Michael Kuy
Every child has different issues emphasized upon him growing up. Coming from a family who escaped a life of poverty by fleeing to the US from a Communist Cambodia, the main point instilled in me was of going to college. Even as a small child I was pushed to make a better life for myself; at least better than my parents had, and that meant going to college; even though I didn't really know what going to college really meant.
My father was an orphan growing up. He was raised by his older siblings and relied on government scholarships from a pre-communist Cambodia to get himself through school. He eventually earned a bachelor's degree with Phnom Penh University without a dime out of pocket. My mother came from a poor family and didn't really have a chance at a formal education because of gender inequality at the time. With the rise of the communist government my parents managed to flee to America with nothing except the clothes on their backs and started a whole new life.
Fast-forward a few years later and my parents are living well; not wealthy, not rich, however they have enough to support three kids, one of them being me, and live comfortably. With this comfortable life in which my parents made for me I became relaxed. Without adversity I took many things in my life for granted; one of these being education. I went through high school pretty easily with the strict regime of studying my parents placed on me.
Another few more years and I've graduated high school, top 25% of my class. Now, it was time for the big leagues, college. The only thing was: my parents couldn't afford to send me through college. The economy was suffering and my dad had gotten laid off from his job. Little did I know, college was expensive. My first year of college was a sudden immersion into the "real world." In order to pay off college and other luxuries that I took for granted, e.g. gas, eating out and just hanging out with friends, I wound up taking three jobs. Every morning I'd wake up at 3 am to stock the local Target, after that it was off to school, and after school it was my other job at a mom and pop embroidery shop with a job at the Gap on the weekends. Through all of this I had no idea why I was going to college or what I was doing in life. All I knew was that my parents said getting a degree was important.
One fateful day, I get a call from the local Marine Corps recruiting station that changes my life forever. After an appointment with the recruiter, joining the Marine Corps seemed like the only logical thing to do. It was either logical, or the recruiter was really good at his job. From a rational standpoint though, joining the Marine Corps would give me financial independence as well as a source of funding for college all the while giving me time to think about what I want to do with my future. Little did I know, this four year commitment would give me everything I was looking for and much, much more.
By my second year in the Marine Corps I was already on my first tour in Iraq. If I was missing any adversity in my life, this tour in Iraq more than made up for it. I was attached to Combat Logistics Battalion Security Company. A makeshift company made of Marines from different trades and occupational specialties, mine being a communications technician, trained two months prior to do the work of field military policemen. These are the Marines that escort and protect supply trucks going in and out of bases across Iraq; the ones out on patrols as a show of force to the bad guys and making sure they don't get too close to the base; the ones that run towards the sound of gunfire as a quick reactive force day or night. Words wouldn't be able to describe the humbling experience that this tour was. When you patrol through the cities and you see the living conditions of the Iraqi people, you think to yourself, "This is how someone lives?" Houses with no roofs, falling apart on the brink of collapse questions roll through your mind, "What about when it rains," "Where are the hospitals at." Through all of this though, you see the children; the children who through all this tough and barbaric way of living, somehow still manage to play, to have fun, to smile. At this point you realize… this life is all they know; they don't know of a life outside these rubble houses, outside this war-torn country. They don't know what it's like to run around at a Chuck E. Cheese, or eat at a McDonalds. It's at this point you realize, exactly how much you've taken for granted. It's at this point you start counting your blessings.
They say every day is a gift, that's why it's called the present. The future is never guaranteed to you. These are one of those sayings though, that no one really understands until they cross some threshold of risk, in which the next day could very well not come. When this understanding came to me, it was like a light bulb going off like you see in cartoons. A successful mission complete, we were on our way back to base. Just a few kilometers outside of base we were ambushed by insurgents. In a mere matter of milliseconds I understood what that saying meant, made my peace with God and death and let my training kick in. This wouldn't be the last time our lives would be put in jeopardy, but it only took this first time for me to realize that if I was going to die, I better make every second count before that time came.
I came out of Iraq learning two of the biggest lessons in my life. I had a grasp of everything I was taking for granted and I learned that tomorrow really wasn't guaranteed to me. It was then that I started taking control of my life and my future. It was then that I started coming to grips with the fact that I needed a degree.
A few months after my tour in Iraq I wound up trying out for the Marine Security Guard program. In over 133 countries, US embassies are protected by Marines. These Marines have all been screened, tested, and trained through the Marine Security Guard program; they are said to be the top 10 percent of the Marine Corps. Upon graduation of the school I flew to my first post, Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina. It was here where I got another taste of poverty in a war-torn country. I experienced first-hand the power of the human spirit. The city was the host of history's longest siege; four years. This was a siege that occurred not too long ago in the 90's. Imagine going through four winters, with no food or supplies except through a tunnel only big enough for you to crawl through. Four winters without being able to step outside of your home for fear of your life at the hands of a sniper outside the city. Now Sarajevo has recovered somewhat; there's still a fifty percent unemployment rate and the government is divided among religions, however the people still manage to live, to enjoy a coffee outside, to laugh, to smile, to have fun. I did my second tour in Madrid, Spain and my final and current tour is at the US Interests Section in Havana, Cuba.
While posted at these countries I've had the privilege to work with many different government agencies; the FBI, CIA, DEA, Diplomatic Security, and Secret Service to name a few. All of these agencies had one thing in common: a college degree was required if you wanted to join. I could know a guy who knows a guy in the head office in FBI headquarters, but he wouldn't be able to do anything for me, without my first having a college degree.
This further strengthened my resolve in getting a degree. With all the curve balls being thrown in life, I'm not sure where I'll be 5 years from now, however I am sure that wherever I am, I'm going to need a college education.
