The Bus Ride - Narration Paper

The Bus Ride

It was a pitch black spring night when I arrived in Cape May, New Jersey. The bus ride

from the airport to the basic training camp was very quiet and dark, however, the sky was

overflowing with the light of the full moon that energized the sky. The time was between 2am

and 3am, and my heart was pounding as if someone was hitting a nail into a piece of wood with a

sledge hammer. My unproblematic life as a college student was about to change in an instant, I

was nineteen years old going on thirty, at any rate that's how I felt at this point in my life. The

moment in my life as an adolescent where I am beginning to realize what it's like to be an adult. I

was starting to empathize what I took for granted when my parents supported me all those years;

too where I am now seating on that bus about to go through hell for the next eight weeks.

I went from being a nineteen year old college student to being in the hardcore military in

a matter of minutes. I was an immature juvenile with a very trouble-free life. I had no bills what

so ever, I had a nice car and there was money available to me whenever I desired it. This

undemanding life leads me to become under minded about school and life in general. I failed out

of college and could not find a desirable job without an education, therefore I signed up for the

United States Coast Guard. This is how I ended up on that bus that night in Cape May, New

Jersey.

The moment the drill instructor walked on that bus the anguish started right away. The

tall and very thin drill instructor started screaming at the top of his lungs, "Get off this bus now

and I mean now". There were a few more curse words than that, but I understood right away

what he wanted from all of us and it wasn't polite. As each and every one of us passed him while

walking down the three stairs to exist the bus, the drill instructor continued yelling so loud that it

echoes throughout the gangway of the bus with spit flying everywhere. He continued yelling and

did not want anyone to talk, smile, laugh, or even

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