Connie Villescas:  

I graduated in 1978 and soon after started college at LBSU on an art grant. I was only 17 at the time and wasn't quite ready for college life, especially since I didn't own a car. That's a long trip from Wilmington to Long Beach when you have no transportation, sooooo I didn't go back the next semester. After a few years of partying and trying to find myself I realized I needed to get out in order to make a better life for myself. I joined the Marine Corps in August of 1982 and shipped out 5 months later to Parris Island for boot camp. I didn't realize it at the time, but the years growing up in Wilmas living the hard knock life certainly prepared me for the most rigorous 3 months of boot camp. I knew how to spit shine with Kiwi because I used to shine my uncle's Stacy Adams when I was a kid. Not to mention all those years of starching the creases in my khaki's and cords -- I was far ahead of those young girls who came from money and silver spoons! I had 3 tours in Japan before shipping off to war in 1990 - Saudi Arabia. I served in Desert Shield / Desert Storm from Oct. 1990 to May 1991 at a time when women weren't allowed in combat. Not only did I go to war, but I was ordered into Kuwait on the 2nd day of the ground war. It was a time in my life that I think of often, especially in light of the many men and women who are stil...Expand for more