Wu is a 20-year-old Sophomore who is currently in his first semester back after training and being in boot camp with the Marines for over a year. Wu finds the life of a student and a marine to be “different” as he finds himself balancing life outside of the Marines. Wu continuously and consistently trains and participates in programs to prepare himself to become a Commission Officer in the United States Marine Corps.
“This feels different,” Wu stated. “People have different approaches than us in the Marine Corps, I feel that people …show more content…
Due to these challenges, this has been a mental strain on Wu as he witnessed people who he has grown to know and protect die. Wu stated that the most frequent cause of deaths for a Marine is suicides and alcohol abuse rather than being in combat.
“I’ve lost people I know, it hurts our unit,” Wu expressed. “This is a frequent thing they die putting their lives on the line, people are gonna die and we just have to keep going.”
A common misconception believed by many is that combat or fighting in battle is the leading cause of death for people in the military. According to top 5 of anything, it is stated that the leading cause of death in the military is suicide at 28.1% with the next being transport or car accidents at 18.3%, while combat is at 9% cause of death for people in the military.
The Marine Corps focuses on training people to be able to fight on the front lines. Wu is currently a part-time reserve as he hopes to focus on being in school part time but still does training. Wu still keeps up with his training as he does drills for one weekend per