Today the 10th of November is the Marine corps B-day as well as my cell mate. Today I can say that I am not the same person I was a decade ago. I don’t want to use the phrase “you are a product of your society”. Today I know who I am I know what I do and I know That I serve a higher Power. My experience in the B.O.P. system for the last thirteen years have been for the most part to stay with a positive attitude. My perspective in my life is to enjoy life with my family and to enjoy my responsibility that comes along with it. In my case at hand I made a bad decision not once but twice. I represented my neighborhood in a gang meeting and we got raided be local law enforcement in the neighborhood park. I was entered in the local gang mug shot book. That placed me as an active gang member weather I wanted it or not I was labeled as a teenager as part of that gang. This carried a heavy price to this date. Because I was hand picked at a 1998 trial as one of the assailants in a mob action charge that caused me a sentence in the Illinois department of corrections for a crime I did not commit. Ultimately I served my sentence with bitter. This charge followed me to be sentenced as a career offender in the current federal system due to that crime of violence in 1998. My second mistake was to sell coccaine in my early 20’s that led me to a conspiracy case of which I was sentenced to 240 months in the federal system for accepting responsibility as a street level dealer. With dignity intact and the responsible persona that I am I told myself that I would do better if I make it home in 2010. As a productive person behind the iron fence I serve the man upstairs “The Creator” in a positive way. I follow the Red Road. When I deviate from the correct action it’s always by choice and poor judgement. I use this to help correct my actions so that in my future I don’t have pit falls. The education during my B.O.P. sentence has been hands on. I knew my release date would show up one day and I needed to prepare for the new me in the future to come. One of my brothers got me employment in the Unicor factory. After serving one year for a special hire i was able to relocate departments and was accepted in the Tool -N- Die Apprentice Vocational Training program of 8,000 hours. I was terminated before my I completed the hours required due to an accident that causes my co-worker Mr. Smith 32 stiches. This was viewed as careless accident with no remorse to the fault. I felt bad but feeling bad did not fix the accident. How ever I still have my training of 6,000 hours imbedded in me and are registered with the Department of labor in the state of Michigan. What I’ve learned is to to keep safety in mind at all times as it is required in the Machinist world were uncertainty lies. There will always be a job for a skill trade even if I learned this trade behind the iron fence I’ll be an asset to a company that needs my skill. I am striving to purchase a family home in the near future. This will happen with a good work ethic and an updated college course to help me re-invent myself once out of the B.O.P. system. My goal is to obtain a specialty skill job that can help me save the funds needed to purchase the family home I need. Once we obtain the family home I can have a place for my three children and wife that can call it home finally after all this time by me side in this whole ordeal. I can’t change the past but I can work to make a better future for my family and me.
