“I didn’t want to be the old person that looked back and realized they never did anything.”

At just age 20, Lance Corporal Abigail Wharton has experienced more than most people do in an entire lifetime. The Boston, NY native has called Okinawa, Japan home for more than a year and has been the eyes and ears of the American public.

Wharton says she started seriously thinking about going into the military during her freshman year of high school. “I wanted to see just how far I could push myself,” she says.

The first step toward joining the Marines was to talk to a recruiter, who helped Wharton fill out the application paperwork and prepare herself physically and mentally. “They would physically train us until we reached our breaking point and then they kept pushing us,” Wharton said. “That way we would know exactly where our breaking point was, how to push past it and a little bit of what it was going to feel like at boot camp.” The instructor also explained the “mind games” that drill instructors would use on the trainees.

Then Wharton went on to boot camp at Parris Island, South Carolina and was assigned to Platoon 4033, Oscar Company, 4th Battalion. She graduated from boot camp on October 17, 2008.

She says the one day she won’t forget about her time spent at Parris Island was when she first arrived at the reception center and stood on the yellow footprints. The famous footprints, set up in a formation outside of the Receiving Building, are the first taste of military life many Marines experience. “You run off the bus and stand on the yellow footprints,” Wharton said. “It’s epic!”

The second day Wharton says she’ll never forget is the day she got her EGA, or Eagle, Globe and Anchor, the emblem of the Marine Corps. “I was called Marine for the first time,” she said. “Yes, I cried!”

After boot camp Wharton attended Marine Combat Training for a month, mandatory for all non-infantry Marines, to learn tactics and weapons systems.

Then she went on to Fort George G. Meade in Maryland for Defense Information School. “I went through a three-month class to become a combat correspondent,” she said. Wharton learned about writing, grammar, picture taking, legalities of releasing names of the deceased and other Military Occupation Specialities-related topics.

Wharton says she chose Public Affairs as her specialty because she loves talking to people. Her writing allows her to tell the stories of many Marines doing their various jobs. “I see aspects of the Corps that I wouldn’t be able to see in a typical job, especially as a female,” she says.

Okinawa, Japan was Wharton’s first duty station. “When you go to your first duty station you are assigned based on the needs of the Corps and then your request,” she said. “I was needed over here so I didn’t get my first choice . . . but I’m getting to explore the other side of the world!”

Since her arrival in Japan, Wharton says she has met people from many different backgrounds that she never would have encountered if she had stayed in Boston. Her reporting has allowed her to participate in a variety of activities like jungle warfare training, helo casting (jumping out of the back of a helicopter into the water) and SPIE rigging (flying under a helicopter on a rope). While in Okinawa, Wharton has also shot expert on the range and gotten her grey Marine Corps Martial Arts Program belt.

But it’s not all work and no play for the WNY native. “I’ve been able to explore the local culture a little bit,” she says, adding that she hopes to get her green belt, climb Mount Fuji and visit more local attractions.

While Wharton says she doesn’t know where she will be going once her two years in Okinawa are completed, she does hope to be stationed closer to home. “It will be nice to be able to go shopping in American-sized stores,” she says. “I’m way too tall for clothes over here!”

Wharton is currently a Lance Corporal, the third enlisted rank in the Marine Corps. “We are considered junior Marines and we’re working to be leaders and take on responsibilities,” she says.

For more information on the Marine Corps, visit www.Marines.com. Wharton’s stories can be viewed by visiting Google and searching for LCpl Abigail Wharton.

During the month of March, VA Western New York Healthcare System is celebrating Women’s History Month. On Thursday, March 4 from 12 noon - 4 p.m. an information table will be set up at the Buffalo and Erie County Public Library at 1 Lafayett Square.

There are 65,116 women veterans in New York state. In 2009 women made up 14 percent of Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom veterans. For more information on the Women Veterans Program, contact Manager Jill Barrett LaMantia at 862-8891.

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