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Father Figure Sergeant Major Bowers, a man of honor, strength, loyalty, wisdom, respect, and above all a man of his world. Sergeant Major is a very important person in a lot of people's lives. He's made more of an impact on my life than he could ever even fathom. He was the father figure that I've never had. When I first joined JROTC I was apprehensive. I didn't know what the program was about at all, but my best friend cajoled me to join. The moment I walked into the classroom I saw CSM Bowers and he was joking around with my friend, picking on her. I quickly soon found out that this was extremely normal for him to do so. Seeing my best friend, I walked over and sat right beside her in a desk and Sergeant Major stood up and came over to me. I'll never forget the first words he said to me. “What's up kiddo, good to have ya.” Then he turned to Jayda and said, “don't ya have a friend shorter than you are fidget?” Right then I could tell this would not be your average high school classroom setting. As my first week in JROTC progressed, I was getting to know Sergeant Major a little bit better. He had given me some responsibilities in the classroom to do, such as grading a test or typing things into a computer. Sgt. Major was always a dinosaur when it came to the computer. Doing all his stuff for him, I was figuring out that he defiantly had “favorites” if you will. But he treated everyone the same. Not less or more than others, but equal. But he instilled a sense of pride in me that at the time was much needed. And it's like he could sense that. St. Major had a sixth sense in a way; he knew people's moods by just looking at them. He saw straight through me, into me. Past all my walls, and that mean the absolute world. Weeks passed, and my responsibilities grew and grew. During a drill and ceremony lesson where we learn to march, he pulled me aside and made me commander of the group that day. Usually to become commander you have to be your top of the A game, but apparently he thought I was. He got me interested in the Drill team after that and told me about the Color guard team as well. So I went to practice one morning and joined. When I had first joined the team, and started to get to know everyone, it automatically felt like a giant family. Sergeant Major was big on that, one of his goals was to create a safe haven, a place where students get to let loose and be themselves. Every week we would have practice on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays for drill. We practice hard, because when we compete against other schools we need to look good. I remember our first competition that was traveling away from Sioux Falls. It was in Lower Brule South Dakota, and there was going to be approximately five schools competing. But consequently the weekend of the competition was the same weekend my cousin had died. I had to choose to go to the funeral or to go to the competition. In drill if one person is missing, it will cost your entire team, its not a sport, no substitutes. By this time we've put seven months into practice and my cousin was cousin by marriage. He had killed himself last November, and the next day I came to school I managed to keep it together in all my classes, except for JROTC. Sgt. Major could tell something was wrong and pulled me out in the hallway and asked me what was the matter. I just burst into tears, his face went from confusion to complete sympathy. Between the blubbering cries, I had told him what had happened and that I have to choose. He told me not to worry and to do what I thought was right. And if anyone on the team gave me a hard time for missing the competition, he would make them do push-ups until he got tired. Which in Sgt. Major lingo means all period long. I had a day to think about it, and I decided to go to competition. I don't deal with death that well simply because I've lost too many to count. I thought it would be a good way to keep my mind off of the situation. I had payed my respects at the visitation the night before, so my good-byes were in place. On the way to competition, we all slept on the bus, considering we had to leave at 5 am and it was in November so the air was cold, and the bus was freezing. It was Sgt. Finck that had come up with us to the competition because CSM Bowers had to take care of things back here. But Sgt. Finck pulled me aside and asked me if I was alright. Sgt. Major had told him the whole story. At this point Sgt. Finck was still a buddy, but not a role model...yet. He became one later in my JROTC career. Anyways it was really nice to see that both of my instructors cared about me that much. They offered to talk anytime, and told me to keep my head held high. Most teachers would be like oh I'm sorry for your loss, and that would be the end of it. Sgt. Major always went the extra mile to get to know someone, and to help them. Sergeant Major Bowers is a great person; the world could use more of him. Sgt. Major demonstrated to me through the two years of having him as a instructor, to always have an open mind. He taught me patience, and how to stand up for myself and to use my voice. He was the guy down the hall I knew who'd be willing to listen. Since my Dad had died, I didn't have a father figure in my life, but when Sergeant Major was put into the picture he almost instantly became that. Who knows, maybe it's part of the soldier creed, and military values, but I personally believe he has a big big big heart, and truly cares for everyone he encounters. I will never be able to express my gratitude to him for what he has done for me and my life. He is by far the biggest role model, kindest, most respected person I've ever had outside of my family. And for that, I am forever grateful.