The groups to which I could never belong

"But it was not cool to want to be in the military, so I kept this desire to myself. I wore the Marines shirt only on my paper route and occasionally to school during cold weather when I knew I would never remove my sweater. I kept most of my life to myself, not willing to share what would be ridiculed and tainted by the kids smarter and hipper and better dressed, the better athletes, the better students, the kids who'd fucked already, the punk rockers and the metalheads and all of them - any of the groups to which I could never belong."

-Anthony Swofford, Jarhead