007 to be a Detainee Guard. Days were long, hot and very stressful. We worked 14-hour days dealing with some of the world’s most interesting and dangerous people. There is much I would like to disclose about my experiences in GTMO, however much of it is classified. I spent two years providing fair, firm, and impartial guidance to detainees. It was truly the most humbling experience I ever had in my life. There is not any amount of materialism or monetary gain that can replace the values I learned there. There, I learned how to respect the ideologies of others that were different than my own. It was also here walking back and forth on the tiers making my rounds that I had the most time to think about where I wanted my life to go. I knew that the focal point of my life had to be an education.
In 2008, while I was in GTMO, my middle brother, Chauncey, became the first person in our family to graduate from college with his bachelor’s degree. He played Division I football on a full ride scholarship at Prairie View A&M University. At the time of his graduation I was about a third of the way done with my bachelor’s degree. Throughout his collegiate studies, I was responsible for making sure that he was taken care of financially. I am three years older than he is, so while I was overjoyed for his success, I was motivated to be the first in our family to earn a master’s degree. If you’re wondering if I did it, yes I did.
Between the numerous deployments and my little brother’s inspiration, my focus turned toward education. In 2009, I transferred to the Naval Medical Logistics Command in Fort Detrick, Md. After being onboard just nine months, I was selected as the commands FY-2010 Junior Sailor of The Year. In February of 2011, I finished my Bachelor of Science in Business Administration degree from Trident University International. At that time, I had ambitions of applying for Officer Candidate School to be a Surface Warfare Officer. When I submitted my package, I was told the option to be a Surface Warfare Officer was on hold due to the Navy downsizing in manpower.
In September of 2011, I finished my Master of Business Administration degree from Trident University international. I was also selected as FY-11 Junior Sailor of the Year. While at Naval Medical Logistics Command, I built an Adopt-a-School partnership with a local elementary school and was instrumental in creating an actively engaged Diversity Committee. We participated in multiple school events such as Science, Technology, Engineering, Math (STEM) nights, Field Days (not the cleaning kind), and Reading Across America events. The Diversity Committee coordinated multiple high profile observance events. To the best of my knowledge, we coordinated the biggest observance in recent memory. In 2012, we coordinated the late Sen. Daniel Ken Inouye, (D) Hawaii, to be our guest speaker at the Fort Detrick and Naval Medical Logistics Command Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month Celebration.
I accomplished a lot there and I learned the importance of volunteerism, command participation and the importance and value of education. NMLC’s leadership is comprised of Medical Service Corps Officers. The Medical Service Corps requires a master’s degree in either business or some health care field for a Direct Ascension Commission, if a candidate doesn’t have prior service. The Medical in-Service Procurement Program requires a bachelor’s degree. But eventually, one must earn his or her master's degree. Most IPP's are sent directly to Army-Baylor, or the Uniformed Services University of Health Services in Bethesda if they do not have a master's degree upon selection to the MSCIPP. Every MSC officer eventually must earn a master's degree within 5-10 years of commissioning. This means that the most junior officer has, at a minimum, a master’s degree. This community values education. And at the Naval Medical Logistics Command, I would not have been as motivated to earn my master’s degree if it weren’t for the officers there displaying their degrees on their office walls. The officers, crew and civilian personnel of Naval Medical Logistics Command truly, positively impacted my professional, educational and naval career.
In 2013, I transferred to the Naval Expeditionary Intelligence Command. I was only at this command for 10 months because my tour was cut short because of sequestration budget cuts. At this my point in my career, I began to lose hope in the naval system. Don’t ever do this! I began to slip into a 'Why is this happening to me?' type of attitude. I had been an E-5 for nine years at this point, most officer programs were closing up on me, I was approaching high year tenure, and I was forced to pick new orders when I wasn’t expecting it. It was here where I had the harsh reality of things not being about me. I had to accept the fact that it was about what was best for the Navy.
