WEBVTT

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My name is Isabelle Perez . I'm 18

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years old . I'm from Staten Island ,

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New York . Um My M OS is 68 Charlie and

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which is a practical nurse specialist .

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So my original reason I joined the US

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Army was because I was afraid of being

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financially unstable . And so when I

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was in the process of enlisting , I had

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some prior knowledge that some of my

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family members were in the US Army

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already . And as I was going through

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the process , I found out that my

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grandfather was in the US Army . My

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father , my cousins , uncles , they're

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currently a national Guard and even on

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my mom's side . So it's kind of nice to

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live up to the name and do something

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nice and keep the generation going .

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Going into the US Army . The most

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challenging part of BC T is definitely

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the mental aspect going into this . I

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thought I was so strong mentally that I

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was only going to struggle physically .

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But you were taken into a whole new

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environment place with different people ,

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different cultural backgrounds and

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you're meant to adjust to that

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instantly . So it was pretty

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challenging , especially because it was

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the first time I was made from home .

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So I was pretty homesick . I think

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society may portray that um the US Army

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is for a specific um gender , I mean

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gender and race . But as a

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female and Hispanic , you could do it

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too . Like if you are scared to join ,

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definitely go for it because the

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there's nothing like what do you have

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to lose ? Shout out to my mom and dad .

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Um my boyfriend Jaden and anyone in

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Staten Island , New York do not be

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embarrassed that you're from Staten

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Island . We are considered Newark still .

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My name is Isabella Perez and this is

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why I serve .