Jamie Bennett

When I went to boot camp for the Marine Corps, it was the hardest thing I had ever done. I had felt isolated from my friends, family and from everything I had known. Receiving letters and packages from home was one of the greatest things one could receive at Perris Island and I didn’t receive all too many my time there. My Mother would send me 1 a week and an occasional from a relative but one day, out of the blue, I saw a letter from a name I hadn’t seen since my last year marching Corpsmen. When I read my letter from Michelle it had nothing but positive thoughts and encouraging words and a ton of questions. I still have that letter all of these years later and I remember that 1 letter making me miss home more than anything and also giving me the encouragement to push through the rest of my time to becomce a Marine. To this day, that letter is one of the reasons why I succeeded through boot camp. Michelle had a profound impact on my life and her spirit will always be a part of my life.