I transferred to Mobile Dive and Salvage Unit TWO in Little Creek, Va., in October of 2013. From the start, I had a victimized attitude. I had been in the Navy for 12-and-a-half years at this point and was still a Second Class Petty Officer. Nonetheless, I hid the pain. I came to work every day and did my job. When I went home, I would toss and turn at night thinking of what I should do next. In April 2014, I enrolled in the Master of Professional Studies in Political Management Program at The George Washington University. I wanted to ensure a secure future in case I was High Year Tenured out of the Navy. In May of 2014, advancement results indicated I missed First Class Petty Officer by .12. I was livid. I thought my life was bad. That’s until I hard news that would once again change my life.
About a week after the advancement results came out, I received a phone call from my father. I was not prepared for what he was about to tell me. He told me he had pancreatic cancer, and he had 3-6 months to live. At that moment, my problems seemed to be problems of an ungrateful individual. I thought it was the end of the world because my life wasn't turning out the way I wanted it. My father getting terminal cancer made me realize just how small my misfortunes were. In short, instead of being ungrateful about what I didn't have, I realized while I was watching him go through chemotherapy sessions that I should be thankful for the life that I did have. It put my personal intentions in perspective. My personal accolades and success didn’t seem to be important anymore. Between May and December of 2014, I made five trips back and forth to California to spend time with him. I went to visit him for Thanksgiving and ended up staying there until the end of his life. It was just me and him for his last 25 days. I was his in-house Hospice care. I had to give him liquid morphine every two hours to ensure his pain levels down. We spent his last days watching movies, talking about the good times, and watching NBA TV. Julius Carter Wiseman Jr. died Dec. 9, 2014.
It was in my darkest hours when I found out I had made First Class Petty Officer off of the September, 2014 exam. I was also named 2014 Junior Sailor of the Year. The morning after my father died, I had final exams to do for my second master’s program. I had uncontrollable tears running down my face for three hours as I completed my final exams. The message is if we want something, we must be able to complete it through any circumstance.
The next six months were an extremely painful grieving process. One day, I got a phone call from my mentor, Cmdr. Godfrey Tabb, who happened to be a Medical Service Corps Officer. He encouraged me to consider putting a package for the Medical Service Corps in Service Procurement Program. It was a very exhausting process. I had to take the GRE, get officer appraisals, request letters of recommendation from influential people, and get a well-organized package together. I worked for weeks on my personal statement. I sent the package off and put my faith in God.
Meanwhile, I finished my second master’s degree. Our final course was a residency in Washington in November of 2015. They took us to Congress, the Senate, and yes, the White House. I got to meet the speech writer for First Lady Michelle Obama. I also met Congressman Bart Stupak from Michigan, Senator Richard Durbin’s Chief of Staff, the speechwriters for Presidents Bill Clinton and George Bush, Congressman Walt Minneck from Idaho, and many more influential people. It was the greatest week of my life. I got to see the Senate floor while they were passing a bill.
I wanted to share my story to let you know sometimes opportunities come wrapped in not so pleasant circumstances. Success is where hard work meets opportunity. That is my own personal motto. Life to me is like a long road with twist and turns, off-ramps, and the most important thing of all, tolls! You have to pay the tolls. Whether it be higher education, qualifications, or any other personal or professional goal, you must remember there are no short cuts. You must pay the tolls. When you cheat, you’re cheating yourself. Here are 10 two letter words that helped me when I wanted to quit, “if it is to be, it is up to me.” A pessimistic attitude will never get you anywhere. Hope, optimism, and dedication are going to always make you successful. I believe in three types of friends the person where you want to be, the person who wants the same things out of life you want, and the person who wants to be where you are at. Everyone else is an associate.
In closing, I will say, that I was selected for a Commission into the Medical Service Corps. I am now Ensign (select) Wiseman. I’m just a kid from humble beginnings. Don’t let people slap your hands when you reach for the stars, and how can the sky be the limit when there are footprints on the moon? Thanks for reading my story and I hope it helps you find purpose in your struggle.
| Date Taken: | 01.25.2016 |
| Date Posted: | 01.25.2016 15:41 |
| Story ID: | 186998 |
| Location: | VIRGINIA BEACH, VA, US |
| Hometown: | SAN DIEGO, CA, US |
| Web Views: | 6,387 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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