Written for College Entry Narrative

1. Asheleyn Richwine
Mrs. Sandberg
AP English
3 September 2015
Sometimes the best man for the job is a dog.
What is the biggest difference between an animal and a machine? You might say something
like an animal has fur, while machines are typically metal. You may even say that an animal
eats food to run, but a machine relies on gas or electricity to run. What most people rarely think
about is what you learn from watching the two. While watching a machine you may learn the
patterns of the operations it performs, or how something is made. But have you ever stopped to
watch a dog? To stop and see what it is doing, and pay very close attention to how the animal
reacts to different events. When an owner throws a ball, a dog's instinct to retrieve the ball kicks
in and the dog knows what it's doing. An MWD smells an IED and alerts it's handler, saving
countless numbers of Marine lives. You can learn a lot about yourself by working with an
animal.
I've always been protective. I feel the need to keep my family and friends safe from harm.
The summer before my senior year I began to feel the need to protect more than just my family
and friends. I needed to do my part and protect my country as a whole. What better way to do
that than join the United States Army, right? After weeks of convincing, I finally got my mom and
dad to agree to meet with an army recruiter. Things were going very well until test time (which is
the way things usually go). While we are sitting there answering a million questions about my
entire history as a human being, Staff Sergeant Turner hands my mom and I a paper with big
bold lettering at the top saying "CONSENT TO ENLIST". When we asked, he said it was just a
form that would allow them to transport me to MEPs to test. As anyone could see, that raised
quite a few red flags for me and even more for my parents who now refused to sign anything.
Another huge roadblock on my way to being a soldier. After a week of refusing to meet with the
Army again, my mom made me a deal. If I went to just one meeting with another branch and still
decided I wanted to go into the army she would go and talk with them again. Well little junior me
getting ready to be a senior thought I was big stuff and that there was no way anyone could
change my idea of what job I wanted to do. There certainly was no way anyone could
completely change what branch I joined!
In the meantime, my parents got me a puppy. I was so excited to see her learn things like,
"don't bite mom's foot," and "don't go to the bathroom on mom's bed". I took pride in the fact that
when I threw a ball, she ran over and brought it back to me just because she knew it would
make me happy. I was amazed that even when she was a small puppy, she would watch
anyone that she didn't feel was safe. Well hey, dogs are pretty cool! Then the day came when
my mom drug me away from my cute little puppy to go and meet with a Marine recruiter.
When we walked in the door, I noticed the exercise equipment. I was getting nervous.
Posters on the wall listed the benefits of being a marine over every other branch. When
Sergeant Shelton came and introduced himself to us, he made my mom and I feel relaxed
because we noticed he had a good sense of humor. He laid out quite a bit of stuff to go over. In
it, there was a book full of every job I could possibly think of for the Marines. There it was, all of

2. the beautiful helicopters of the Marines. While I was looking through all of the aviation
information, Shelton asked me, "What do you like to do?"
"Me?" I was surprised because it was the first time he'd spoken to me directly. "Well, I like to
run and do that sort of thing. I love to play with my dog, too." Shelton flipped to a new tab of the
job book.
"Have you looked at our Military Police section? You would have the chance to work with
dogs every day if that was something you wanted to do. I'm surprised you didn't say anything
related to aviation." He smiled. There it was. He had me all figured out in under thirty minutes. I
still didn't want to admit that he was right, so I casually looked though the dog handling section.
On the very last page, looking right at the camera while it sat by its handler, was a dog that
looked just like mine.
Right then was the moment my whole plan changed. I was going to be a military working dog
handler. While Sergeant Shelton explained how the Marines processed you in (and that they
didn't have a consent to enlist form) I decided that I would join the Marines and become a dog
handler.
I began to train more often. I began to get ready to do what I had to do to fulfill my purpose of
protecting my country. It's a very good feeling when you finally figure out how you want to spend
your life.