Why My Masters? Anonymous

I woke up to the sound of sergeant instructors yelling to the top of their lungs at 4:30 in the morning - myself bloused in desert camis, and covered in blisters from the six mile hike the night before. Marine Corp Training is not a place to be glamorized. You do, however, get used to operating on months of sleep deprivation and constant soreness for those ten weeks.

Unfortunately, for me, life took a drastic change during my seventh week of training. In a matter of 72 hours, a brief medical examination revealed a spinal injury that resulted in my return home and led me to question how I ended up in Officer Candidate School. I was faced with feelings of disappointment that triggered a reflection of my childhood.

As a kid, all I was ever exposed to was SHEroes. My mother being a New York City Police Officer, I never needed to idolize fictional superheroes because I had one to look up to, packing my lunch every morning. Consequently, when I played with dolls I set up crime scenes and had my Barbie’s act as detectives that made arrests. This curiosity continued to blossom and followed me all the way through college. I harvested this interest with research and later found my passion: combating crimes against women and children. I...