 I was really lucky to be exposed to all different kinds of people and religions and different cultures. It really set me up to go places and see things that people said that I shouldn't. Language acquisition was always easy for me and that was fueled predominantly just by my interest in the culture and my desire to learn and do well. As you learn the language, you learn the people, you learn their history. It teaches you how we are and why interactions socially are so important to the success of a civilization. There was a lot of students at my high school that we're looking into going into the Navy and it just so happened that I was introduced to the recruiter who really made an effort to sit down with me and say, what do you want to do? What are you interested in? And the minute that I started talking about languages, he's like, let's get you in for a D-Lab. When I got my D-Lab results, it was definitely kind of a self-validation like, hey, not only is this something that I really enjoy, but it's something I'm good at. This is a career. At 18, right after high school graduation, I packed up all my stuff and I headed off to an amazing adventure as a CTI. When the ship is in port in Bahrain, the member is released. A CTI is a Cryptologic Technician Interpretive and we are the Navy's linguists. We do everything that is language and culture for the Navy. Once you hop on the highway, you're going to cross over the Hidbridge. Once you pass the Hidbridge, you're going to pass by Hid. We provide direct support and safety measures for ships, aircraft. We also do one-on-one coordination with three-letter agencies. Take the Minama Way through Muharreg into the International Airport. It's a little tricky, however, taking. A lot of times the normal day of a CTI is sitting behind a computer. It may not appear glamorous, but what a lot of people don't see is where all that hard work goes. We provide the intelligence for all major military operations. We really steer all aspects of warfare and strategic decisions. The language part of being a linguist or a CTI is knowing the culture, knowing the people. Being able to kind of know and read the person speaking is just as important as knowing the language itself. It's only 300 films for that. It has been very hard for me to acclimate to living in a Middle Eastern country, but if you only know your way of life, you limit yourself in being successful with your interactions with people. You have to be able to find that common ground, to find that respect and understanding for a difference in order to be able to work together. It is such a huge foundation in our nation, and that's important for trade, for success. Being deployed here in Bahrain is an amazing experience. It's helped me sharpen all of the tools that I had growing up. I went from being a teenager that grew up in Cheyenne, Wyoming to being an adult living in Bahrain. I've gotten married, I've gotten my first home in the Navy. I've really found myself and the kind of person, the kind of leader that I want to be in the Navy. I'm Maya Regenzas, and I'm going to be working in the United States.