Ben Owen

You know, they never made me feel like I had anything to prove. I put all of this weight on myself that I had to please my parents. And the only way I could do that is to become just like my dad. I held this man on the pedestal my whole life. I think a lot of little boys do that, you know, but I maybe took it to an extreme. Well, anyway. I'm telling... You know, we go through the duck walk.

The dude looks at your butthole. You go check your feet. You know, all the shit you do at MAPS. And I get to that last little room where I'm picking my MOS. And I'm telling him about my dad. And he's like, well, you know, there's an infantry slot open. And my dumbass goes, yeah, do that. Do that. And so I'm listed as an 11 Bravo. And that... In hindsight, I hate running.

The dude looks at your butthole. You go check your feet. You know, all the shit you do at MAPS. And I get to that last little room where I'm picking my MOS. And I'm telling him about my dad. And he's like, well, you know, there's an infantry slot open. And my dumbass goes, yeah, do that. Do that. And so I'm listed as an 11 Bravo. And that... In hindsight, I hate running.

The dude looks at your butthole. You go check your feet. You know, all the shit you do at MAPS. And I get to that last little room where I'm picking my MOS. And I'm telling him about my dad. And he's like, well, you know, there's an infantry slot open. And my dumbass goes, yeah, do that. Do that. And so I'm listed as an 11 Bravo. And that... In hindsight, I hate running.

Yet again, I'm doing something that I'm not going to be good at or capable of, trying to impress my dad.

Yet again, I'm doing something that I'm not going to be good at or capable of, trying to impress my dad.

Yet again, I'm doing something that I'm not going to be good at or capable of, trying to impress my dad.

I've always put an inordinate amount of pressure on myself to perform. Always. Today. I'm doing that right now, actually. Like the lead up to this, you can ask Jess. I was terrified to come in here. I always have just put a tremendous amount of pressure on myself. I think a lot of that is because I'm the oldest, but...

I've always put an inordinate amount of pressure on myself to perform. Always. Today. I'm doing that right now, actually. Like the lead up to this, you can ask Jess. I was terrified to come in here. I always have just put a tremendous amount of pressure on myself. I think a lot of that is because I'm the oldest, but...

I've always put an inordinate amount of pressure on myself to perform. Always. Today. I'm doing that right now, actually. Like the lead up to this, you can ask Jess. I was terrified to come in here. I always have just put a tremendous amount of pressure on myself. I think a lot of that is because I'm the oldest, but...

it's also because i had so much promise as a kid i had so much promise and my parents were so proud of me and they stopped looking at me like that you know and you wanted it back i wanted it back um i didn't want to be a piece of drunk but i knew that's what i was and um Not just a piece of shit drunk, but like one that put his mother in a position to have to kill her own grandchild.

it's also because i had so much promise as a kid i had so much promise and my parents were so proud of me and they stopped looking at me like that you know and you wanted it back i wanted it back um i didn't want to be a piece of drunk but i knew that's what i was and um Not just a piece of shit drunk, but like one that put his mother in a position to have to kill her own grandchild.

it's also because i had so much promise as a kid i had so much promise and my parents were so proud of me and they stopped looking at me like that you know and you wanted it back i wanted it back um i didn't want to be a piece of drunk but i knew that's what i was and um Not just a piece of shit drunk, but like one that put his mother in a position to have to kill her own grandchild.

And that just ate me alive. And I would drink at that problem nonstop, you know, all the way up to the time I swore in. So I picked 11 Bravo spot.

And that just ate me alive. And I would drink at that problem nonstop, you know, all the way up to the time I swore in. So I picked 11 Bravo spot.

And that just ate me alive. And I would drink at that problem nonstop, you know, all the way up to the time I swore in. So I picked 11 Bravo spot.

Here's where it gets... This is how retarded I was. I was on mental health medication then. I had no ACL. So when I got to MEPS, I lied about literally all of it. No, I've never done drugs. No, I've never been in drug rehab. No, I've never broken a bone. Dude, I've broken like nine, literally nine bones and torn two ligaments at that point in time. I'm raging alcoholic.

Here's where it gets... This is how retarded I was. I was on mental health medication then. I had no ACL. So when I got to MEPS, I lied about literally all of it. No, I've never done drugs. No, I've never been in drug rehab. No, I've never broken a bone. Dude, I've broken like nine, literally nine bones and torn two ligaments at that point in time. I'm raging alcoholic.

Here's where it gets... This is how retarded I was. I was on mental health medication then. I had no ACL. So when I got to MEPS, I lied about literally all of it. No, I've never done drugs. No, I've never been in drug rehab. No, I've never broken a bone. Dude, I've broken like nine, literally nine bones and torn two ligaments at that point in time. I'm raging alcoholic.

And I'm just at MAPS, drunk, telling them, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope. Because they'd coached me. My recruiter had done his job. Now, he'd done his job to get me that 97 Bravo spot that would have got me a signing bonus. And I probably would have done just fine if I had taken that slot. But me, being me, I had to manipulate everything and try to finagle my way in.