Just a heads up, while this conversation is very personal and dear, there is some discussion of violence which some may find uncomfortable, so listener discretion is advised.

I've known Mitzy Bello (pronounced be-yo), for over 15 years. We met in school and went separate paths but kept in touch intermittently during the period after. In the last 4 years, her and I have spoken a lot more. The catalyst was seeing a pic of her raising her right hand and taking the oath and learning that she was joining the Army National Guard. Much like myself, she joined at a later age, yet I never got to the heart of why she joined. Well, after a few messages, she was down to chat about her journey into the military and what set her down the path of enlistment.

• What led her to the National Guard -- and the "fake" answers she occasionally gives...3:15
• The real reason she joined...4:25
• How the current crisis in Mexico hit close to home for her...6:00
• Auto-pilot in basic training...8:10
• "A lot stronger than I ever thought"...8:37
• The fitness journey after AIT...12:30
• Questions she got during basic training...20:47
• From retail employee to signal soldier...22:17
• Lessons on showing up and trying that she learned from the military...25:18

Disclaimer: Thoughts and opinions of the guests on this series are their own. There’s a little bit of cursing but it’s mostly just casual conversation. Also this episode contains some personal discussion that includes mention of violence.

This episode was edited by Hensley Petite. ⁠⁠Check him out there⁠⁠.

Make sure to check out The Echo Review on social media ⁠⁠⁠@theechoreview⁠⁠⁠. Check us out on ⁠YouTube Shorts⁠.

The music you hear in this season are two public domain songs found on ⁠⁠Free Music Archive⁠⁠. The intro song is called ⁠⁠Coldness by “The Wanderer”⁠⁠. The background music is a song called ⁠⁠“Sky Scrapers” by HoliznaCC0⁠⁠.