When you think of summer, you think of parties, going to the beach, and hanging out with your friends. For Samuel Muniz, it was very different.
During the summer before his senior year, Muniz underwent the process of basic training.
“Basic training is the initial training every person has to complete to earn the title of U.S. Army soldier. Basically, the process is to arrive at the base, in my case Fort Jackson,” said Muniz. “Then, for the next ten weeks, I was training. That training included P.T. [physical training], rifle marksmanship, land navigation, grenade qualifications, and field training.”
While many have yet to figure out who or what they want to be, Muniz had aspired to be a soldier his whole life.
“My dad was in the Marines so he always represented a military role model in my life. Growing up around that, I always had a higher respect for people that served and hoped I could be like them one day.”
With the influence of those around him, Muniz chased after his dream and made it a reality.
“I grew up in a military family so I kind of always envisioned myself going to the military as well. The choice to do basic training before I graduated was just getting information from a recruiter that called me.”
While being away, Muniz had to encounter things that he had never yet experienced before.
“It was different from any environment I’d been in. The moment you get there, it’s made known that until you earn the title of U.S. soldier, you’re not important. This is to establish the idea that everything must be earned.”
The idea that “everything must be earned” made him accustomed to establishing a new day-to-day cycle.
“I would typically wake up at 4:30 am, go to first formation at 5:00 am, do PT from 5:30 am to about 6:45 am. Then, we would do whatever was on the schedule for the day. Sometimes going to the rifle range, or hand grenade training, etc. Then we would come back to the company, eat dinner, have time for personal hygiene, and go to bed.”
While going through training, he underwent extreme hardships.
“The hardest thing I had to do was the forge. This was the final event we did and the culmination of all our training. It was three days and three nights in the field. I had to dig a fox hole and that’s where I slept . It was hard because it was very physically demanding and you don’t get much sleep when you’re out there. This ends with a 10-mile ruck march.”
He also had to live with not being able to call his friends and family back home.
“I wouldn’t say I liked being disconnected from social media, but I definitely see the upside to it. I did miss being able to talk to my friends back home.”
On the upside, Sam Muniz was still able to communicate with those in the outside world.
“I did write letters. Honestly, writing letters was the best part of my day. It felt like a way to get away from everything I had going on. Receiving letters from family and friends was even better than writing them. It was a way to feel like I was back with my family back home.”
The military can shape students and change their mindsets on life, turning them into a distinguished member of society.
“Joining definitely helped me mentally in certain aspects. Before I left, I was very unmotivated, and I’ve turned that around. School has become important to me again and I’m working hard now.”
Sam is now changing for the better and changing his goals to be as successful as possible. He wants to have a better outlook on life.
“I would say the biggest effect character-wise is holding myself up to the values they taught me.”
Loyalty, duty, respect, selflessness, service, honor, integrity, and personal courage. The values that have now shaped Muniz’s life, and have etched onto his day to day decisions.