3 Mar 2005

Growing up, I couldn’t wait for the 3:12 p.m. bell to wail, chasing us out of the halls of high school. Those are the classes I wish now I could remember. Skipping class and bragging about it to my rowdy friends seemed to be what weekends were about. My saving grace was good parenting and a natural appetite for learning. Also, my extracurricular activities after the school bell, and occasional petty cash employment, kept me out of mischief and “the idle hands of the devil,” Mom would say. Little did I realize, this attention deficient child had a long road ahead of him.

Two weeks after high school at age 18, I drafted myself into the halls of “freedom”, under my own roof, away from Mom and Dad into a robust social life and the occasional study session. (Somehow I managed a 3.1 GPA and an ACT score good enough to get me into a private college.) Going to college was not for the education, but for a freedom of sorts, I thought. In a crude attitude, it was a way “find myself” and become noticed by the Sorority girls my older brothers occasionally talked about.

Therefore, I joined a beer-bingeing social fraternity and a music fraternity to ensure a solid network of friends and parties and worked 20 hours a week in odd jobs to pay for the lavish expenses. In addition, my school board and tuition took its toll and soon I was in debt. One Thanksgiving, just before my junior year at 20 years old, a family friend and a Reserved Officer Training Corps Commander, Lt. Col. Paul Smith at Florida State University, came over to our house and asked me, “Darrell, what are your plans after college?”

I’d been asked this question many times, but not with such personal interest and enthusiasm for my hazy future as Mr. Smith did. (I did not refer to him as “Colonel Smith” since I dated his only daughter and really only knew him outside of his work.) He explained and mentored to me the whole process on that day. In a nutshell, he said, “You can work smart, not hard, and get paid for it.” Getting “paid” is what I heard most. Almost as quickly as I left high school for college, I left the party life for a career in the military. Less than a month later, I was at Sheppard Air Force Base in a ROTC field-training program. Two months later, after graduation and being in great physical shape, I enrolled in the ROTC scholarship program, too. ”Wow! Who would have thought I could be on a scholarship and make it through such an rigorous ordeal?” I didn’t realize the significance then, but I enjoyed the goal-oriented structure and sense of achievement the military gave me.

I also realized I wanted to be better than average. I had settled my whole life for average. All these years, I had not focused on education. ”That was going to change,” I challenged myself, as did my ROTC Det 012 commander, Lt Col Lester. “I must graduate on time [a normal four years] to keep my scholarship.”

It was impossible! I had changed my major five times, changed schools once, and had taken Mickey Mouse classes for two years. I had also fallen into credit card debt of over six thousand dollars despite working part-time and extra money from Mom and Dad. This was the first of many life adjustments for me. I now had to study and focus. I never seriously did this before. School was always a matter of “just getting by.” Where were those study skills? Where were those high school foundations of math, science, and history I so desperately needed now in the throes of the real world? Where were those fiends to skip school with? Nothing was there for me to secure my footing. I had to learn it all over again.

Over the next two grueling years, doubling my efforts to make up for years of back peddling, I exerted myself enough to graduate in 4 1/2 years. I had 87 extra credits for non-required major credits due to PPP- Piss Poor Planning! I was not proud of my 2.9 GPA; however, I kept my scholarship, graduated, and was commissioned as a green butter bar (2nd Lieutenant) in the United States Air Force just like Dad.

School did not end with my military officer commissioning. Upon news of a 9-month tech school, I dreaded the competition with other “real” college graduates. These were folks who probably took studying seriously, and they would see right though me. I felt like a phony for graduating. I didn’t remember anything but the last two years of college. Nothing academic from high school rang clear except that bell. I was still trying to play catch up. Needless to say, I struggled from tech school, failing three tests and nearly was kicked out of the program. However, nine months never-to-soon, I was awarded an Air Force Specialty Code and was sent off into the wild blue yonder to one of the remotest tours in the Air Force called Kunsan Air Base, Korea.

For three years I played hooky from any additional schools and briefly reverted into my old ways of being a fraternity brother again. This didn’t last long, after a growing responsibility at work and world experiences in addition to Korea, such as temporary duties in the Bahrain, Germany, Alaska, and Okinawa, began to change me. It was in these strange places that I found myself. I understood what education meant. It soon became crystal clear the monumental importance of continuing knowledge for its application in one’s professional, social, and geo-political surroundings.

From this moment on, I have continued a steady adventure into academia. I now appreciate every book I read, turn studying into my leisure time, and make efforts to put learning into perspective. Starting with the University of Georgia at Robins Air Force Base, I transferred and finished my master’s degree in Public Administration from Troy State University at Yokota Air Base, Japan with a 4.0 GPA in just over a year. This was in part, thanks to my friend and classmate (now) Capt Jacob Dowdell who literally motivated me into the nearly overwhelming workload with him. ”It is possible! Good grades, are possible with the right attitude and enthusiasm,” I said to myself looking back at my empty record of ever making straight A’s on any report card. My renewed confidence and focus paid off in more than perfect scores. Fortunately, I didn’t go in debt for this program, the Air Force’s Tuition Assistance program flipped the $12 thousand for tuition, minus textbooks. I was also recognized at work as Company Grade Officer of the Year at Headquarters, US Forces Japan, one base-wide CGO of the Quarter, and the number one promotion recommendation to Major from a three-star general.

I then began an International Relations degree at Troy State before following my interests in Asia and the Korean language. In turn, I switched to a new major, a Bachelor of Arts in Asian Studies and in less than a year, earned a basic Hangul proficiency on the Department of Defense foreign language test. With 9 courses under my belt, 87 transferred credits, and 2 classes ongoing, I am holding a steady 3.7 GPA with the University of Maryland University College, and working harder than ever to graduate this year and start my doctorate.

Oh, the thrill of learning! Who would ever have thought I would emphatically love school? In addition, who would have thought I could get another scholarship at thirty-something? Since the US military refused to pay for a third degree under normal tuition assistance measures, I applied and won University of Maryland’s Barbara Golden Academic Scholarship to pay for $1,000 of my non-language courses and books. (A little-known secret: language courses are also covered under full tuition assistance for active duty military but are from separate special funds you must ask for. Working smart does not have to be hard.) Again, these achievements and a solid work ethic, along with continued extra curricular activities, learned from Mom and Dad such as sports, tutoring, and community organizations, spotlighted me at my local base as the Air Force Element Company Grade Officer of the Year and then at the higher regional level as Pacific Command’s Air Force Company Grade Officer of the Year.

The recognition and awards for winning the top spot among thousands of other educated Air Force officers were nice, but overcoming personal setbacks and feeling the rewards of self-accomplishment stuck me as even more satisfying. Education for me has been a long road. The first roads traversed were fields of displeasure and disappointment. I had no idea of where they were leading me, and why they were teaching me a decade ago. Now, I am on a different road. I study for the enjoyment and the sake of learning. I study to prosper and for excellence. I have found education brings with it tangible benefits, including happiness, special skills, and the fruits of one’s labor – success. Education is a slow journey and requires patience and many tutors along the way. Stop to smell the roses and listen to the advice of those who have been in the trenches. And don’t worry; once you arrive at your destination you’ll know it. Even better, once you have arrived, start packing again for the next journey, because education, like I said, is a long road and will lead you as far as you’ll let it.