Peter Siaw is a Plainfield East High School alumni, from the class of 2012. At Plainfield East, Siaw was a part of the track team in addition to cross country, and now he is serving in the Marine Corps.

Q- First and Last Name?

A- Peter Siaw

Q- What branch of the military were you in?

A- Marine Corps

Q- How old were you when you started serving in the military?

A- 18

Q- What was your inspiration/motivation for serving our country?

A- Mostly my family who had served.

Q- If any, what regrets do you have?

A- Not taking high school more seriously before I joined.

Q- What memories do you value?

A- The places I got to see and the skills I was fortunate enough to learn.

 Q- How has serving in the military impacted your life, friendships, and relationships?

A- I got the opportunity to meet people and form relationships with people that I likely would never have been exposed to otherwise.

Q- Did you want to serve when you were a kid, why or why not?

A- I did. I was exposed to a lot of the lifestyle pretty from a young age and decided pretty early it’s what I wanted to do.

Q- What words of advice would you give those who are looking into joining the military?

A- Make sure to explore all of your options. If this is something you want to pursue, fantastic! But don’t close other doors without even peeking through them.

Q- How did joining the military affect your friendships and relationships?

A- It definitely made the good ones I had stronger and helped to filter out the ones that I hadn’t realized I didn’t care about as much.

Q- If you could start over, would you join the military again, and why or why not?

A- I would. I didn’t have much direction at the time and probably wouldn’t have been able to do very well in college straight out of high school.

Q- What have you learned from serving our country?

A- It was difficult, but that was also particular to the job that I chose to do. The generic training is tough but nothing outside of reach for anyone who is committed to completing it.

Q- What misconceptions do people have about you from you being in the military?

A- It depends on the groups that I’m interacting with and the conceptions they have about the military. Some will immediately like or dislike me and others will make assumptions about my beliefs.

Q- How was training for the military? Was it difficult or easy for you?

A- I was already fairly in shape and was on the cross country and track teams. That definitely made it easier on me than some people who did less or even nothing before they joined.

Q- How easily did you adapt to the military way of life?

A- I adapted easier than a lot of people because I had already been exposed to that lifestyle when I was younger.

Q- Is there anything you’d like to add?

A- I would just reiterate that it is a good fit for some people and less so for others. I’ve moved in an entirely different direction since high school when I thought I would be in the military forever. So just keep your options open and stay willing to change as you find you have more and less passion for different things in your life.