Kevin Adam Brewer

Adam and I after he came home

I consider my cousin, Kevin Adam Brewer, to be my hero; he is a United Sates sailor and proud to be serving his country. My qualifications of a hero are probably a lot different from someone else’s. They don’t have to be the fastest, strongest, most popular, or the best looking; what they need to have is a good attitude and a positive mindset even in the worst situation.

Everyone at some point has made a mistake, possibly more than one, throughout their lifetime. Misty Long, Adam’s mother, has told me that the reason Adam wanted to go out to sea was because he needed to get away from Asheboro, North Carolina, in order to overcome his past and make something more of himself. Our high-school years are supposed to be the time of our lives, but when you have an extremely bad experience, such as falling into the wrong crowd, that can have an effect on the rest of your life. My family and I are proud beyond wonders that Adam has turned his life around and is now making a difference in not only his life, but other’s as well. He is now more responsible and hopes to further his education through this program.

Being a “hero” means that a person has achieved something others considered to be “the impossible”. Basic training was not as hard as he thought it would be. Adam is now an E3 sailor, and will be a paddy officer soon. On April 3rd, 2007, Adam will be in Iran, the Persian Gulf, and war zone. “Attitude determines altitude,” Adam told me that he heard this while he was in A-school and he applies it to his life daily.

Adam's favorite part of the job is traveling; when he is not on the boat, he is usually fire fighting and recovering. Fire fighting consists of the usual putting out of fires yet also learning how to gain more knowledge from your experiences. As he does the recovery, he is taking care of a situation, for example, if there was a plane that crashed while trying to land on the boat he stays on; he is a part of the team who goes in and rescues people, supplies, and technology.

From my own perspective, I believe that a hero is an angel sent by a higher power to keep the rest of us on track with our lives. Everyone has their own hero that they model themselves after; Kevin Adam Brewer is not only a devoted United States sailor but a loving cousin as well, in which he has taught me that in order to be the best, you must do your best. No one cares about your birthday nor your death-date, what matters is how you spent your time in between; so be strong and live the hyphen!