WEBVTT 00:00.159 --> 00:03.440 Uh my name is Jaka Cotton . Uh 00:03.839 --> 00:07.360 middle initial C I came to the , the 00:07.369 --> 00:10.899 PT the physical training and I ended up 00:10.909 --> 00:12.909 loving it and I was just like , you 00:12.909 --> 00:15.076 know , maybe it's not all that bad . I 00:15.076 --> 00:17.020 started learning like exactly what 00:17.020 --> 00:18.965 processes I have to go through and 00:18.965 --> 00:21.020 stuff like that . And I'm like , you 00:21.020 --> 00:23.242 know , this is probably for me and uh I 00:23.242 --> 00:25.409 ended up signing , I ended up going to 00:25.409 --> 00:27.520 Meps and I was like , yeah , man , it 00:27.520 --> 00:30.010 just gotta be the marines first name 00:30.020 --> 00:33.259 Elijah , last name Jefferson . Ok . So 00:33.270 --> 00:35.270 my mom , when they called her , she 00:35.270 --> 00:37.500 woke me up and was like , uh the 00:37.509 --> 00:39.620 marines are looking for you . They're 00:39.620 --> 00:41.787 calling for you . But like she made it 00:41.787 --> 00:44.120 seem like I was in trouble or something . 00:44.120 --> 00:43.750 So I was just like , what , what are 00:43.759 --> 00:45.759 you talking about ? So I answer her 00:45.759 --> 00:48.340 phone and then she's just in tears like 00:48.560 --> 00:50.504 she's like , is this something you 00:50.504 --> 00:52.560 wanna do ? And I'm answering all the 00:52.560 --> 00:54.616 questions , I'm like , yes , because 00:54.616 --> 00:53.459 I'm intrigued . 00:59.659 --> 01:01.881 First couple hours when they first like 01:01.881 --> 01:04.360 told us to sit up straight , get off 01:04.370 --> 01:06.592 the bus , send over yellow footprints . 01:06.592 --> 01:09.029 It was just like , are they yelling ? 01:09.660 --> 01:11.771 It was just , it was just something I 01:11.771 --> 01:15.400 wasn't used to getting my NGA I cried 01:15.410 --> 01:17.989 because I've never done anything really 01:18.000 --> 01:20.489 big in my life . As soon as I received 01:20.500 --> 01:23.129 like my ega I thought of my mom , my 01:23.160 --> 01:26.620 mom was like , would be like , really 01:26.629 --> 01:28.629 proud of me . And all I could think 01:28.629 --> 01:31.809 about was like , imagine if she was 01:31.819 --> 01:33.986 here to see what I'm doing right now . 01:33.986 --> 01:36.041 Imagine how , like all I could do is 01:36.041 --> 01:38.208 imagine her smiling at me and tell her 01:38.208 --> 01:40.230 and telling me how proud of me she was .