I decided the best way to serve my country is to lead and the best way to do that is to go to college get an education and do it through ROTC. American Soldiers from all around the country are being led by Officers that have a whole variety of backgrounds, engineers, nurses, social sciences, those kind of people bring skills and diversity and education to the table that the Army needs.

We're handing you the authority and responsibility of being in charge of 40 - 50 people and saying, "They're yours now. Their livelihood is your hands," and that is an awesome responsibility. A lot of the experiences -- like in terms of my personal responsibility here -- I'm going to continue that on as a platoon leader.

The greatest part of my job is watching parents pin on the gold bar on the shoulders of that newly commissioned, newly minted second lieutenant. Because I know they are going out to serve our country and serve our soldiers. I am honored to be in the same boots and the same uniform as people who wear the uniform now.