By: Nathan Smith, CHAMP intern
Deciding on a career path is certainly something that every kid does while they’re growing up. They want to play football for their favorite team, or be an astronaut on their way to Mars. Growing up, I really didn’t have any members of my family who were in the military. My initial passion was focused solely on a future in medicine after I went through a heart condition while I was in middle school. I knew I wanted to help people in the same manner that my doctors had helped me. As I approached my decision on where to go to college, military medicine entered my mind. It combined both my passions for healing and helping those around me with a budding desire to serve my country.
Three of my neighborhood friends had become officers in the Army. They helped me cultivate and develop my own sense of duty to serve. They really helped me realize that there are some incredibly important questions I needed to ask myself to determine whether or not the military was meant for me. One of the most important questions was, “Why am I joining the military over some other form of public service?” There are many avenues that I could take to reach my desire of both helping those around me and serving my country.
Ultimately, during my time at the University of Denver, I learned an incredible amount about the various opportunities that exist for undergraduate students within the world of military medicine education. I realized that, in addition to the 2 motives that I had for joining, there was another central component that truly grounded me into my answer for why I wanted to serve in the U.S. military over another form of public service. To the best of my ability, I wanted to protect those in the U.S., and ensure that our democracy would be safe. I realized that this value is core to who I am. So, serving in the military would enable me to live out my values.
If you would like to learn more about how to live out your own values, read HPRC’s article about values-based living, a holistic approach to mental health and resilience.
