Hi, 
My name is Sarah Dockham (@sdfit37 via instagram).

I have played sports my entire life. I was involved in softball, tennis, swimming, and soccer in my early childhood. The summer before 8th grade, I got into a bike accident where I flipped over my handle bars. I had a fractured skull, lost partial hearing, and had internal brain bleeding. At the time, a big deal, but the only consequences that came of it were a massive hospital bill for my parents, a hard time hearing, some headaches and a major fear of bicycles. I was young, accidents happen, I was lucky to be okay in just a few short weeks. Going into high school, I was looking forward to soccer in the fall, and softball in the spring. My parents had invested a lot into my rec sports, and I was excited to be a part of a real varsity team someday. Doctors advised at my 1 year brain scan following the incident that all contact sports were out of the question for me, since I was now extremely prone to head injuries. Slightly devastated, but still optimistic, I resorted to running. I joined the cross country team and was running in the top 5 at my school as a freshman. I finally found 1 true passion. I stuck with it all 4 years of high school, and all 3 seasons. Cross country, indoor and outdoor. By the end of my high school career, I had been a captain for 3 seasons for 2 years, I had been awarded MVP, most improved, and went on to win a scholarship for being an honorable student-athlete at my high school. 

Time for college, and of course, academics being important to me, I chose a school with a promising Political Science program close to the DC area. The one thing it was missing was a running program. I am a sucker for a challenge, so I told myself that I would stick to running on my own…… haha 40+ miles a week went down to maybe one 2 mile run a month. I felt lost, and confused without a sport and without my team, so I resorted to lifting. I got into the gym, and the weights became my friend. I never loved the heavy weights, and I had always been into running deep down, so I took to functional training, my own mix of body building exercises and challenging functional training. 

My sophomore year, after a little over a year in the gym, a Marine Corps recruiter reached out to me, along with probably hundreds of other students. I decided that I had nothing to lose, so I called her back. After chatting for over two hours on the phone, I decided that Officer Candidacy School may be a great career starter for me. I love fitness and I love a challenge, and it’s always been in the back of my head to serve. I knew the physically training regiment to prepare for the application, but now it was time to collect all of my medical records to submit to the board. I learned quickly that 1. Collecting official documents from hospitals is not easy task, and 2. I had visited the hospital for quite a few silly reasons growing up. After a month of collecting, I submitted my paperwork, and was told by the Staff Sergeant that I had quite the hefty stack of records, and that it was unlikely that I would get selected with my “brain injury”. The military is strict, especially with medical conditions. As many know, the vetting process is extreme, and they won’t take anyone who may be threatened by the training, or prone to injury. I kept my hopes up, and persisted with the training and submission of a 30 page application. That March, with selection being in April, I sent everything in and kept my fingers crossed. I was sitting at around a 230 PFT score out of 300 which is barely passing. Silly me kept my hopes up. That April, I got a call from my Captain saying I had not been selected due to my head injury, as the paperwork was not sufficient enough to prove that I had healed and could carry out the tasks required of a Marine Officer. Starting out as just a future ambition turned into my motivation to become the strongest version of myself possible. I knew that God’s calling for me was to serve my country, and nothing was going to stand in the way. 

After many tedious doctor’s appointments, neurological assessments, resubmitting paperwork, many phone calls and 8 months later, I was accepted to Officer Candidate School for this coming summer on December 15th, a day I will never ever forget. Persistence, commitment, faith and support is the only reason I get to pursue my dream. I could have very easily accepted that failure as my fate, but I knew deep down that it was simply a hurdle, and they’re called that because we are meant to get over them. To any girl who faces failure, know that failure only gives us more of a reason to come back stronger, and with every failure, ignites a fire in us women that is unstoppable. Spread that fire to the women in your lives, and show the world what we’re capable of, and prove to yourself that nothing stands in your way.