I remember lying in my bunk thinking of those three mentally disturbed drill instructors screaming at me, calling me whale poop because it was the lowest thing on Earth. I thought to myself, "I have four years of this stuff ahead of me. What am I going to do?" Then suddenly a calm feeling came over me, and I said to myself, "Phil, make the most of it."

And I did. After four years I came out an E-4 corporal.