 My name is PFC Mensa Sims, Nathaniel. I'm from Danbury, Connecticut. So what happened when I came here, it was around July 12, I believe, 2019. And, you know, I shipped out, came here, stepped on the footprint. I went through fresh phase. It was getting used to being a recruit. When it got to swim week, I fell swimming. He told me how to swim, but it was just hard for me to grasp the concept. I got dropped to multiple companies before getting sent home. Knowing that I'm going back home without becoming a Marine, it was really a sad moment in my life because I didn't get the title. It meant a lot to me because when I was coming to the United States in 2012, I saw a Marine at airport and the way he was discipline, the way he was standing and dressed, I just want to be that person. So what I did is that I went to swim instructor. So what I used to do is I go to work. After work, me and the swim instructor find the time for me to practice how to swim. Whilst I'm waiting to come back, swim, swim, swim, work, swim, work, swim. Because I really wanted to, my swim instructor was still surprised. He tried to tell me, hey, go to college, do that. I was like, nah, this is what I want. The reason why this is really close to my heart is because of my dad. Before he passed away, I told him I was going to be a Marine, United States Marine. I was going to boot camp and when I got back and he wasn't there anymore, it was just, I had to accomplish this and do it for him. Coming back to the Marine Corps second time, I started March 16, 2015. We used to march. I passed the swim building and it was like, I'm ready. I was more prepared than last time. I would say that my dad would be proud of me because he has never seen that kind of not given up mentality in me before, since I was high school. He's never seen it so, and I think he would be really happy that I did it and I could say I did it. And also, I remember telling, he telling me that if he's not there one day, I should become something big so my sisters can learn from me.