I’m not yet nineteen. I was enlisted in the US Army Reserves for over a year. I drilled once a month with my unit, the 614th. In early June of 2011, I was scheduled to go to Basic Combat Training.

My depression got the better of me while I was in BCT. There’s much more to it than that, but it’s still hard for me to talk about it.

The ins-and-outs of it: I will go back. I didn’t want to leave. I never wanted to leave. I will go back. And I will be an American Soldier. 17 months ago