Why did you become a Naval Officer?

This post is dedicated for your personal stories about answering the call to serve. Please share your story. You can include where your background, motivational factors, location and ceremony of your oath signing, support along the way, or anything else that is important to you.

The Armed Forces Officer

The Armed Forces Officer : Reading Assignment- pp. i-vii, The Meaning of the Commission

"There is no greater demonstration of the trust of the Republic than in its expression and bestowal of an officer's commission."  

- Colonel John R. Allen, USMC, Commandant of Midshipman, USNA, "Commander's Intent," 19 December 2002. 

This trust involves the majesty of the nation's authority in matters involving the lives and deaths of its citizens. That his particular trust most often is first directed on men and women of no particular experience in life, leadership, or war, elevates the act to supreme occasion of faith as well. Acceptind an officer's commission in the armed forces is a weighty matter, carrying a corresponding burden of practical and moral responsibility. The officer must life up to this responsibility each day he or she serves. 

--Armed Forces Officer, Introduction

COMMENT HERE after completing the Armed Forces Officer reading assignment.

The Oath of Office

I, _________, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.