Photo By Cpl. Angel Alvarado | U.S. Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Melissa L. Paul, an administration specialist with Marine...... read more read more
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NAVAL WEAPONS STATION, Va.— The U.S. Marine Corps enlists individuals from various backgrounds and locations and puts them through rigorous training to establish a common foundation. Marines become family, brothers and sisters by bond. U.S. Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Melissa Paul, a native of Chugiak, Alaska, endured hardships at a young age that instilled tenacity and grit within her, and led her to become a U.S. Marine and find the family she never had.
Paul was transferred from house to house while growing up in the foster care system. Her home was continuously changing; however, she adapted and persevered by staying dedicated to her passion, wrestling. At the age of thirteen, she lived on her own, so she could remain in the same high school and continue wrestling. After three years, the school system realized a minor was living alone and required her to live with an adult guardian.
“I lived on my own until the school found out and I was adopted by my high school cross country coach and high school track coach,” Paul stated, “The tenacity and grit of wrestling made me a mentally tough person, but due to living in solitude as a child I really didn't know how to have a family… it was hard.”
Paul continued to train and stay dedicated to her craft. As Paul unceasingly conditioned, wrestling became an outlet for her aggression. It is also a way to stay connected to her roots, as many members of her biological family have a background in wrestling. Throughout high school, Paul created a name for herself and continued to enter in national competitions. In 2008, she competed in Oklahoma's “University Nationals” and to her surprise, won first place.
Reflecting on her “University Nationals” wrestling match, Paul stated, “I was eighteen and she (her opponent) was either twenty-six or twenty-seven, I didn't think I would place because she was more senior to me,” Paul continued, “I guess I wanted it more, the grit I had in me and mental tenacity wanted it more, until I literally felt her give up.”
After graduation Paul’s wrestling career continued to attract attention and receive accolades, leading to acceptance in the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Training Center. She continued to place in the top three of nationals. Taking the championship of “Arctic-Winter Games” and various other competitions, she competed against different countries' wrestling athletes from across the globe. While preparing to compete for the 2012 U.S. Olympic Wrestling Team, an unexpected phone call redirected her life’s journey.
“At the 2012 Olympic Trials in Iowa, I received a call from an unknown number and it was my biological mom who I hadn’t seen since I was thirteen years old. After the call, I got mentally side-tracked and I completely bombed the tournament,” Paul stated, “I had this big epiphany as to why I lost. I realized that it was because you are given everything from massages to a sports psychologist while training for the Olympics. As a result, I lost my grit; I got too soft.”
After being ineligible to compete, Paul questioned what her next move would be. She reminisced about the Alaskan citizens of Chugiak huddling around her when she first won nationals, giving donations that allowed her to compete time and time again and to be trained all hours of the night, by coaches who never allowed her to give up. Paul felt she owed it to all of her supporters to continue her journey in becoming something more.
Paul recalled interacting with her high school Navy Junior Officers Training Corps (JROTC) instructor, a retired Marine Corps Master Sergeant. She respected the way he carried himself, spoke respectfully, and displayed his valiant character. She remembered he was a U.S. Marine veteran and wanted to face the challenge of joining the most demanding branch, reclaim her grit, and uphold the expectation of those who believed in her.
“I always worked twice as hard, as a woman, I learned to challenge the challenges,” Paul stated, “I wanted to join in order to confront the highest challenge I could accept.”
Throughout her life Paul faced people who claimed women should not wrestle. Ironically, those who underestimated her inspired her to train harder and push her boundaries further than she ever imagined. After enlisting in the Marine Corps, Staff Sgt. Melissa Paul became the first woman to wrestle and compete in the “All-Marine Corps Wrestling Team” in North Carolina, becoming a contender in the first female match at Military Nationals in Colorado. While competing, Paul injured her neck and had to manage her time wisely. She shifted focus to the Marine Corps, however being unable to do the sport she loved took a toll on her.
“Wrestling was my void to fill all the sadness and anger I had in life with my lack of family, I became depressed,” Paul continued, “I had to find something, so I found the Marine Corps Martial Arts Program (MCMAP), which consisted of character building, determination and a brotherhood similar to wrestling.”
Throughout her Marine Corps career, Paul dedicated her time to MCMAP. She progressed through the belt levels, conducting combative techniques and building her mental, moral, and physical resiliency. In 2019 she attended the Martial Arts Center of Excellence in Quantico, Virginia, where she successfully completed a rigorous 7-week course twice to become a certified Martial Arts Instructor Trainer (MAIT) and a second-degree black belt. Paul decided to further extend her training as high as possible within MCMAP as she saw it as a vital opportunity to influence and teach her fellow Marines.
“As a Martial Arts Instructor, I teach the Marines that gender and size don’t matter, experience does,” Paul explains, “I teach the students more than fighting, I teach them character, by the end of the course they are willing to go to combat and die for each other. That means more to me than winning any award or competition.”
Overcoming many obstacles in her life enabled Paul to teach her students resilience and to develop her Marines into MAIs with the tenacity and leadership skills required to train Marines themselves.
“The Marines become mentally and physically exhausted during the course, but they don't realize their mind gives up before their body. They can push through unthinkable limits,” Paul explains, “I always tell them if they don’t push past their limits, they will never know how far they can go; they won’t be able to lead their Marines effectively past their limits if they can’t break their mental barrier.”
Marine Corps Martial Arts Instructor Course 101-22 will be Paul's last iteration before she reaches the end of her active service. Being an MAI and an MAIT has contributed to the leader she is today. Her students helped her fill a void within, giving her everlasting memories and the family she always wanted.
“There is no other kinship like this anywhere else. This team dynamic and band of brothers can only be found in MCMAP,” Paul explains, “It’s saddening knowing this will be the last group of Marines I will affect.”
Paul intends to continue her passion of wrestling as a coach after her career in the Marine Corps. During her service, the Marines she worked alongside demonstrated an immense amount of teamwork and dedication to mission accomplishment. She plans to apply these traits as a wrestling coach and use warrior ethics to influence future athletes.
Paul claims, “I am going to bring back to the wrestling community the ethical warrior mentality. That you have to count on each other to become national champions. You have to rely on others to hold you accountable.”
Since childhood, Paul knew her drive and hard work could take her places she never imagined. The Marine Corps introduced her to like-minded individuals who have become her home. From all the challenges she faced and experienced, Paul will carry one lesson into future endeavors.
“I think people assume whatever you're going to be when you are older is predestined; with how you were raised and circumstances, but that's not always true,” Paul states, “You decide who you want to become, blood doesn’t make you family.”
| Date Taken: | 10.28.2021 |
| Date Posted: | 11.10.2021 11:17 |
| Story ID: | 409097 |
| Location: | YORKTOWN, VIRGINIA, US |
| Hometown: | CHUGIAK, ALASKA, US |
| Web Views: | 503 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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