#teen #teenager #education #ROTC

Addie

Hi. I’m a 16 years old, and I live in the Midwest United States. My family has always encouraged me to pursue my interests and push myself physically and academically, and I actually plan to gradutate high school a year early if I can. I work at a Senior living Facility. Even though some of the people are lovely there, there is one woman who pulled me aside one day and asked me “if I was checking out for a proper husband at my college visits.” Thinking she was joking, I laughed and replied the only thing I was checking out were Mechanical Engineering programs and ROTC. She got rather offended. She replided, “That’s funny. But why should you join the army if your husband will support you?” I said I wanted to serve before settling down. She continued tracking me down every day, asking me why I was afraid of men. Telling me I should do brown instead of black eyeliner, because a cat-eye is too “harsh”, telling me I should watch my carbs. None of this had happened before I told her I was not interested in a husband.