Undergraduate / 'Captain Mac' - Common App Influential Person Topic [5]

250-500 words, and I'm writing about someone who's influential in my life and how they've influenced it. Be as harsh as needed, no holding back please :)

Honor Guard. "How hard could it be?" I thought. The day I joined, I realized it was not going to be a cake walk. My first Residential Life Officer (RLO) meeting, I was nervous, didn't know anybody, and worst of all, I had no idea who my RLO was personally. Captain Macdonnel, or Captain Mac for short, is a tall, blonde haired former marine, and that one guy everyone loved, and for good reason! He was always cracking jokes and made things entertaining, even when they were torturous. He came into the room and everyone went dead silent. "Ears" he said. Before I could even ask myself what that meant, the whole room replied with "Open sir". Right then, I felt I was out of place. What had I been thinking joining this detachment? These guys were way out of my league! Captain Mac interrupted my self degrading thoughts with a stern speech of how Band Company, the company Honor Guard is detached from, and Honor Guard were going to be run and that we were to be the best company, no questions asked. Anyone who wasn't perfect was immediately "corrected". Unfortunately for me, I fell into that category.

The longer I was in Honor Guard, the more I noticed that being perfect was a habit. My demerit count decreased to a consistent zero, everything I did was outstanding, and best of all, I became, what we say, STRACT (Strategically Ready and Combat Tough). This didn't happen without work, however. Through the use of discipline, hard discipline at that, Captain Mac shaped not just my brain, but all of my brothers' brains, to strive for perfection, and to put our best into everything we do. The infamous, "Indy 500", was the tool he used to mold our minds into outstanding students and cadets, a tool that only he enjoyed. I realized that accepting consequences for my actions made life easier, no matter the situation. Every time we cleaned the gymnasium floor with our sweat, I stumbled out, but not without thanking Captain Mac, with a genuine smile on my face, for correcting me.

Though Captain Mac spent the majority of his time on the beach and gymnasium, those were not his boundaries. Looking at my competitors during a home swim meet, my nerves got the best of me. I never really had much self-esteem, but all that changed when Captain Mac burst through the gate to the pool. His sixth sense of fear alerted him that I was more nervous than any Honor Guard cadet should be. He said to me, "These guys may have stronger bodies, you have something that they don't." "What's that?" I asked. Within a nanosecond of responding, I found a knife hand lunging at my neck, and a scream in my right ear, which made out to be, "A will to win". I dived into that pool with a spring in my legs, and came out the victor.